The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Life of Brian
As Manuel’s Tavern prepares to reopen, owner Brian Maloof looks for ways to bring his love of farming to the table.
To prepare for what turned out to be the biggest night in the 60-year history of Manuel’s Tavern, owner Brian Maloof went a little nuts.
He set up a 20-foot TV screen in the parking lot behind the iconic North Highland Avenue watering hole. He ordered so much food that his staff thought he was crazy, so much Bud and Pabst that his beer distributor wondered about his judgment.
He was at the tavern for 36 straight hours. His wife and daughter helped run food. And in the end, the crowd drank all the suds and ate all the provisions, even though the night did not end as the patrons of the historically Democratic gathering spot expected.
This was of course Nov. 8, the day Donald Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. But whatever one’s politics, and 49-yearold Brian keeps his closely guarded, the moment was a reminder of Manuel’s towering stature as a place where politicians and political organizers, cops and vagabonds, journalists and artists go to enjoy hot dogs, beer and discourse.
As chronicled last July in a Personal Journey called “Life of Brian,” Brian Maloof feels a sacred calling to preserve his late father’s namesake bar.
Manuel Maloof, a staunch Democrat, opened Manuel’s in 1956 and went on to use it as a pulpit for his own political ambitions. In 1974, he was elected to the DeKalb County Commission and later rose to chairman and CEO. Brian purchased the Manuel’s Tavern brand and its contents from his family in 2006.
In early 2015, Atlanta was stunned to hear the Maloof family was selling the tavern property and surrounding parking lot to Green Street Properties. As part of the deal, Green Street agreed to finance a sorely needed renovation of the tavern, which it would then rent to Brian.
The tavern closed for business on Dec. 27, 2015. Soon after, Selig Enterprises Inc. joined the partnership as an equity partner and co-developer. The renovation dragged on for seven months, and the tavern barely opened in time for its 60th anniversary on Aug. 6, 2016.
The construction delay wasn’t the best news for Brian, who has three children in college. But it gave him more time to spend at the nine-acre Pickens County farm he purchased in 2015.
There he got to hang out with the tavern’s famous chickens, which had been installed in a rooftop coop in 2013. During the bar’s overhaul, they were moved to the farm. To the original flock of 24, Brian has added 16 more. Their eggs, as well as the vegetables he raises there, find their way into the tavern’s kitchen. Over the summer, Brian had such a surplus of vegetables that he shared them with homeless shelters and restaurants.
Brian’s passion for farming is new-found and has provided a respite from the pressures of running a high-profile business. It has also allowed him to better understand where food comes from, something he never bothered to question as a restaurateur accustomed to watching the bottom line. Now he wants to dig deeper. Brian plans to build a hydroponic greenhouse on the farm, where he’ll grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers yearround. He also wants to add a herd of goats and maybe dabble in goat milk and cheese.
“It will be tiny, microscopic, small scale,” he says of the idea. “But I just want to see. I won’t know unless I try.”
As for his business, he’s delighted by customers’ responses to the “new” Manuel’s Tavern.
“I’m still excited when people come in and they don’t see what’s changed,” he says. “But that also makes me wonder what kind of customer they were.” (Check out the new bathrooms, dude.) “People tell me it has the same look and feel. It’s just cleaner.”
On the downside, he misses staff members who have moved on. Being without work prompted some of his old employees to put their college degrees to use. But Brian is philosophical.
“What a beautiful thing that is to find out what you are supposed to be doing in life,” he says.
This is a man who knows of what he speaks.