Where you spend and save impacts our community.

Did you know you can make a difference in your community just by banking locally? At Cornerstone Bank, we are committed to the development and financial well-being of the communities we serve. By investing in customers and local businesses, our neighborhoods thrive

Open a new Cornerstone Bank account and show your community pride with a locally designed debit card.

• Free Checking and Great Rates

• Mobile Banking and Mobile Deposit

• Flexible Lending for your home or small business banana pudding need to be smothered in caramel sauce? Maybe not, but of all the sugary upgrading going on at OLG, this dessert makes the most worthwhile sense.

At Cornerstone Bank, through local decision-making, we are committed to our neighborhoods.

The service is overwhelmingly kind and fun, perhaps because the hostess and kitchen still have some issues with wait times. It’s not a huge dining room, but thanks to its famous owner, OLG is constantly slammed. We’d made a reservation and got seated promptly, but they do fill up those reservation slots several weeks in advance. If you’re just going to try walking in, expect a twohour wait outside because they keep the aisle pretty clear at the bar. Drinks and apps appear quickly, but entrees still take quite awhile, even with the limited Sunday brunch menu. OLG may be a celebrity joint and it may still be working out the service kinks, but the food is the real deal, especially if you’ve got a sweet tooth.

Old Lady Gang is at 177 Peters St. SW. For more information, visit oldladygang.com.

Don't miss the grand opening of DIFFERENT TRAINS GALLERY 2 at Cornerstone Bank of Decatur Saturday, September 2nd Exhibition showing Sept 2 to Oct 31

Quick Bites

The first annual Old Fourth Ward Beer Fest will be held on Friday, Sept. 8, from 7 to 11 p.m. at Old Fourth Ward Skate Park, 830 Willoughby Way. The festival will be a fundraising event within the weekend-long Fall Festival, benefiting the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership. There will be more that 75 beers as well as a selection of wine and cider to choose from. There will also be live music, and food will be available for purchase. Tickets are $40 in advance or $50 at the gate. For more information, visi atlantabeerfestivals.com.

Castellucci Hospitality Group is bringing its acclaimed Decatur favorite, The Iberian Pig, to Mercdes-Benz Stadium. Two outposts of the restaurant were slated to open for club level ticketholders in time for the Aug. 26 Falcons’ preseason game. The two locations will be located on both sides of the 50-yard line on the Harris Cherokee Club level in the 200 concourse.

Restaurant reservation tech platform, Reserve, has launched in Atlanta. The client list in Atlanta is off to an impressive start, with restaurant partners such as Aria, Canoe, all Castellucci Hospitality Group restaurants, Noble Fin and all Kevin Rathbun concepts. The Reserve app is available to download from the App Store or Google Play now. For more information, visit reserve.com.

Quick Bites

Executive Chef Alfredo Rodriguez will oversee the menu development and food and beverage operations for the new Marquee Club inside the Fox Theatre. Rodriguez brings nearly 20 years of eclectic culinary experience including positions at high volume destinations such as Walt Disney World Resorts and California Center for the Arts. Most recently, Rodriguez was the Chef at Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s restaurant Oriente at the Cardozo Hotel in Miami, FL.

The Atlanta History Center’s Back on the Farm event will be held Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. This year’s gathering is chaired by Mary Calhoun, with lead chef Virginia Willis, the renowned James Beard Award-winning chef who will lead a team of local chefs, farmers and bartenders in creating a fabulous menu of Southern-influenced food, with cocktails and light bites at the Smith Family Farm followed by a supper in the Grand Overlook. Tickets start at $225 each. For more information, visit atlantahistorycenter.com/backonthefarm.

Open Hand Atlanta will host its fourteenth annual Party in the Kitchen fundraising event at American Spirit Works on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. This year’s event will include Chef Gerry Klaskala of Aria and Chef Kevin Rathbun of Rathbun’s. Other participating chefs were pending, but will be announced at partyinthekitchen.org where tickets are also available. Tickets are $250.

State of the art

Common Ground

Restaurant-driven development coming to BeltLine

Is Right for you?

Common Ground is the name for real estate and investment firm Third & Urban’s new restaurant-driven development on the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail.

Slated to open this fall, Common Ground, located at 550 Somerset Terrace NE in Poncey-Highland, will feature two new restaurant concepts from The Diligence Company and a brewery from New Realm Brewing Company. In addition, Third & Urban is now offering over 34,000 square-feet of office lofts and retail space for lease at Common Ground. The development will repurpose the former Western Electric Company facility with airy, well-lit corridors and open, expansive front porches and breezy verandas, according to a media release about the project.

“Many buildings have historically had their back turned to the BeltLine. The trail is now one of Atlanta’s greatest physical assets, and this project is intended to face and embrace the BeltLine perhaps more than any other to date,” said Pierce Lancaster, partner at Third & Urban. “We’ve designed a very visible, porous façade with outdoor patios and rooftop uses that interact heavily with the trail.”

The Diligence Company will lease a total of 12,500 square-feet at Common Ground. Bazati Hall, a European and Latin-inspired brasserie with eight artisan shops, will utilize 7,000 square-feet of interior space and 2,500 square-feet of outdoor garden terrace along the BeltLine. Estrella, comprised of 3,000 square-feet, will be a rooftop champagne and cocktail bar focusing on small plates with an atmosphere influenced by Miami and Paris.

Former Stone Brewing brewmaster Mitch Steele, along with partners Carey Falcone and Bob Powers, will open New Realm Brewing Company, an American craft brewery featuring a 20,000 square-foot brewhouse, 3,000 square-foot restaurant with rooftop patio, BeltLinefacing beer garden and a tour center with tasting rooms.

Another notable element: Common Ground plans to feature a pop-up retail component located on an outdoor platform north of the building, adjacent to the BeltLine. The planned space will house a series of repurposed shipping containers featuring a rotating calendar of regional and national merchants.

Architecture firm ai3 is leading design for the development and New Realm Brewing spaces. Place Maker Design is the architecture firm for The Diligence Company’s concepts. Southern Choice Construction is the contractor for the development and The Diligence Company’s concepts. Choate Construction is the contractor for New Realm Brewing.