Omnivore - Octopus Bar crew to open Lusca

• Sarah Dodge
• Angus Brown and Nhan Le to open Lusca

Chefs Angus Brown and Nhan Le of Octopus Bar are gearing up to open a new restaurant, Lusca, at 1829 Peachtree Road in South Buckhead. Unlike the duo’s late-night East Atlanta industry hang, Lusca will be a full-service, lunch-and-dinner operation. Like Octopus, however, Lusca’s menu will feature “seasonal, ingredient-driven foods” that Brown and Le “enjoy eating, cooking, and creating.” Under Le’s direction, Lusca will also have an extensive raw seafood program. Think oysters, geoduck clams, hamachi belly, and live scallops. (Octopus Bar will remain open as usual with newly appointed executive chef Duane Kulers at the helm.)

The restaurant’s namesake, the lusca, is a legendary sea monster/gigantic octopus reportedly spotted in the Caribbean. “Sort of like the Loch Ness Monster,” Brown says.

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The design of the restaurant will be simple and open. “We are going to have a marble bar for the raw bar and we have been talking to an incredible carpenter/artist to create our barstools and bar. We will have one large mural done by one of our favorite graffiti artists,” Brown says.

According to Brown, the lease was finalized last week. He and Le plan to take over the space (currently occupied by Bluefin) in mid-December and hope to open Lusca by March 1, 2014.

Note: This post has been updated to include plans for Octopus Bar.