March 20, 2017

Meet Greg Lipman of Piastra in Marietta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Lipman.

Greg, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started cooking when I was 9 years old. My grandmother had me help her with chocolate chip cookies. I took home ecc in junior high school and culinary in high school. I started baking for a farm stand in Northern Mass. I grew up in the Boston area, so I was around a lot of different cuisines. My mother always cooked dinner, different foods, different styles, and different cuisines, she taught me my passion. I went to New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, VT. After graduating, I worked around Boston for a while until I went on a Journey. I lived on a 35′ sail boat and traveled a third of the way around the world. When I got back to Boston, I worked as a waiter for a while until I got tired of the snow and moved to Atlanta. I worked around Atlanta for a while, until I met my wife, and after the birth of our first daughter, I found this restaurant. I convinced my mother to finance me and in April 2015 we closed on La Famiglia. We closed on July 5th 2015 for renovations and reopened September 4th as Piastra.

Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing is ever a “smooth road”. It is how we handle the bumps which show who we are. Tough jobs, Loss of income, strategic foreclosure, loss of friends, Cancer in the family, these are all things which everyone has to deal with. As far as the business, we took over a turnkey 16 year old restaurant where the previous owners had become burnt out. We have spent Twenty thousand dollars in plumbing repairs, five thousand in HVAC repairs and still haven’t finished the renovations! We opened just to get open even though there were more renovations we wanted to do.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a Modern Italian restaurant. We make everything scratch in house and use no GMOs, no soy products, and no dough conditioners of any kind. I try to purchase as much local products as possible and use local businesses. We are known for our fresh breads, pastas, sausage, sauces, and pastries. Our wine list is continually changing, as is our menu. We have become known for our Game Meat program, weekly we change a Game Meat as special, Quail, Elk, Venison, Boar, Rabbit, Frog’s Legs, Octopus, etc. We also have a Fresh Fish Special and serve a whole fish.

I am proud of the family environment we have established within our four walls, not only with our guests, but with our staff as well.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is an ever growing city. It will always be a good place to start a business, even if the economy isn’t the best, you just have to make sure you do your due diligence. The food scene in Atlanta isn’t as ahead as other places, NYC, Boston, DC, LA, but it is growing. My advice would be, move out from the City, and go to the ‘Burbs. Know who your clientele are going to be and make sure you are well funded. Also, remember to never give up.

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