UPDATE: FM Fats reports that he spoke with Depeaux owner Bill Sharkey today and was told that the Depeaux isn’t entirely closed and is still open on weekends.

It opened to renovation controversy (after a $250,000 move funded by the DPA) and high Cajun-food-hopes.  It closed quitely and without notice.

Until now.

A few days after a major refreshening of its “Business For Sale” page with the Shumacher Group, Carl reports that it looks like the Depeaux (in the old Decatur depot) has finally closed its doors for good.

No hours posted, mail slot sealed shut…no sign of life. BBQ joint moving in?

Photo courtesy of the Shumacher Group

That’s what the sign on the door to the barely year-old cafe in the 340 West Ponce building says, along with an” Available” sign from Shumacher Group.

If the first isn’t an ominous sign, the second certainly is!

Carl headed over there after a Twitter tipster gave us the heads-up and snapped this pic.

Lots of restaurant news in the past few days.  Quizno’s closes.  Locally-owned Sammiches n Stuff opens below Eddie’s Attic in the old Jake’s/Little Shop space!

Daren sent in the above pic of happy staff members.

It must be January.  The closings continue.

Dave wrote in late this afternoon…

Quizno’s has up and gone. There is a sign on the door thanking their customers and explaining that their rent was increased. It appears that all the kitchen equipment has been removed.

As the DNO noted on Facebook, the city commission is scheduled to approve a liquor license for “Garlic Thai Cuisine & Sushi Bar” at 340 West Ponce de Leon Avenue at Monday’s city commission meeting.

Decatur’s latest business trend seems to be Thai food and heathcare.

Update II: More on the name “Marlay” HERE.  (Thanks CB!) Pretty great suggestion by the three parties that submitted it!

Update: The mayor just unveiled the name. CBS news also in the house.  See pic below.

The Grange is making the best of a bad situation and turning its forced renaming into an event. Mayor Floyd will announce the new name tonight at the “Rename the Grange” party at 8:30p.

You can’t see it from my crappy photo, but the foot of the first letter is sticking out of the left side of the brown paper. Looks to me like an “A”.

Down a place from last year, Decatur’s Brick Store Pub ranked as the 6th best beer bar in the world for 2010 on RateBeer’s annual list.  Amongst U.S. beer bars, BSP was second only to Redlight Redlight in Orlando (#4 in the world) for the second year in a row.

The other Atlantan on the list is HopCity Craft Beer & Wine at 1000 Marietta Street, which ranked 23rd in the world among beer retailers.

Amongst the best brewers in the “world” – from an American perspective – Three Floyds came out on top, while new-to-Georgia Founders came in 4th, a place ahead of another relatively Georgia newbie Bell’s.

The best individual beers list for 2010 can be found here.  I won’t even pretend to know what I’m taking about with that list.

h/t: Dirty South Beer Club (via Lain)

Photo courtesy of the City of Decatur

The restaurant in Decatur’s saved historic icon is up for sale.  “SalMonela” points to the ad on The Schumaker Group’s website.

Decatur Freestanding 4300/sf Restaurant w/2 bars and Stage-Fully Equipped Turnkey -$1,000,000 Renovation & Build Out for $99K OBO! SEE ALL NEW PHOTO’S!

The Depeaux is located at 303 East Howard Avenue, Decatur, GA 30030. This Tavern restaurant is located by the Decatur Square….Over $1,000,000 was spent ground up on raw space of historic building with incredible character. This space was gutted completely and replaced with all brand new HVAC, electrical, plumbing, grease traps, and all new furniture, fixtures, equipment, bar, etc. Space is 4300/sf with seating for 100 with 15 seat bar plus outdoor seating for 80 with second bar and additional seating area. Owner has secured parking for over 70 cars.Long term sublease at $7,850 including all extras. Any concept works or keep as is. Priced at $99,000 with Owner Financing options. Seller lives out of state and is willing to lower price with some percentage of new business.

Note: this sounds like it’s the business that’s for sale, not the building.

John Kessler reports that The German Bakery, which sits floating in a sea of strip malls on a small side-street off Lawrenceville Highway up by the Home Depot, is closing its doors forever tomorrow after 48 years in business.

And judging by Kessler’s conversation with the owner, it doesn’t sound like a voluntary retirement…

“I hate to be leaving, but there’s really not much I can do,” said owner Gary Welshons, when reached by telephone. “It’s been a rough couple of years.”

Scoutmob – a new Atlanta website offering daily, local deals with write-ups on local area businesses – has a report from contributor Eli of “Tomorrow’s News Today Atlanta“, that the famous Grindhouse burgers of the Sweet Auburn Curb Market might be building a second home in Decatur.

“After the success of his original location at Sweet Auburn Curb Market, owner Alex Brounstein has his sights set on a second location. He’s been scouting metro neighborhoods and has narrowed his search to downtown Decatur and the Cheshire Bridge/LaVista ‘hood. Since his hope is to rehab a second generation space, my money is on Decatur being the winner. Best part of all? The new space should be nearly 3,000 square feet! Great news, since the lunch wait at the original location tended to get too long for folks on a time crunch. Mr. Brounstein, as of this week, claims he does have a couple specific sites in mind, though for obvious reasons, he couldn’t elaborate. The goal is to have something in place within the next 60-90 days, and have an opening date by year’s end.”

h/t: Andisheh