Chef Duane Nutter and Reggie Washington are putting the final touches on the next chapter of their restaurant, Southern National.

The duo, who operated the restaurant in Mobile for more than four years, are set to open Southern National in a new location– Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood. The restaurant will open on June 29, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

The relocation of Southern National is a homecoming for Nutter and Washington, who operated the acclaimed restaurant One Flew South in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport for over a decade before leaving to embark on the Southern National project in Mobile.

“We both love Atlanta. The decision to open Southern National in Atlanta was made because it seemed like a natural progression for us and came about organically,” Washington told Eater Atlanta in an interview last year.

When searching for an Atlanta location for Southern National, the pair looked at historic African American neighborhoods. They chose Summerhill because of the neighborhood’s history. Summerhill was one of two neighborhoods in Atlanta where Black people were allowed to settle during Reconstruction, according to archives from the Robert W. Woodruff Library.  Formerly enslaved people founded the neighborhood in 1865 and the community became home to some of the city’s first Black professionals and businesses. The neighborhood also had a large population of Jewish immigrants.

Atlanta was initially reported to be home to a second location of Southern National.

However, Washington and Nutter ended up shuttering Southern National in Mobile last year, reports Eater Atlanta. 

Preview stories about Southern National in Summerhill say the upcoming restaurant’s new menu will be based on Nutter’s travels and culinary inspirations from around the world. In an interview with Atlanta Magazine, the duo said the restaurant will be a “more sophisticated and cosmopolitan” version of the Mobile location.

So far, Nutter says the menu will have a combination of favorite dishes from the Mobile location, such as the mussels and collard greens, and new dishes, such as Cherry Coke-braised short ribs, Creole-cured salmon and potato blini and berbere-spiced fried chicken thighs. Fans of Nutter’s tenure at One Flew South can also expect a twist on some classics from that menu, such as the pork belly slider. For the beverage program, Washington and Nutter will continue their partnership with award-winning bartenders Greg Best and Paul Calvert, who own Atlanta’s Ticonderoga Club. Best and Calvert, who were behind the cocktail and wine program at Southern National in Mobile, have planned takes on classic cocktails, as well as an expansive wine list “emphasizing champagne and Old World reds,” reports Eater Atlanta.

Washington and Nutter opened Southern National in  Washinton’s hometown of Mobile in 2017. Located on Dauphin St., the restaurant quickly became renowned, garnering national attention for the Azalea City.

Just five months after opening, the restaurant was named a semifinalist for a 2018 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. Southern National was the only restaurant in Mobile to be named a semifinalist for the award.

“Though they didn’t win – not this time, anyway – Nutter, executive chef, and Washington, restaurateur, have put Mobile on the culinary map,” AL.com’s Michelle Matthews wrote of the team in 2018. 

The story of Southern National, the restaurant that put Mobile on the culinary map

Six chefs, including Duane Nutter, discuss the culinary legacy of Leah Chase 

Over the years, Southern National continued to rack up the accolades. In 2020, Nutter was a James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best Chef, South.

Southern National, like the majority of its peers in the restaurant industry, suffered challenges at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants and bars were forced to temporarily shutter their on-premise operations due to public health mandates. During that time, Nutter and Washington pivoted Southern National to offering pizza to go and experimented with a takeout barbeque concept called Steel Smokin’ BBQ.

In 2021, The New York Times named Southern National to “The Restaurant List,” the publication’s rundown of the 50 most exciting places to eat in America. 

At the time, Nutter was surprised by the accolade, but not particularly enthusiastic. His focus,understandably ,  was keeping himself and his staff healthy and the restaurant open.

“You’re so in the trenches trying not to die. You’re like ‘oh, okay! Wow! Someone knows I’m alive!’ ” said the good-humored Nutter in an interview days after the list was published. “It’s been a lot.”

Fast forward to 2023, and the enthusiasm of running a restaurant and developing a culinary program seems to have resumed for both Nutter and Washington.

The pair have said they are looking forward to a number of projects, including operating a community garden in the Summerhill neighborhood.

“We are really excited about that because communities are still challenged by food insecurity, and community gardens can provide access to healthy vegetables for families who need them the most,” Washington told Eater Atlanta. 

In the interview with Atlanta Magazine, Washington said he and Nutter also have more plans for the Atlanta market, including developing a store called SoNat Market to sell pimento cheese, parties, and other products they make at Southern National. Also in the works: plans to find brick-and-mortar locations for the pizza and barbeque concepts they tested in Mobile