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They vowed one night at dinner that they would open their own restaurant one day.

Thirty-five years later, Steve Nygren remembers that "we had all had too many bottles of wine."

W.A. BRIDGES JR./STAFF (ENLARGE)
(ENLARGE)
Steve Nygren (top) and Bob Amick (above) have set a 35-year standard.
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The next day, the restaurateur and former Stouffer's exec took out a loan and bought a spot on Peachtree for $25,000. It had been reincarnated several times — from Piccolini's to Vic's Deli. In the heart of Midtown, the renovation marked the beginning of a revival that is still alive today.

The old carpet lifted to reveal beautiful wood floors; beneath plaster on the walls was stylish brick. Add a cozy menu and wine list, and voila! The Pleasant Peasant was born.

The next year — 1974 — Bob Amick joined the group, and a partnership would form that led arguably to the most successful restaurant group of its kind in Atlanta. The Peasant Restaurant Group grew to hold within its family the Public House in Roswell, Dailey's, the Country Place in Colony Square, City Grill, Peasant Uptown and Mick's, which is named after Amick's father. In 1989 the company went public and by 1994 Nygren opted out. Amick followed a year later. But together they created a multiregional reality of restaurants at a time when "chain" meant something that has to do with a backyard fence, not a restaurant concept.

Talk to Atlantans of that period and you'll find that few haven't eaten at — or even worked for — a Peasant restaurant. I used to work as the hostess at the Country Place, where the standard of customer service was so high I had to memorize something about the customer — a tie, usually — and connect it with the name, rather than write anything down. Ten years later, my ex and I chose Peasant Uptown as the spot for our rehearsal dinner. Former AJC dining critic John Kessler worked for Pleasant Peasant, too, as part of the opening team in Washington, D.C. He confesses he dropped a tray through the second-floor atrium to the bar below. "Not one of my finer moments ..." Kessler quips.

"I think working for us must be a prerequisite for dining criticism," joked Amick last week by phone.

Nygren has moved on to create Serenbe, the developing environmentally conscious hamlet of stores, restaurants and homes in Palmetto that includes a working organic farm and lots of walking trails. Amick owns and operates Concentrics Hospitality, which harbors One Midtown Kitchen, Two Urban Licks, Trois, Tap, Stats and another Atlanta institution, Murphy's in Virginia-Highland.

Anyone who has (or hasn't) had a hand in Peasant's success is invited to Serenbe on April 12 from 3 to 6 p.m. to celebrate the group's 35th anniversary. Expect live entertainment. Open to all, the festivities are free, and Serenbe restaurants the Hil, the Farmhouse at Serenbe and Blue Eyed Daisy will be open.

From Spice to Straits

The former Spice space at 793 Juniper St. is slated to open April 25, unveiled as Straits and serving modern Singaporean cuisine. California chef-owner Chris Yeo partners with rap star Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to bring a melange of Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, Indian and Nonyan influences to the menu, and the interior sports a $1 million face-lift by the Johnson Studio. Diners can expect the décor to echo the fire-and-water balance of the vast cultures represented in the cuisine, with a private dining room and 40-seat "opium lounge." Hmmmm. 793 Juniper St., www.straitsrestaurant.com.

Get into the conversation: Log on to my blog at www.ajc.com/tabletalk. If your restaurant is new, closing or undergoing changes, or you have a food-related event, we want to hear from you. Send the information — including your name, phone number, e-mail and Web site if you have one — to Meridith Ford at mford@ajc.com.