SMITH G ILBERT G ARDENS
678-400-4268
PRESENTS
A Garden with Wings
BUTTERFLY H OUSE
JULY 1 - J ULY 3 0
WWW.SMITHGILBERTGARDENS.COM
“I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he said.
When he graduated from high school, Lipman
trained at the New England Culinary Institute in
Montpelier, Vermont. Later, he got his feet wet sailing
a third of the way around the world with a friend and
his father, a classically trained French chef. After his
ocean voyage, Lipman came back to Boston before
deciding “snow was for the birds,” and moving to
Atlanta.
From Maxim Prime at the Glenn Hotel in
downtown Atlanta to Alon’s Bakery and Market in
Dunwoody to Andretti’s in Roswell to Dal Cuore in
Johns Creek, Lipman has extensive experience with
many dierent cuisines. When asked why he decided
to open an Italian restaurant, he’ll be the first to admit
that he’s not Italian.
“I’m Jewish, and as the saying goes, Jews and
Italians have a lot in common,” he said. “Food is love.
And also if you take a Jewish man and Italian man you
put them in a room together with their hands tied
behind their backs, nothing happens. They can’t talk.”
Growing up in Boston where many of his friends
and neighbors were Italian, Lipman said he learned
from his local influences and realized he had a knack
for the cuisine. But his love for cooking began at home,
seeing his mother, Betty Bahl, make a meal for the
family.
“My mother was really influential about it because
we never really had leftovers,” he said. “I mean we did
every once in a while but for the most part, it was a
fresh meal every day. She cooked everything. And it
was always dierent.”
When Lipman first toyed with the idea of opening
a restaurant, he thought the process would take
months, if not a year. Bahl, who had recently sold a
wedding facility in Dawsonville and has an MBA,
oered to go into business with her son. She would
serve on the owner/business side of the restaurant
while he worked perfecting the dishes in the kitchen.
“Mom and I, we closed on this place in six weeks,”
he said.
Lipman and Bahl opened Piastra in 2015. The
name means plate in Italian and references a large dish
many Italian families prepare for Sunday night dinner.
Their claim to fame is they are the only handcrafted,
authentic Italian restaurant within five miles. They
don’t consider themselves a pizza joint or a “red sauce
place,” which Lipman describes as an Italian restaurant
where guests get a bowl of salad, garlic knots and
marinara sauce.
“Yes, I sell chicken parmesan and lasagna because
I have to, I’m in business,” he said.
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