Aria Chef/Owner Gerry Klaskala Announces Retirement on Revered Restaurant's 25th Anniversary
Photo Credit: LuAnne DeMeo
After 25 years cooking at Aria and decades spearheading iconic Atlanta kitchens, including Canoe and Buckhead Diner, chef/owner Gerry Klaskala is announcing his retirement. He and Aria co-owners Ron San Martin and George McKerrow will transition ownership of Aria to its longtime general manager Andrés Loaiza.
Since opening on March 19, 2000, Aria, nestled inside a cozy converted house at 490 East Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead, has been Klaskala’s nightly creative culinary playground. It has become one of the city’s most beloved and revered restaurants, with its modern American cuisine making Wine Enthusiast magazine’s “Best Wine Restaurants in America” and Zagat’s “Atlanta’s Best Restaurants” lists. Aria has been named as a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Outstanding Service and Esquire Magazine recognized it as one of the country’s best restaurants. Atlanta magazine has selected Aria as one of the 50 Best Restaurants in the city while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls it one of the city’s finest time-tested restaurants and dining critic Meridith Ford Goldman awarded the restaurant a five-star rating. Aria has also made both USA Today and Thrillist’s “Best Romantic Restaurants in Atlanta” lists. Klaskala was one of six chefs who were awarded the Robert Mondavi Culinary Award of Excellence, along with Wolfgang Puck, Frank Stitt and many more. He also received the Georgia Restaurant Association Crystal of Excellence Awards’ lifetime achievement award.
“It’s time,” says Klaskala simply. “It’s been a great, great ride. I’m satisfied.” The chef has called Atlanta home since restaurateur Pano Karatassos first lured him to the city from Savannah to serve as Buckhead Diner’s opening chef and managing partner, where he would cook for countless celebrity diners including Sir Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. Later with McKerrow and San Martin, Klaskala debuted Canoe on the banks of the Chattahoochee River and then they opened Aria together.
On his goals as Aria’s new owner/operator Loaiza says, “I love this place Gerry created, and I love what we do here. The regulars know and trust me. Aria will continue to live and breathe by the standards Gerry set. This transition allows us to evolve and begin the next chapter.”
In retirement, Klaskala is planning to concentrate on his first love—drawing and painting . As a teenager, he abandoned his art studies to enroll in The Culinary Institute of America. “My plans aren’t grandiose,” he explains. “And not with any purpose other than to just do it. For me, art is a way to get lost in my thoughts and ideas. Cooking for a living requires focus and concentration. Now I’ll have the time to explore my other interests. For so long, I felt like I couldn’t step away without compromising the restaurant—I even felt guilty just sitting down to read a book. Now, I finally have that freedom.”
With Loaiza in place as Aria’s new owner, the restaurant’s steadfast commitment to staff (some who have been there for the restaurant’s 25-year existence) will continue. Adds Klaskala, “People always ask us, ‘How do you keep people around so long?’ There’s no magic answer. Every day we just try to find a moment to appreciate their work and let them know they’re doing a great job. Sometimes in the middle of a busy night that can be just a little head nod between us. But that’s our code for ‘Hell yes, you nailed it.’ We’re like-minded souls working together each night.”
As Aria celebrates its 25th anniversary of serving Atlantans, Klaskala can sum up his culinary career with a single word—gratitude. “When someone makes a reservation at your restaurant, they’re making a commitment,” he says. “The guest deserves the same commitment from you—that you’re going to give them your best effort and make them happy. It’s the same for the people who choose to work with you. I have gratitude for them for believing in what we’re doing and working hard and putting that same level of commitment into their work.”
In a career that has spanned over half a century, Klaskala says one thing has kept him in the kitchen. “I have head-over-heels loved what I’ve been doing,” he explains. “I’ve always said it was like going to the playground every day. I felt like a kid never wanting to leave, even when the lights came on and my dad was trying to persuade me to come home. Each guest who has made a reservation and each staffer who decided to work at Aria put their faith in us, and we took that responsibility very seriously and embraced it.”
Outside Aria’s kitchen, Klaskala remains proud of his decades of philanthropy work in Atlanta. He has been an integral part of benefits for Open Hand Atlanta and Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation and served as the chef chair for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Georgia Chapter’s Harvest for a Cure. “It’s a big part of who I am,” he explains. “Being involved in my community is something I chose to do early on, and it was very important to me. That’s why I’ve made sure younger chefs were getting involved in their communities as well. You can’t own and operate a successful business and not be involved in your community.”
Currently conducting a national search for Klaskala’s successor in the Aria kitchen, Loaiza says he will focus on Aria’s next 25 years as one of Atlanta’s favorite places to create memories over delicious food and wine once a chef has been selected. “Aria has succeeded over the years by evolving. This transition allows us to get a fresh set of eyes on the experience we present and make that experience even better as we introduce Aria to the next generation of Atlantans.”
About Aria
Aria is located at 490 East Paces Ferry in Buckhead. Dinner is served Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 404-233-7673 or visit aria-atl.com.