Eating Well is the Best Revenge

Muss & Turner’s opened in Smyrna/Vinings in February 2005, aiming to be the type of place its proprietors, Todd Mussman and Ryan Turner, wanted to go to themselves.

Muss and Turner worked at The Food Studio, part of Fifth Group Restaurants. Turner left to be F&B Manager at East Lake Golf Club, while Muss became the Executive Chef at Sala.

In 2002, they decided to build a restaurant they wanted to go to, the first iteration of which opened in 2005. The second iteration opened the following year, and in 2010, they partnered with Chris Hall and launched Local Three Kitchen & Bar.

The third iteration of M&T opened in May 2012 with a renovated space and a hidden bar, Eleanor’s. Named after their friend, Eleanor’s represents all that is great about a remarkable woman.

“A big part of our premise was let’s remove this veil of pretense that exists around really high-end food,” Turner told Sightseers’ Delight in September 2023. “Even 20 years ago, if you go back to look at the restaurant scene, if you wanted to go get an elevated food experience, you had to go to a white tablecloth restaurant.

“…We said well, ‘Why can’t we bring all the elements of fine dining as far as how you source and how you cook and all of that and treat people with a high level of hospitality, but not wrap it with all the pomp and circumstance and not charge as much,’” Turner added. “And so that really struck a nerve, and it really more so got magnified during the Great Recession.”