Little Bear founder Jarrett Stieber has been looking for his next project and now he has found it in the former home of the East Atlanta Animal Clinic at East Atlanta Village. Stieber will open Bar Schmutzi at 461-B Flat Shoals Ave. SE in one of two tenant spaces derived from the animal clinic.
Like Little Bear, which was named in honor of Stieber’s dog Fernando who passed away last year, Bar Schmutzi derives inspiration from Stieber’s pet family. The name is a nod to Stieber’s Great Pyrenees, Diego, who the family often calls “Schmutzi” because of the spots on his nose.
Bar Schmutzi will take a step back from food and shift its focus to beverages, serving as a European-inspired wine bar. After experiencing the rigor of Little Bear’s kitchen, Stieber was looking to open a concept that would focus on wines alongside a concise food menu featuring snacks and small plates.
“The wine bar is what appealed to me most as the first thing to do. That’s what I love when I travel with my wife when we go to Europe or other big food cities. We find these great little wine bars that are cozy and intimate and are fun, wine-focused places,” Stieber told What Now Atlanta. “It’s a hard thing to find in Atlanta, where a lot of the wine bars are pretty big and tend to be restaurants with large wine lists. We wanted to find a way to be a little sweet spot in between.”
To design the 1,300-square-foot space, Stieber and his team are reuniting with Square Feet Studio, which did the design for Little Bear. 3D Renovations will serve as the contractor and Family Bros. will spearhead the branding.
The team is aiming to capture the intimate quality of European-style wine bars, borrowing elements from Parisian bistros and wine bars. It will feature a color scheme reminiscent of Diego’s coloring as well as Neapolitan colors. The interior will have communal seating and an open kitchen, with retro elements such as film photography and vintage audio equipment designed to play vinyl during service. There will also be a pet-friendly side patio with bistro-style awning for additional seating.
Through Bar Schmutzi, Stieber aims to appeal to both wine aficionados and those who drink it casually by making the wine bar approachable amid the traditionally intimidating wine landscape.
“I want to have a place where people who aren’t experienced wine drinkers can come in and not feel like they’re idiots,” Stieber said. “We want a place where they can relax, drink some wine and learn about it if they want.”
Permitting is still underway for the location. Bar Schmutzi should open by Q1 or Q2 of 2027, but Stieber is hoping they can open by the end of the year.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve built at Little Bear. It’s a 30-seat restaurant that opened with $208 in the bank account two weeks before COVID. Yet here we are — we never had to close even for a single day. We just found a way to stay open, stay busy and keep our staff employed. And we built something I’m really proud of there,” Stieber said. “What we want to keep doing with anything else we open is to keep having this established ethos that Little Bear set up. Everything will be on the petite side and stay intimate, cozy and manageable. Everything will source exclusively local products, just like at Little Bear. We want to keep everything playful, fun and relaxed without sacrificing quality.”
