In 1996 the Old Pavilion was about to be torn down to make room for new homes at Mountain Street and Ranch Road. Vinings civic groups raised the money to move it two blocks to the grounds of the Pace House instead. Thirty years later, a restaurant family that had run the same Vinings Jubilee storefront for nine years renovated its own dining room top to bottom and stayed.
Both of these places get used this week. Cotto Modern Italian is just over a month into its run at 2850 Paces Ferry Road SE. On Saturday, October 24, the Vinings Historic Preservation Society holds its Party for Preservation at the Pace House and the Old Pavilion. Neither place would be here if someone hadn't chosen to rebuild it where it stood.
The Room That Kept Its Owners
Cotto opened on Thursday, September 17, 2026, the Marietta Daily Journal reported. It took over the space where Stockyard Burgers & Bones had operated. The owners didn't change. Per Atlanta Magazine, chef Scott Kinsey and his wife Alexis Kinsey ran Stockyard in Vinings Jubilee for nine years before starting this new chapter in the same space. Their group also runs Taqueria Tsunami, Silla del Toro and Forno Vero, and they opened the first Cotto in Gainesville, Georgia, three years ago. What Now Atlanta first reported the swap in March and identified the operator as Fork U Concepts.
In the same Atlanta Magazine piece, Alexis Kinsey explained why they brought the concept here:
"We have a very similar demographic in Vinings and thought Cotto would be great here."
The renovation went deeper than new signage. According to Atlanta Magazine, the Kinseys moved the bar and took out the half walls to open up the dining room. They added arches and niches, stucco wall coverings, neutral tones and olive-green accents. The room now seats 75 inside, plus 40 on the open-air patio, and takes both reservations and walk-ins.
What comes out of the kitchen is built for the table rather than the individual plate:
- Format: antipasti, pasta, mains and 10-inch wood-fired pizzas, with most items designed for sharing
- Early favorites: gnocchi, pollo saltimbocca and cacio e pepe
- Bar: limoncello and spritzes alongside old fashioneds and espresso martinis, plus a seasonal vodka drink called Fly Me to the Moon
- Wine: 85 Italian bottles
Scott Kinsey sets the culinary direction for all of the couple's restaurants and runs the Cotto Vinings kitchen each night. Cotto serves dinner nightly and brunch on weekends. Current hours are Monday through Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday noon to 9 p.m.
Cotto isn't the only Jubilee storefront to fill an existing suite this year. Warby Parker held its grand opening on Saturday, July 25, at 4300 Paces Ferry Road SE, Suite 226. The center keeps changing, but it does so suite by suite, inside the buildings residents already know.
A Pavilion Built to Bring Atlantans Out for Dinner
The newest restaurant in the village is doing the same job as one of its oldest buildings. The Vinings Historic Preservation Society's history of the Old Pavilion says the Western & Atlantic Railroad built it as an open-air structure in 1874. The railroad wanted people from a growing Atlanta to take day trips out of the city. They rode the train to Vinings, walked a block to the Pavilion, and spent the day dining, dancing and playing games.
The building has been remade several times since. In the 1940s it was bought by Earle Carter Smith, a great-great-granddaughter of early Vinings settler Hardy Pace. She added walls and windows and leased space to antiques dealers. After the 1996 move to the Pace House grounds, renovations added a deck, a catering kitchen and restrooms. Today it is a designated Cobb County Historic Landmark.
The Pavilion has been a railroad attraction, an antiques shop and an event space. The use kept changing while the structure stayed. Each new use came from someone who decided the building was worth adapting, much as the Kinseys decided their Stockyard room was worth rebuilding rather than leaving.
Next door, VHPS says the Pace House was built by Solomon Pace between 1865 and 1874. That makes the house and the Pavilion beside it roughly the same age. Saturday's party takes place across both.
What Saturday's Party Pays For
VHPS describes the Party for Preservation as its primary annual fundraiser. It is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Pace House and the Old Pavilion. According to the society's mission page, proceeds from its special events go toward maintaining three historic properties: the Pace House, the Old Pavilion and the Yarbrough House.
The Yarbrough House shows the same pattern. VHPS dates it to 1880. Over the years it became Paces Tea House and then the Old Vinings Inn, and it now serves as a welcome and history center. So each of the society's three buildings has been reused at least once.
Invitations to the party come through VHPS membership. The society's attendance page lists these levels:
| Membership level | Party invitations |
|---|---|
| $125 | One |
| $250 | Two |
| $500 | Four |
| $1,000 | Eight |
As of mid-October, the party is the only upcoming event on the VHPS events page. Anyone who wants to see the Pavilion lit up for a party this fall has one Saturday to do it.
The Week Around It, Day by Day
Down the hill, the Jubilee events calendar fills in the rest of the week around Cotto and the party. Here's how it falls, starting on the day this post goes up:
- Thursday, October 22: The Vinings Jubilee Farmers Market runs from 2:30 to 6 p.m. with produce, baked goods, specialty foods and artisan vendors. PRIMADONNA's Double Points promotion is already underway and runs through November 1.
- Friday, October 23: Partners Card at Vinings Jubilee begins. It runs through Sunday, November 1, and participating shops and restaurants support Camp Twin Lakes.
- Saturday, October 24: Cotto opens at noon, and the Party for Preservation opens at the Pace House and Old Pavilion at 6:30 p.m.
- Through Tuesday, November 3: Bourbon & Bites continues at HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern, and bartaco's Destination Taco runs on the same timeline.
- Through Monday, November 30: bartaco's High Tide Happy Happy keeps going into late fall.
A household could shop at the Thursday market, use a Partners Card at the Jubilee on Friday, and have Saturday dinner on Cotto's 40-seat patio before heading up the hill to the Pavilion the railroad built in 1874 for this kind of evening.
Many Vinings homes are like the Pavilion and the old Stockyard room: owners keep them for years and rework them more than once. If you're deciding between renovating the house you love and moving on, The Boyd Team can talk through both paths with you, discreetly and on your timeline. Request a Confidential Consultation.
