It’s taken three years, but Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., better known by his stage names T.I. and Tip, has finally opened his long-awaited restaurant Trap City Cafe in Atlanta.
Located next to T.I.’s Trap Music Museum, the new eatery promises to deliver food, beverages, and entertainment such as live music, game nights, karaoke, and more.
The colorful menu includes items like Trap Pocket Tacos for $5-$6 (depending upon filling), Bankroll Fresh Turkey Burger for$12 “Rich Boys” Poboys for $12-$15, Shawty Lo Lamb Chops & Grits, $24. Cocktails include Narco Colado, a “spiked” Gucci Mane Green Tea, Futura Baby Mama.
“We kept working and we collectively wanted to present an experience to the city, an experience to this community, especially that we felt wasn’t present,” T.I. told ABC 17 News. “We wanted to celebrate the most significant contributors to the culture that we wanted to feel authentic, representing the essence of who we are as a city and what these artists mean to the city. You have streets, business, culture, community, art, and all of these things intersect right here at the Trap City Cafe.”
What Took So Long?
“Well, this is close to three years in the works,” he explained to ABC 17. “We started this project I think November or December of 2019 and we hit a lot of hiccups along the way. Of course, the pandemic threw a monkey wrench in our plans. A couple of times, cars ran through the building haphazardly. In the midst of our progress, I guess people couldn’t see on a rainy day.”
More Restaurants to Come
T.I. is also involved in another restaurant project, this one with fellow ATL rapper Killer Mike. They plan to give new life to the Bankhead Seafood restaurant, which shut down in 2018 due to the failing health of owner Helen Brown Harden, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Bankhead Seafood restaurant had been a staple in the community for more than 50 years. The year it closed, T.I., Mike, and other investors acquired Bankhead Seafood’s building, trademark, and recipes, Atlanta Magazine reports.
By the end of 2021, the group of new owners filed a building permit application that “would allow the space to undergo almost $2 million worth of renovations.”
T.I., whose net worth is reportedly $20 million, hopes to recover a “new and improved” seafood restaurant.
“It brings me great honor and pleasure to introduce to you what was formerly Bankhead Seafood, and what will be the new and improved Bankhead Seafood,” T.I. said in a video posted on Instagram. “As you can see man, we [are] on the corner of Bankhead and Westlake. [Do] you dig what I’m saying? The community has been on me, been on Killer Mike saying, ‘What [is] y’all gon’ build? What [is] y’all gonna do over there? Y’all gon’ put the building back up?’ We already told you, man. It ain’t just about opening up a restaurant man. We have to rebuild the entire building.”
There remains no firm date for the reopening of Bankhead Seafood.
