The Deer and the Dove

From the line to ownership

The venison reaches the pass coffee rubbed, a game cut handled without apology. Terry Koval, chef-owner of The Deer and the Dove in Decatur Square, Decatur, built the room for that kind of cooking in 2019, after years of moving through other people’s kitchens one station at a time. He began as a dishwasher at John Paul’s Armadillo Oil Company in Greenville, South Carolina, learning the pressure and tempo of service from the lowest rung. In Georgia, the work widened: executive sous chef at Canoe in Vinings, executive sous chef at Lobby at TWELVE, executive chef at Room at TWELVE, chef at Farm Burger from 2010, then executive chef at Wrecking Bar Brewpub from 2013. The pattern matters here because The Deer and the Dove is not a concept laid over a dining room. It is the point where those stations became ownership. Koval and his wife Jenn opened the restaurant in June 2019, after living in Decatur since 2006, and the address carries that long preparation into a farmer-centered, game-focused kitchen.

Game, fire, and the whole animal

The menu does not move through the usual sequence. It sorts itself by Land, Sea, Air, Pasta + Grain, and Plants + Paired, giving the table room to build a meal from small plates, platters, and larger cuts. More than 30 offerings have been described across the restaurant’s seasonal rotations, with the emphasis on whole-animal use, local sourcing, and scratch work. Coffee-dusted venison, smoked duck, beef tongue, beef heart tartare, sweetbreads, bone marrow with snails, quail, pheasant, rabbit roulade, pork chop, whole trout, and Joyce Farms rib-eye all sit within that discipline. The method is plain enough to read from the plate: wood-fired cooking for depth and char, house-cured salumi for the board, dry-aged beef in the burger, salted yeast rolls washed with butter before they reach the table. Produce is not garnish here. It shows up as seasonal vegetables beside venison, blistered tomatoes and pole beans with rib-eye, butternut squash with duck, and vegetable boards built from raw, poached, and roasted pieces with hummus and bagel bits. The restaurant’s awards include Best Chef Southeast in 2023, Farmer Champion gold in 2021, Snail of Approval in 2014, and Atlanta Rising Star Sustainable Chef in 2012.

A rustic room on the square

The room works close to the counter rather than above it. Wood elements, low light, and a conversational sound level keep the focus on the pass, where a rustic plate can carry coffee, bordelaise, confit, cured meat, and a Southern grain without turning showy. Service sits in that same register, polished but not stiff, with an upscale casual format that leaves room for shared plates and a la carte decisions. The wine program is curated to sit with game and produce, while the bar leans into craft cocktails, including a drink built with Georgia gin, pear liqueur, and rosemary. Next door, B-SIDE extends the same ownership into bagels, coffee, pastries, soups, salads, and sandwiches, and the restaurant’s orbit now also includes Fawn Wine & Amaro Bar. The most exact measure of the place remains at the pass: coffee rubbed venison, smoked duck, and beef tongue moving through The Deer and the Dove.