Downtown Cedartown just got a little more interesting.

EVO Ghost Kitchen is now open at 110A Herbert Street, right beside Cedar & Smoke Cigars, and the man behind it is a familiar face to a lot of Rome folks: Earnest Simpson. I first met Earnest when he joined the cast of Rome Little Theatre’s The Outsiders as one of the Greasers. Turns out, he was just as comfortable in a leather jacket on stage as he is behind a grill, sauté pan, smoker, or pizza oven.

Earnest is no newcomer. He has spent about 20 years in food service, with experience ranging from casual kitchens to finer dining, and his own site notes he graduated from Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Culinary Arts program in 2016. He also operated EVO as a food truck before making the jump to this brick-and-mortar location.

What makes EVO fun is that it is not locked into one menu forever. The plan is to rotate themed menus — Asian Fest, Irish Week, Italian favorites, Burger Week, and whatever else Earnest decides to dream up next. That means this is the kind of place where “I’ll try it next time” may not work, because next time might be something entirely different.

Hours are Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Cedartown, go welcome him. Rome folks, it’s worth the drive.