By Mark Woolsey

For almost a quarter century, Henry Chandler was an easy guy to spot at his eponymous Henry’s Louisiana Grill in downtown Acworth.

From his signature chef’s jacket to pajama pants to wild-child hair and neatly trimmed beard, Henry loved to work the crowd when he wasn’t in the kitchen, chatting up both longtime customers and newbies and settling Mardi Gras beads around their necks.

That changes at the end of this week. After he and wife Claudia sold the popular Cajun/fusion/southern eatery to a Colorado couple in April, Chandler agreed to stick around for some months as a consultant. But after Saturday, the couple will settle into retirement-with an asterisk. They plan to market a line of their signature sauces and Henry says he’ll pen a light-hearted cookbook.

Settling in Acworth in 1993, the Chandlers raised a family. Claudia worked in the banking industry. Henry, fresh from extensive culinary training in Europe, spent several years at local restaurant gigs.

Then a piece of property became available in downtown Acworth, which was largely deserted at the time.

“It was 100 percent five o’clock roll it up and get out of town,” the veteran restauranteur, who is 65, recalled.

Claudia Chandler says prior tenants had failed, so the owners agreed to lease the 15-hundred-square foot space at an affordable price.

Friends and neighbors helped them prep the eatery, said Henry Chandler, “scrubbing the walls. They did it for red beans and rice and cold Abita beer.”

The first few months after their Aug. 15,2000 opening were a challenge, says the couple . Friends helped by occupying seats near the front windows and making sure they parked their cars right in front of the building-giving a sense that the place was bustling. That sleight of hand became reality after a lean six months or so. Customers began to flood in, drawn by word of mouth and the prospect of delectable crawfish etouffee and Louisiana ooh la la (shellfish in a to-die-for Cajun cream sauce and their biggest seller). That tied into their moving into expanded digs a few doors down in 2003.

There were highs and lows-both in the restaurant business and life itself.

In a national popular-vote contest fostered by ABC’s “Nightline” the restaurant won the “People’s Platelist” award, signifying the best local chef in the country.

“We weren’t even aware there was a contest(at first),” said Claudia Chandler. “We were nominated by one of our customers.”

And Henry adds, “our business went up two, three hundred percent overnight.”

The 2010 award served as a welcome bounce back from a 2008 that was both rocky and remarkable. That’s when Chandler was diagnosed with liver cancer. They were told they didn’t qualify for a transplant-and never could. The appropriate officials later reversed themselves after a procedure brought some improvement.

They got an 11th-hour liver offer as Chandler was at Piedmont Hospital, literally close to death. Three months and one successful operation later, he was back in harness.

“Claudia kept the whole place going,” says Chandler. Claudia in turn gives much credit to friends and the community at large, along with a loyal and capable staff.

And Henry Chandler adds, “If God didn’t put us through, we’d have never made it.”

That year also marked the Great Recession, carving a dent into growth. But it also featured a second physical expansion to meet still-burgeoning demand.

As the business grew, downtown Acworth flickered to life. Restaurants, watering holes and boutiques opened, with Henry’s being widely credited as helping spark the revival.

Their food and service have been widely praised, on online platforms and TV features. But the couple indicates the restaurant’s magic has extended beyond hearty plates of jambalaya and solicitous servers.

“There was a young 21-year-old man (and customer) who graduated today and his mom told me that they had celebrated lifetime memories there” says Henry Chandler. “And they said, ‘the number one reason we keep coming back is every time we come, we have fun.’

“We don’t sell fun, we make fun.”

As the restaurant’s tagline puts it, “Come taste the good times.”