“The Move” is your guide to the top food finds from Beth McKibben, who oversees restaurant and dining coverage at Rough Draft. Each month, Beth shares her favorite dishes, restaurant discoveries, and cool pop-ups and supper clubs on her radar. We’ve mapped out where and what Beth ate while dining on the clock for “The Move” in 2024, including 32 restaurants with recommended dishes to try.
Peoples Town Coffee Bar
Peoplestown
The bacon, egg, and cheese (BEC) biscuit at People’s Town Coffee Bar comprises a fluffy, folded egg, crispy bacon, and gooey cheddar cheese cascading down the sides. The addition of bright green pesto gives this BEC an herbaceous pop.
Yebisuya
Doraville
Agedashi tofu at Yebisuya at the Super HMart complex in Doraville features four generously sized, lightly fried tofu cubes served in a rich soy broth topped with grated daikon radishes, scallions, and shaved nori (dried seaweed). Nori gives the dish added crunch, hints of salinity, and a bit of extra savoriness.
Frazie’s Meat & Market
Riverside
The ATL Chop at Frazie’s Meat and Market in Riverside is a super juicy chopped cheese that comes with most of the traditional ingredients, including lettuce, sautéed onions and peppers, and tomatoes. Frazie’s uses Tillamook cheddar cheese and adds a savory sauce to the meat mixture, which gives the sandwich extra tang and a flavor boost.
Wick & Nick’s
Grant Park area
An intimate supper club led by Chefs Jared Warwick of Octopus Bar and Ben Skolnick of BoccaLupo, Wick & Nick’s features a chefs tasting dinner lit by the neon glow of red and purple lights in a loft near Historic Oakland Cemetery. Dinners take place monthly on a Monday night.
Pastries A Go Go
Decatur
A cathead biscuit here is an absolute must, and you can’t go wrong with any of the generously portioned omelets like the vegetable omelet stuffed with peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and cheese. If you love an eggy breakfast sandwich, order a BEC topped with gouda cheese and thick-cut smoked bacon served on a cathead biscuit.
Julianna’s Coffee & Crepes
Inman Park
Julianna’s serves both sweet and savory crepes. Try the savory Breakfasty One with scrambled eggs, ham, Swiss, and mushrooms, and The Royale with tasso ham, gruyere, field greens, and peach chutney. Most crepes cost less than $11 and come generously stuffed with ingredients.
Brazilian Bakery Cafe
Marietta
Order a beijinho truffle sweetened with coconut, condensed milk, and butter, which gives the bite-sized candy balls a stretchy, glutinous texture. For pastry lovers, try the guava and cheese pastel. It’s heated before serving, warming the tangy, semi-sweet jelly inside and melting the mozzarella enough to create a perfect cheese pull. For savory pastels, try the pastel de carne with ground beef and olives or the pastel de palmito with hearts of palm in Béchamel sauce.
Rumi’s Kitchen
Alpharetta, Midtown, Sandy Springs
Try the lahmacun, sometimes referred to as Turkish pizza. The flatbread comes piled with fragrant layers of minced meat and vegetables and topped with fresh herbs and red onions. The harissa chicken lahmacun sees meat spiced with sumac bringing in hints of tart citrus.
Petit Chou
Cabbagetown
While Petit Chou is popular for breakfast, this French-leaning neighborhood restaurant with a Southern accent courts just as many regulars at dinner. In the wintertime, try Petit Chou’s beef bourguignon cooked in a rich red wine sauce, tender duck à l’orange with hints of tart sweetness, or the hearty cassoulet.
Skips Chicago Dogs
Avondale Estates
Opened in 1979, Skips keeps the Chicago dog tried and true, including only using a Vienna beef link as the vehicle for its seven toppings and serving the hot dog in a poppy seed bun. Get the curly fries or beer-battered onion rings as sides.
JD’s Summerhill Variety & Deli
Summerhill
Come here for the jerk chicken and jerk chicken egg rolls. Chicken slow-cooks on the grill out back. Smoke permeates the meat just enough to resemble the nostalgic taste of a backyard barbecue. There’s good char on the skin, too, which allows the warming spices and aromatics used in the seasoning to come through and the jerk heat to build steadily on the palate.
Bread & Butterfly
Inman Park
Dinner at Bread & Butterfly continues Chef Demetrius Brown’s mission to spotlight the culinary depth and breadth of the African diaspora, including food traditions of enslaved Black people and nations in Africa and the Caribbean colonized by the French. Brown was born into a proud Trinidadian family, driving him to dig deeper into the roots of Afro-Caribbean cuisine.
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Tacos Al Pastor
Brookhaven
What started as a pop-up in 2020 opened as Tacos Al Pastor restaurant in Brookhaven in 2023. Located between Moon Indian Cuisine and Hovan Mediterranean Gourmet, the meat-packed spit (or trompo) of tender rotisserie pork (al pastor) spins slowly behind the counter ready for slicing to make tacos.
Bangkok Thai Restaurant
Piedmont Heights
Serving the Midtown, Piedmont Heights, and Ansley Park neighborhoods since 1977, Bangkok Thai serves a great take on drunken noodles. The stir-fry sees a heaping pile of wide, chewy rice noodles sautéed and tossed with chicken, onions, bell peppers, egg, slightly al dente green beans for crunch, and fresh basil leaves.
La Glorieta Honduran Restaurant
Tucker
For many Hondurans, the main meal of the day is breakfast, and La Glorieta keeps it traditional with desayuno catracho (Honduran breakfast) comprised of eggs, beans, fried plantains, queso fresco, avocado, and tortillas. Baleadas – a popular Honduran street food — come layered with refried beans, queso, and crema bundled in a lightly fried tortilla with the option to add scrambled eggs, avocado, chicken, or steak.
Sunnyside Pizzeria
Sandy Springs
The Panuozzo Napoletano is a Campanian sandwich served on wood-fired focaccia. Sunnyside offers eight variations on the panuozzo, including the La Parma with San Manzano tomato sauce, prosciutto, and tangy parmigiano-reggiano cheese and the spicy Diavola.
Dominick’s Italian
Norcross
Dominick’s Italian combines the vibe and dishes of an old-school Italian-American restaurant with Southern hospitality in a space that hasn’t changed much since its opening in 1996. Head here for hearty classics like chicken parmesan, penne all vodka, shrimp scampi, and chicken scarpariello.
J’s Snackland Tacos
Smyrna
Located inside Spring Road Laundry, order a trio of steak and carnitas tacos served on fresh corn tortillas topped with onions, cilantro, and fire sauce. The taco combo includes three tacos and sides of rice and beans for around $12.
Daily Chew
Morningside/Lenox Park
Order the chicken grain bowl, which sees layers of quinoa, greens, and house-made hummus topped with perfectly seasoned and shredded rotisserie chicken, schmaltzy potatoes, and seasonal pickled vegetables. The grain bowl is then given a little zing from the house-made shug (a verdant green hot sauce).
Ruby Chow’s
Old Fourth Ward
Located across from Ponce City Market, Ruby Chow’s features some of Chef Guy Wong’s greatest hits from his past restaurants, including the shoyu tamago from Miso Izakaya. The shoyu tamago became an instant icon when Wong introduced it at Miso Izakaya. It also brought people out in droves who came to get one last taste of his take on the Japanese soy sauce egg before the restaurant closed on Edgewood in 2018.
S’Pizza at Fellows Cafe
Downtown Roswell
Regulars of Fellows Cafe in downtown Roswell already know what takes place every Friday night inside the yellow house on Green Street. But for those who aren’t up to speed, the quaint breakfast and brunch cafe transforms into a bustling pizzeria slinging pizzas and cheesy, deep-dish pinwheel lasagnas for dinner paired with beer, natural wine, and Aperol spritzes.
Mascogo Tacos
Decatur
Chef Craig Headspeth took his pop-up, Mascogo Tacos, permanent in 2024. Here, the chef serves everything from mole negro de pollo to his fantastic tacos, including pollo volcano, al pastor, and Headspeth’s signature marinated grilled nopales or cactus pads.
Lil Tamale Boi
Pop-up/Farmers Markets
Owned by Chef Aldo Garcia, the tamales from this pop-up see handmade masa mixed with local and seasonal ingredients like chicken mole, meats from Spotted Trotter, squash blossoms, and earthy mushrooms steamed in banana leaves. Garcia then garnishes the tamales with fresh herbs, edible flowers, and pickled vegetables as well as from-scratch tangy and savory sauces and salsas. A sizable tamale costs just under $14.
Nakato Restaurant
Cheshire Bridge
Much like Korean barbecue, the Japanese steak house can be a very interactive dining experience. While the former is more DIY dining, teppanyaki at a Japanese steak house requires people to participate in a sort of culinary showcase. Teppanyaki also affords the chef room to show off their cooking skills and sense of humor with stunts like transforming rings of onions into a fiery, smoking volcano, shrimp-catching contests, or charming snaking flames tempted by a trail of oil along the grill.
Senpai Noodle Supply
Pop-Up
Founded by Nehemyah Price, Senpai’s Noodle Supply merges the Stone Mountain native’s love for ramen with the interplay of sweet, savory, and tangy flavors that define Atlanta wings. Think lemon pepper broth laden with squiggly ramen noodles and panko-breaded fried chicken garnished with green onions, celery, and a ramen egg.
Springfield BBQ Co.
Pop-Up/Roswell/Avondale Estates
The roving barbecue pop-up, run by Chef Mark Springfield, can often be found at area breweries like Variant Brewing Co. on Norcross Street in Roswell and Little Cottage Brewery on Olive Street in Avondale Estates. Order a tray of pulled pork, tender brisket, sausage links stuffed with caramelized onions and blue cheese, gumbo, and smoked gouda mac and cheese. Smoked meats come with both vinegary red sauce and mustard sauce.
Humble Mumble
Midtown
Chef and owner Justin Dixon named this Midtown sandwich shop for his favorite OutKast song. Dixon opened Humble Mumble at the Collective at Coda food hall in Midtown three years ago. Order meaty and mighty deli sandwiches like the Italian Job, or vegetarian sandwiches like the Captain Planet. Dixon layers the latter with a mildly spicy, sweet and savory flavor bomb of tikka masala chickpea spread, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickled onions, and a pile of crispy greens on ciabatta bread.
Eating Americana
Peachtree Corners
Chef James Chien refers to his Peachtree Corners restaurant, Eating Americana, as a “love letter” to American comfort food. Head to Chien’s restaurant for bone-in Southern fried chicken meals of white and dark meat served with tangy, garlic-parmesan mashed potatoes and green beans. Try the seafood spaghetti and fried shrimp plate, too.
Dil Bahar Cafe & Market
Sandy Springs
Norcross Pakistani bakery-cafe Dil Bahar recently opened a location in Sandy Springs. Order a duo of aloo paratha (herby-spiced potato-filled flatbread served with red ginger chutney and raita) and chicken tikka masala. Try savory chaat, samosas, or Masala fries. Don’t skip ordering a cup of Dil Bahar’s famous chai and treats like shahi tukray (saffron and cardamom-infused bread pudding).
La Calavera
Kirkwood
Served on sourdough crusts, order the birria red sauce pie topped with mozzarella, Guajillo braised brisket, red onions, cilantro, red chili sauce, or the Hola, Aloha topped with red sauce, mozzarella, Mexican chorizo, pineapple, red onions, and pickled jalapeños.
Minhwa Spirits + Ganji + Postern Coffee
Doraville
Owned by James Kim and Ming Han Chung, this dynamic duo produces Korean spirits like soju and makgeolli, along with a chai-infused gin. But they’ve opened their tasting room and cocktail bar to two other Asian-owned businesses: Postern Coffee and Korean food pop-up Ganji. The result is a triple threat of culinary talent across the board. Minhwa also serves cocktails.
Larakin
Midtown
Located on 12th Street in Midtown, just beyond the entrance to Piedmont Park, Larakin serves as both a coffee shop and wine bar. In the mornings, order a breakfast sandwich served on a fresh biscuit or buttery brioche bun with a fluffy folded egg, cheese, sausage patty or jamon, pickled red onions, and Lambrusco wine jam. In the afternoons, enjoy a thick slice of focaccia pizza, charcuterie and cheese, or a tinned fish spread with your wine.
