Poncey-Highland restaurant El Ponce is about to develop a serious sweet tooth.
James Beard-nominated pastry chef Claudia Martinez (Tiny Lou’s, Miller Union) and a silent partner teamed up to launch ANA Hospitality. The two are now collaborating with Rosa Thurnher, the owner of El Ponce, to open a dessert and cocktail bar called Bar ANA this summer, taking over the former El Bar space beneath the Ponce de Leon Avenue restaurant.
During the day, Bar ANA will act as a coffee shop, offering a rotating pastry menu, savory snacks, and drinks from an acclaimed local barista. At night, the focus will shift to cocktails, sophisticated desserts, and music, nodding to El Bar’s past as a hip-hop dance club.
“We have a very strong cocktail program upstairs, but this one will be focused on a nicer quality of drink and presentation,” Thurnher said. Although Martinez can’t reveal further details about the cocktails, including who will run the bar program, she noted the menu will feature a seasonal daiquiri made with local ingredients on the menu.
The food menu will include Venezuelan chocolate mousse with candied hazelnuts and passion fruit, fried doughnuts with seasonal fruit compote and house-made ice cream, a local charcuterie and cheese selection, and a limited dessert tasting menu comprised of a rotating collection of Martinez’s signature desserts and pastries.
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El Bar originally opened in 2005 as a pub below El Ponce in a basement space behind the restaurant. A year later, Thurnher took it over, transforming El Bar into a dance club. Ten years later, Thurnher became the owner of El Ponce upstairs.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Thurnher to close El Bar. But rather than having El Bar remain vacant, she opened retail shop Tiendita there in 2020, where she also regularly hosts coffee pop-ups, including with Flow Coffee and Enid Coffee.
Luckily, Thurnher said, she never gave up the liquor license for El Bar.
Martinez’s resume includes four Atlanta restaurants, a 2019 Eater Young Gun award, two James Beard Award nominations, a Southern Foodways Alliance Karen Barker Baker award, a Star Chefs award, and a stint on Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets.” She left Miller Union at the end of December.
While she’s done multiple pop-ups (both desserts and drinks on Sundays and Cafe Claudia) at Miller Union, Martinez said she’s been ready to pursue an independent project. She’s had to limit herself to Atlanta’s current pop-up scene.
“I wanted to create a space that can give that elevated experience without it feeling pretentious or stuffy,” she said of her vision for Bar ANA.
Martinez spent all of 2024 working on ANA Hospitality, talking to potential partners and exploring potential venues. A longtime El Ponce customer, Martinez and Thurnher first worked together at a pop-up dinner featuring Maricela Vega (8ARM, Tio Lucho’s). Thurnher suggested the El Bar space as a potential pop-up venue for Martinez over a glass of wine at 3 Parks Wine shop. Eventually, discussions led to Thurnher offering El Bar to Martinez as a permanent location.
“I’m a serial entrepreneur, but I always look for opportunities to collaborate,” Thurnher said. “I thrive on giving people opportunities. You know, the reason I have El Ponce is because I had someone who believed in me, so I think it’s important to pay that forward.”
The Ponce de Leon Avenue dessert and cocktail bar becomes full circle for Martinez, who rose to critical acclaim as the pastry chef at Tiny Lou’s at the Hotel Clermont just down the street.
Bar ANA should open this summer, with both the coffee shop and cocktail bar initially operating Thursday through Monday. Thurnher said coffee service will likely end around 3 or 4 p.m., with bar service starting at 6 p.m. and running until midnight or 1 a.m.
“I’m so excited to bring the neighborhood something that I think they will love,” Thurnher said.
Bar ANA, 939 Ponce de Leon Ave., Poncey-Highland. Opening Summer 2025.