Michelin-recommended Bomb Biscuit relocating
May 22 — It’s Thursday! Time for a little “Side Dish.”
For today’s Side Dish, we’re offering two recipes, including one for lahmajoun (Armenian flatbread pizza), using what’s in season at your local farmers market. Our MARTA dining guide series continues this week and features Lindbergh Center station and Uptown Atlanta.
➕ Plus, we have stories on the openings of an Italian restaurant on the Eastside Beltline and a Uzbek restaurant in Alpharetta. And, as always, read the latest roundup of Atlanta dining news, including the announcement that baker Erika Council will relocate her Michelin-recommended restaurant, Bomb Biscuit, to Grant Park this summer, and that Atlanta-based ASW Distillery will open at Hartsfield.
In case you missed it in your inbox on Tuesday evening, here’s a link to the latest edition of “Family Meal.” It features a deep dive into the history of the margarita, a recipe for the popular house margarita at El Ponce, and where to find a very Atlanta take on chargrilled oysters.
One programming note: Beth will become part of the new WABE “City Lights Collective,” starting in July, after longtime host Lois Reitzes retires next month. Debuting July 7, and similar in design to NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” the show will be hosted by Kim Drobes and Jon Goode and include interviews, local stories, field reports, and conversations led by a rotating group of contributors like Beth. In addition to other food and dining stories for City Lights, catch the “Beverage Beat with Beth McKibben” each month, where she discusses Atlanta’s cocktail and drinks scene. Listen to Beth’s next Beverage Beat segment on May 27, which delves into the history and popularity of the margarita in America.
Cheers from the Rough Draft dining team!
🍸 Beth and 🍰 Sarra
🫒 Sip, savor, and celebrate at Food That Rocks on June 5! Enjoy unlimited tastings, drinks, live music, and more – all supporting local organizations. Join the party at City Springs in Sandy Springs! Grab your tickets now! SPONSOR MESSAGE
Have You Heard?
💥 Michelin-recommended restaurant relocating
Baker Erika Council will relocate her popular Michelin Bib Gourmand breakfast restaurant Bomb Biscuit from North Highland Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward to the Larkin at Memorial in Grant Park this summer, according to the AJC’s Mike Jordan, senior editor of the paper’s Black culture section, UATL. Bomb Biscuit will take over the former Woodward & Park restaurant space across from Perc coffee shop at the complex.
🥬 Westview vegan restaurant rebrand
It appears the Westview location of Slutty Vegan will actually become a brand new vegan sandwich restaurant from owner Pinky Cole called Voagies. Located on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, Voagies opens this Sat., May 23, at noon.
🌮 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives x El Tesoro
Remember when we told you in March that Guy Fieri was in town filming episodes for his series “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”? Atlanta-based Yumbii has already been featured on the program. Catch the episode featuring Edgewood taqueria El Tesoro on Fri., May 23, at 9 p.m. To celebrate its appearance with the Mayor of Flavortown, El Tesoro is throwing a watch party on the patio with cocktail specials and food specials, including carnitas guerrero and barbacoa mulitas. Fieri was also spotted in Summerhill, downtown Decatur, and Olive & Pine in Avondale Estates, with sources indicating he may have popped in to visit How Crispy Express and The Deer and The Dove. Those episodes air soon.
🇯🇵 Avondale Estates izakaya update
Speaking of Olive & Pine, an eagle-eyed Rough Draft reader spied a sign indicating Enso Izakaya has begun hiring for its location at the Avondale Estates complex, also home to Commune listening lounge and wine bar. Enso Izakaya should open by the end of June or early July. A bagel shop will also open soon across from Leftie Lee’s sandwich shop and bakery at Olive & Pine.
🥃 Atlanta bourbon distillery heads to Hartsfield
Bourbon distillery ASW Distillery will open ASW Flights & Bites this summer on Concourse B at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Construction began earlier in the spring.
🧑🍳 Aria bidding adieu to Chef Gerry Klaskala
After announcing his retirement from Aria in April, Chef Gerry Klaskala will depart the Buckhead restaurant he founded 25 years ago on June 14. Klaskala and his business partners turned the keys to the fine dining institution over to Aria’s long-tenured general manager and sommelier, Andrés Loaiza. A new chef will officially take over the kitchen at the critically acclaimed restaurant next month.
‼️ FINALLY!
Side Saddle Wine Saloon, which recently opened in Boulevard Heights, finally obtained its liquor license this week. Expect wines by the glass, cocktails, and a full menu of food from Chef Carla Fears.
🎥 “Murdaugh Murders” films at Dunwoody restaurant
Morty’s Meat & Supply in the Dunwoody Village became a film set on May 16. The restaurant, owned by David Abes of DASH Hospitality, closed while Hulu took over to film the limited series based on the infamous murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh by their husband and father, South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. The series stars Madeline Popovich, Jessi Case, and Mark Pellegrino. Read more from Rough Draft’s Sammie Purcell.
Sip, savor, and celebrate!
SPONSORED BY FOOD THAT ROCKS
🫒 Join us on Thurs., June 5 for Food That Rocks, a tasting event presented by Taste of Atlanta, celebrating Sandy Springs’ diverse restaurant scene. This one-of-a-kind food festival brings incredible energy outdoors at City Springs, where you’ll sip, savor, and celebrate the community’s vibrant culinary scene.
Get unlimited tastes from 20+ of Sandy Springs’ best restaurants and bakeries, and more than a dozen wine, beer, and cocktail tastings. The evening also includes live music from Java Monkey and CJ and the Doughboys, plus Chef Chats and mixology demos on the Publix Cooking Stage.
🎉 Food That Rocks is a “Party with a Purpose” in partnership with Second Helpings Atlanta.
Top Stories From the Week
MARTA dining guide to Lindbergh Center station
This Rough Draft dining series will continue throughout 2025, highlighting restaurants in cities and neighborhoods within easy walking distance or a short bus ride from MARTA rail stations.
🚆 Located at the intersection of Piedmont Road and Lindbergh Drive, the Lindbergh Center MARTA station serves both the Gold and Red lines. While technically considered part of Buckhead, Lindbergh has its own neighborhood feel, thanks to a microcosm of restaurants, bars, and even apartments centered around it.
This dining guide spotlights nine restaurants easily accessible from the Lindbergh Center MARTA station. In fact, some restaurants are part of the adjacent mixed-use development, Uptown Atlanta, a $70 million revamp of the shopping and dining district. All of the restaurants listed are within short walking distance from the MARTA station.
➡️ Check out the Lindbergh station guide here.
➡️ Check out our other MARTA dining guides here.
Yeppa & Co. opens across from Krog Street Market
🍝 The second location of Italian restaurant Yeppa & Co. opened this week at Junction Krog District, across from Krog Street Market on the Eastside Beltline.
Backed by Yeppa Studios restaurant group (Storico Fresco, Forza Storico), Yeppa & Co. is open for dinner on weekdays and all-day dining on the weekends. Expect dishes at the Beltline location like antipasti, insalata, taglieri, focaccia pizzas, and pasta, including cacio e pepe and tagliatelle alla bolognese.
Look for lunch service to begin soon, and a grab-and-go window to launch in the coming weeks, serving espresso, gelato, and paninis.
➡️ Read the full story here.
Laghman Express brings Uzbek food to Alpharetta
This story was first published in 285 South, a news publication dedicated to Metro Atlanta’s immigrant and refugee communities, and is part of a partnership with Rough Draft Atlanta. Beth also wrote about the manty (lamb dumplings) and the guyurou laghman noodles from Laghman Express in the May 6 edition of “Family Meal.”
🇺🇿 Open for a month, Uzbek and Central Asian restaurant Laghman Express in Alpharetta is an extension of a Brooklyn business, which, within six months of launching in 2023, was named one of the best restaurants in New York City by The New York Times.
Atlanta was a natural choice for a second location, co-owner Babur Akhmedov said, speaking from experience: When he moved here more than a decade ago from Kyrgyzstan, he bemoaned the lack of good Uzbek food. Islam is a major religion in Central Asia – Uzbekistan’s population is more than 90% Muslim – and, Akhmedov noted, that many of the Atlanta Metro’s Muslim populations overlap in northern Fulton County. “We came up saying, ‘Okay, Alpharetta is the best place to open’.”
➡️ Read more about Laghman Express from 285 South.
🫒 Sip, savor, and celebrate at Food That Rocks on June 5! Enjoy unlimited tastings, drinks, live music, and more – all supporting local organizations. Join the party at City Springs in Sandy Springs! Grab your tickets now! SPONSOR MESSAGE
At the Market + Two Recipes
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS
🧅 So many veggies, so little time. Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets are partnering to bring you two great recipes using fresh ingredients from your local farmers market. This week, we’ve got a vegan twist on ceviche and a recipe for lahmajoun. Check them out here!
🖋️ Today’s Side Dish was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
