Midtown Restaurant Closures & FoodTok Trends

Midtown Restaurant Closures + FoodTok + Driving for Uber Eats

June 5 — For today’s Side Dish, we’re offering two recipes, including one for a strawberry-peach quinoa dessert. There are also stories from our SCAD journalism mentees on why college students are turning to TikTok for cooking advice and what it’s really like driving for delivery apps like Uber Eats.

➕ Plus, we have roundups of the best dishes we ate last month from restaurants around Atlanta and a slew of May restaurant openings you might have missed.

🍽️ As always, get the latest Atlanta dining news, including the closures of Social Bites Food Hub in Sandy Springs and Mukja Korean Fried Chicken and Taco Mac in Midtown, and announcements of new locations for Little Tart Bakeshop and Tyde Tate Kitchen. Plus, other Atlanta dining news to know.

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 story on the expansion plans for Mothers Best Fried Chicken in downtown Decatur and where to find huevos motuleños for brunch off Shallowford Road.

Cheers from the Rough Draft dining team!

🍸 Beth and 🍰 Sarra

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Have You Heard?

😭 Restaurant closures

ICYMI the last remaining intown location of Taco Mac closed in Midtown earlier this week. Located on Peachtree Street, the sports bar and restaurant closed abruptly on Monday, just three weeks after the sudden closure of the original location in Virginia-Highland. A representative declined to speak further on the closure of the OG Taco Mac last month, including what specifically led to the decision, other than it was part of “Taco Mac’s strategic evolution and regional growth plan.” It appears this may also be the case for Taco Mac in Midtown.

Peter Chung and Sean Chang closed Mukja Korean Fried Chicken this week after nearly five years in Midtown. For Chang, who is wheelchair-bound following a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, said the closure simply came down to prioritizing his health. “…health comes first above all else. I do have some good days, but the majority of the month is a struggle, and I’m tired of having to give 110% to even function normally,” Chang wrote in the closure post. “Being disabled is difficult enough, but having an injury with subsiding pain and problems makes it so much more difficult to continue.”

Mini food hall Social Bites closed last week after less than a year on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. Dubbed a “food hub” rather than a food hall by owner Experiential Brands, Social Bites featured a bar and four fast food restaurants serving everything from hot chicken to tacos across two levels. However, an Instagram post indicated the owners are looking for a new location.

🎉 Coming attractions

A fourth location of Little Tart Bakeshop will open next year in Candler Park. The popular bakery and cafe, owned by Sarah O’Brien, will take over the former Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party space on McLendon Avenue. The tea room relocated to Grant Park earlier this year, becoming part of biscuit and coffee shop Howdy ATL across from Zoo Atlanta.

Thai restaurant Tyde Tate Kitchen will open this summer in the former Recess space at Krog Street Market, according to a press release. Owned by brother and sister Sai Untachantr and Bank Bhamaraniyama, Tyde Tate includes locations at Chattahoochee Food Works and along Hotel Row in South Downtown.

🍹 More Krog Street Market news

Hop off the Eastside Beltline for a drink and snacks at the Refreshtent posted outside Ticonderoga Club at Krog Street Market. All summer long on the weekends, from noon to 3 p.m., Ticonderoga Club will serve frozen drinks and snacks like BEC sandwiches from a tent just outside the back door to the restaurant off Krog Street.

📆 Must-attend June dining events

Starting June 12, Tio Lucho’s chef Arnaldo Castillo will kick off a month-long residency at Wild Heaven Beer in Avondale Estates, serving Peruvian street food from his Hermanita pop-up.

On June 22, a Juneteenth edition of Bien Vegano Market takes place at King of Pops world headquarters on Decatur Street. Starting at 4 p.m., expect vegan food from Black restaurant pop-ups and chefs, along with drinks, DJs, and dancing.

Also on June 22, Kevin Gillespie’s Glenwood Park restaurant Gunshow will host Charleston-based chefs and restaurateurs Jill Mathias and Juan Cassalett, co-owners of Chez Nous and Malagón Mercado y Tapería. Part of the restaurant’s “Hired Guns” series, expect a menu of traditional tapas dishes using ingredients from Spain and the South Carolina Low Country. Tickets are $300 per person. Dinner begins at 8:30 p.m.

The second annual Atlanta International Night Market returns to Chamblee City Hall June 27-28 with over 60 food and craft vendors representing countries from around the world. Free to attend, the festival is expected to draw close to 10,000 people over the weekend, celebrating food, art, and cultural performances from Asian, Latin American, and European countries.

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Did you miss these May restaurant openings?

🆕 Check out this brief roundup of recent restaurant openings – and announcements of upcoming restaurants – you might have missed in May.

➡️ Read the full list of May openings here.

These were the best dishes we ate in May

🍴As dining reporters, part of our job is to eat at restaurants for stories we report on and guides we produce. Every Tuesday, Beth spotlights a best dish from one of these restaurant excursions for her column “The Move” in our “Family Meal” newsletter. Sarra rounds up her favorite dishes at the end of each month.

😋Our best bites from May dining ranged from shrimp and grit cakes (pictured) from a new brunch restaurant and red joojeh kebabs from a new Persian restaurant, to lamb dumplings from a Uzbek restaurant and pairing wine flights with food from pop-ups in Chamblee.

➡️ Check out the dishes we couldn’t stop thinking about in May.

At the Market + Two Recipes

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS

🥦 Whether you’re looking for a salad to refresh you on a hot summer day or a delicious sweet treat, we’ve got you covered. Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets are partnering weekly to give you two recipes using fresh ingredients from your local market. This week, we have recipes for a strawberry-peach quinoa dessert and broccoli pecan salad. Click here for the recipes.

🖋️ Today’s Side Dish was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.

😵‍💫 Driver pitfalls with Uber Eats