Farmers market bakery and biscuit stall Sugar Loaf will become a cafe later this winter, taking over the former Chick n’ Cone space in Reynoldstown.
Located across from Atlanta Dairies on Memorial Drive, the cafe will offer breakfast and lunch, include a small bakery, and serve Ethiopian and Albanian-inspired coffee and coffee drinks. Expect the pop-up’s biscuits and biscuit sandwiches here and the return of Sugar Loaf’s Liege waffles and smashburgers to the menu.
Sugar Loaf owners Nebi and Lindsay Berhane first met in the middle of the ocean in 2004 while working as dancers on the cruise ship circuit. Over the years, their paths continued to cross, until one day, they bumped into each other in Chicago and realized they were living blocks apart on the same street.
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Bonding over their shared love of dance was only equalled by the couple’s shared love of cooking, especially baking, a skill forged during childhood assisting their mothers in the kitchen.
“We grew up baking and cooking alongside our mothers. Nebi’s mom is an incredible baker and mills her own flour and cooks incredible Ethiopian food,” Lindsay said, whose mother was a home economics teacher in Virginia.
Growing up in Kennesaw, Nebi said his mother was known for her baked goods. Ethiopians in the community would often come to their house for a traditional meal that included desserts and sweets not found elsewhere in Atlanta.
“We lived in New York, Chicago, and LA. Amazing food cities, but we were living off of dancers’ budgets, so we learned to cook the food that we couldn’t afford to go out and eat, and started getting second jobs to support our dance careers,” Nebi explained of the impetus behind Sugar Loaf.
That’s how the Berhanes ended up working in restaurants, and later in bakeries, learning to make cuisines and pastries from around the world, including from their respective Ethiopian and Albanian family backgrounds.
But an Achilles tendon injury forced Nebi to stop dancing for six months. He threw himself into cooking and recipe testing. The couple was living in New York City at the time. Nebi worked at Levain’s Bakery, while Lindsay worked at Molly’s Cupcakes. When the pandemic shut down the bakeries for months in 2020, Nebi and Lindsay found themselves at a crossroads. With their lease ending and jobs in flux, the couple decided to make a change.
They had talked about moving to Atlanta and opening a bakery together. So when a weeks-long pandemic bake sale proved successful, the Berhanes headed south to Atlanta.
In 2021, Sugar Loaf launched and has become a staple at local farmers markets like Grant Park and the Piedmont Park Green Market.
The couple describes Sugar Loaf as “Southern-inspired” and “globally influenced,” with food and flavors that also tap into their Ethiopian and Albanian heritages.
Citrus, honey, and spices like cardamom, cumin, saffron, and coriander are commonly used in the cuisines of both countries, which feature large Muslim populations and share trade routes with the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean.
“We like to introduce people in Atlanta to the flavors of other countries using familiar Southern foods as vessels,” Nebi said. “Food is a unifying language that can connect people, so we take a lot of inspiration from our travels, our past culinary jobs, our families, and growing up in Georgia and Virginia.”
The dabo biscuit, for example, is inspired by a traditional Ethiopian bread similar to challah, spiced with nigella and ajwain seeds, and baked in banana leaves.
“We took those dabo flavors and put them into the biscuit, and we brush it with a traditional Ethiopian clarified butter called niter kibbeh, seasoned with holy basil, nigella, and ajwain as well as Ethiopian cardamom and koseret (herb),” Nebi explained. “We brush the biscuits before they go in the oven, and they come out with this amazing savory flavor, reminiscent of thyme, oregano, and onion, which pairs perfectly with egg and cheese or ham, egg, and cheese.”
At the Reynoldstown cafe, breakfast will feature Sugar Loaf’s dabo, buttermilk, and pimento cheese-studded biscuits and biscuit sandwiches, along with housemade granola and yogurt bowls and ricotta and fresh jam toasts. Look for Liege waffles and caramel-topped “sticky buna” infused with Ethiopian coffee on the weekends.
For lunch, the Berhanes plan to serve Sugar Loaf’s sought-after Oklahoma-style fried onion smashburger, sandwiches like the “World Tour,” made with Cajun-spiced mushrooms garnished with smashed cucumber salad, hazelnut romesco, and charred green onion mayo, Ethiopian lentil salads, and a zesty Albanian chicken sandwich.
Led by Nebi as Sugar Loaf’s head chef, baked goods will include slab pies, oversized cookies and cookie sandwiches, and baked goods like coffee cake.
Coffee will be featured heavily on the menu, nodding to the strong coffee cultures found in Ethiopia and Albania. Expect a robust tea program and seasonal drinks, such as hot chocolate and takes on the Arnold Palmer, and canned beer, wine, and cocktails.
Sugar Loaf will seat 30 people inside, including eight seats at the counter, with additional seating for up to 15 people on the patio.
Even after Sugar Loaf Cafe opens this winter in Reynoldstown, the Berhanes said they will continue to operate their farmers market stalls on the weekends.
“We wouldn’t dream of leaving the farmers markets. They’ve been such an amazing place for us to grow and get to know our customers by their first names, people who know us and our story,” Nebi said. “That’s been a big part of our business. We can’t forget that.”
Catch Sugar Loaf on Saturdays at the Piedmont Park Green Market in Midtown and Sundays at Grant Park Farmers Market.
Sugar Loaf, 780 Memorial Dr., Reynoldstown. Opening by early 2026,
