Restaurant Industry Film Benefits Giving Kitchen + Beltline Dumplings
Aug. 22 — For today’s Side Dish, we’re offering two recipes, including one for butternut squash latkes using fresh produce from the farmers market. Read Beth’s story on the owners of Home Grown purchasing the restaurant’s Reynoldstown property and their plans for the beloved Southern diner over the coming weeks.
Rough Draft’s Sammie Purcell gives you a sneak peek at a new comedy-horror movie debuting in September at the Plaza Theatre, centered on employees working the Christmas Eve shift at a restaurant. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Atlanta restaurant industry nonprofit Giving Kitchen.
➕ We’ve updated our guide to the best culinary classes around Metro Atlanta, from Neapolitan pizza-making and the basics of butchery to the importance of knife sharpening and a luxe caviar tasting experience.
🍽️ As always, get the latest Atlanta dining news, like details on the opening of Northern China Eatery on the Beltline and the debut of Monday Night Brewing’s new taproom this weekend. We also share information on some upcoming openings, including White Windmill at Uptown Atlanta, as well as must-attend dining events. Plus, more 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 outtakes from Beth’s interview with Chef Craig Richards, who opened Elise this week at the Woodruff Arts Center, and where to grab a Friday night smashburger with a $9 martini. Sarra provides you with a recipe for Chai Pani’s achari baingan (eggplant with pickling spices).
Cheers from the Rough Draft dining team!
🍸 Beth and 🍰 Sarra
🌟 Celebrate Atlanta’s creative spirit at the 23rd annual Summer Shade Festival in historic Grant Park! Aug 23–24, enjoy live music, 140+ artists, vintage treasures, food, drinks & family fun—all free and benefitting the Grant Park Conservancy. More info here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Have You Heard?
🥂 Restaurant Openings
The Beltline location of Northern China Eatery opened this week in the Shoppes at Citizen building along the Eastside Trail. The original location of Northern China Eatery on Buford Highway has long been a popular spot for dumplings in Metro Atlanta. Owner Fan Zhang also opened The Dumpling Factory last summer at Westside Paper on West Marietta Street.
Monday Night Brewing will open its new taproom called The Grove at 670 Trabert Ave on Aug. 23 in conjunction with the newest section of the Atlanta Beltline Northwest Trail. Located less than a mile from the 14th Street and Howell Mill Road corridor, the broadened space, which sits directly on the Beltline, will provide room for 18 more taps and a counter-service restaurant offering a daily coffee service, pastries, sandwiches, and pizza. Monday Night Brewing’s original Westside taproom closed to the public earlier this week and will begin hosting private events.
🤩 Coming Attractions
The Uptown Atlanta location of Korean-French bakery-cafe White Windmill near the Lindbergh MARTA station will open on Sept. 6, joining other new restaurants at the transit-oriented complex, including Madre Selva, Bene Korean Steakhouse, El Gordo, and J’ouvert Caribbean Kitchen.
A location of wood-fired grill and seafood chain J. Alexander’s will open at the Battery Atlanta next Spring.
☕ Bellwood Coffee Relocation
The East Atlanta Village location of Bellwood Coffee will close at the end of the year ahead of its relocation to Grant Park. Bellwood will take over the former Bennett’s Market space at the corner of Boulevard and Rosalia Street in early 2026. The coffee shop also includes locations in Riverside and on Peachtree Street in southern Buckhead. A location of Bellwood Coffee will open inside the expanded Little Shop of Stories bookstore in Decatur later this year.
🤔 News to Know
Chef Nick Melvin and his team at Communidad Taqueria in the Old Fourth Ward just launched a gluten-free menu, with dedicated areas for preparing dishes separately and with dedicated utensils and storage areas. Take a look at the new menu.
The 2025 Atlanta Food & Wine Festival tasting tents will relocate to the Home Depot Backyard beside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This year’s four-day food festival takes place Sept. 11-14 and will include more than 200 restaurants and chefs from around the Southeast. Previously held at Historic Fourth Ward Park, the move to the Home Depot Backyard will provide more space for the festival tasting tents and access to MARTA rail via the Vine City Station across the street. Purchase tickets to the tasting tents and dining events here.
📆 Add to Your Calendar
Chef Nick Leahy’s Vice Kitchen in Johns Creek will host its monthly Sausage Fest tonight, from 4-7 p.m. The family-friendly food event features grilled brats, Argentinian sausages, and house-made sausages paired with potato salad and chips for $20 per person. Beer and wine are also available.
Chef DeeDee Niyomkul of Nan Thai will team up with Chef Joey Ward of Southern Belle and Georgia Boy for a dinner showcasing Thai and Southern food. The $250 four-course dinner includes wine pairings and takes place at Nan Thai in Buckhead. Proceeds benefit CURE Childhood Cancer.
Taste, sip, and celebrate!
SPONSORED BY GRAND TASTING ALPHARETTA
🍾 Raise your glass on Aug. 28 at The Hotel at Avalon for the Grand Tasting Alpharetta!
Experience a one-night-only celebration of Alpharetta’s top restaurants with unlimited tastings, wine, craft beer, and cocktails. Enjoy live music, chef demos, and more in a 21+ setting. Don’t miss this unforgettable night of flavor and fun!
🎫 The party starts at 7 p.m. Get your tickets today!
Top Stories From the Week
Beloved Southern diner Home Grown staying put in Reynoldstown
🥳 The restaurant news we all needed.
Last week, Chef Kevin Clark and Lisa Spooner purchased the building in which their diner, Home Grown, has served its coveted comfy chicken biscuits, Southern fare, and “Blue Collar” lunch specials for 15 years.
Over the last five years, they’ve navigated Home Grown through the tumult of a global pandemic, wild fluctuations in the economy, threats of closure, and rising rents caused by booming development in the neighborhood. Purchasing the property secures Home Grown’s place in Reynoldstown for years to come and marks the beginning of a new chapter for the restaurant.
➡️ Read Beth’s full interview with Chef Kevin Clark here.
‘We’re So Dead’ is a comedy-horror film by the service industry, for the service industry
🎬 “We’re So Dead,” a new film from writer/director Ken MacLaughlin, takes every service industry workers’ fear of a Karen – or, a person with a certain amount of entitlement who might ask to “speak to a manager” at the slightest inconvenience – and amplifies it times one thousand. MacLaughlin calls the movie “a film for the service industry and by the service industry.”
Taking place at a restaurant during the Christmas Eve shift, this horror comedy details a harrowing and hilarious sequence of events that begins with someone crying poor service and ends in murder.
“We’re So Dead” will premiere at the Plaza Theatre on Sept. 22. $2.13 – AKA, the wage that a waiter earns without tips – of the ticket price will go toward the nonprofit Giving Kitchen, which helps food service workers through financial assistance and community resources.
➡️ Read more from Rough Draft’s Sammie Purcell here.
Culinary classes to keep your kitchen skills sharp
🔪 Whether you’re an avid home cook, love mixing it up behind the bar at home, enjoy wine tastings, or simply want to learn something new before the next dinner party, these classes from Atlanta chefs, bakeries, and cooking schools will help keep your skills sharp.
From the art of Neapolitan pizza-making and the basics of butchery to the importance of knife sharpening and a luxe caviar tasting experience, here’s where to start your culinary learning journey in Atlanta.
➡️ Check out the classes here.
📚 For many students and young adults, entering the workforce can be a challenge without the proper skills, resources, and community support. Learn why Georgia Power joined 14 other partners to launch the You’re Employed and Skilled (YES) Workforce Academy. SPONSOR MESSAGE
At the Market + Two Recipes
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS
🌶️ Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets are partnering to give you two tasty recipes that you can make using ingredients from your local farmers market. This week, we’ve got peppers and squash on the brain: try out these recipes for butternut squash latkes and blistered shishito peppers. Check out both recipes here.
