Vino Venue nixes its restaurant + Nostalgia dining at Chili’s
Dec. 18 —For today’s Side Dish, we have a roundup of Atlanta restaurants offering parties and special dinners for New Year’s Eve. Plus, we have stories on the closure of Vino Venue’s restaurant in Dunwoody and on the European-inspired cafe replacing JavaVino in Poncey-Highland, catering to remote workers.
➕ In other Atlanta dining news, get details on a new Alpharetta Mediterranean-Italian restaurant, an upcoming cocktail bar headed to Westside Paper, and why nostalgia dining is leading to big sales at chain restaurants. We share where you can celebrate Noche Buena in Atlanta this weekend, and sad news of the passing of Radio Roasters Coffee founder Chip Grabow.
In case you missed it in your inbox on Tuesday evening, here’s a link to the latest edition of “Family Meal“. In it, Beth shares how the restaurants of “Funwoody” transformed a sleepy strip mall in the heart of Dunwoody into a bustling food and drinks hub for locals. She also talks up the chicken piccata and hot toddy at Breaker Breaker. And Sarra shares an Atlanta grandma’s recipe for sweet kugel.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth and 🍰 Sarra
Have You Heard?
🥂 Restaurant Opening
Mediterranean-Italian restaurant Siena will open in Alpharetta on Dec. 20, taking over the former Gormania and Seven Seas Mediterranean Café spaces on Devore Road. The menu features dishes like sweet potato falafel, harissa chicken lollipops, and honey-lavender lamb chops. A children’s menu is also available, and brunch will begin early next year.
🍸 Coming Attraction
The team behind MidCity cocktail bar in Midtown will open Omma next year at Westside Paper. Leaning more towards a restaurant than a cocktail bar, look for Omma to feature an expanded drinks menu from that of MidCity and serve “internationally inspired food.” Omma joins Dumpling Factory, El Santo Gallo, and Pancake Social at the complex.
Since opening in 2023, Westside Paper has lost three food and dining establishments, including Elsewhere Brewing, Boxcar Betty’s, and Bar Diver. In an attempt to slow down closures last year, the developer shifted to courting and leasing to larger retail tenants like Padel Haus, Construction Resources Design, and Carbon Performance to help anchor the complex. Westside Paper resides along a spur trail of the Northwest Beltline, which was heavily promoted in the early days of the development and its shoutout for restaurant and bar tenants. At the time, the spur trail had yet to materialize. It finally opened in March and links to the Westside Beltline Connector.
Related: Will the Northwest Beltline boost Westside Atlanta restaurants?
🆘 Help Needed
The Atlanta Community Food Bank said this week that demand for food in December is 70% higher than during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic more than three years ago. Rising rents and cost of living have spiked in recent months, while hiring has remained mostly stagnant since President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs in April.
Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) just received a $100,000 challenge grant that will allow the nonprofit to match any monetary donations dollar-for-dollar through the end of December. You can donate to ACFB here.
🕊️ RIP
Radio Roasters founder Chip Grabow passed away suddenly on Dec. 11 after experiencing a medical emergency. Grabow founded Radio Roasters in 2014, opening the coffee roastery and coffee bar in Decatur, while also working as a producer at NPR. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that people donate to NPR in Grabow’s memory to help support the publicly funded news organization.
🍝 Nostalgia Fuels Chain Restaurant Dining
If you’ve seen full parking lots at your local Applebee’s, Olive Garden, or Chili’s in 2025, you’re not alone. Nostalgia dining and viral cheese pulls on social media have led to an uptick in patrons at chain restaurants across the country this year. Economic and political uncertainties seem to be driving the return to chain restaurants, as people seek comfort, familiarity, and affordability in their dining experiences. As for those viral cheese pulls on social media, with 1990s fashion trending, it appears Gen Z has also discovered the glories of Chili’s.
But nostalgia-driven dining is also trending on the local level. Across Atlanta this year, restaurants launched weekly specials, leaned into desserts, and served childhood food memories on plates in an attempt to attract price-conscious diners and boost sluggish sales.
Related: As people scale back dining out, Atlanta restaurants roll out budget-friendly menus.
📆 Add to Your Calendar
Peruvian restaurant Tio Lucho’s in Poncey-Highland will host Noche Buena (“Good Night”) on Dec. 20, inspired by the late-night Christmas Eve celebrations of Peru and Latin America and other Spanish and Spanish-colonized countries like the Philippines. Expect holiday decor and twinkling lights, seasonal drinks and special dishes, and live music beginning at 10 p.m.
“Noche Buena is how I grew up celebrating the holidays. Families come together late, nobody rushes dinner, and midnight is when things really get going. That’s the feeling I want people to experience here,” Chef Arnaldo Castillo said of the event.
Noche Buena kicks off at 4 p.m. on Dec. 20. Reservations are highly encouraged.
Georgia Grown Holiday Gifts at Cook’s Warehouse
SPONSORED BY GEORGIA GROWN
🍑 Georgia Grown goodies make the best gifts! Whether you buy them for stocking stuffers or you build your own beautiful gift basket, nothing says you’ve got great taste like a gift from our local craft food makers!
Stop by for chef demonstrations to sample a few bites, and meet the farmers!
✨ Join us Sat., Dec. 20 from 9 a.m.- 8 p.m. at Cook’s Warehouse at Ansley Mall.
Top Stories From the Week
Vino Venue nixes its restaurant after 13 years
🍷 Following dinner service on Dec. 20, the full-service restaurant part of Dunwoody wine bar Vino Venue will close after 13 years.
But Vino Venue will continue to host wine tastings and wine-centric events paired with food from Chef Patric Good, as well as its popular cooking and wine certification classes.
Sunsetting the restaurant will allow Vino Venue’s owners and staff to focus on expanding the wine shop and catering and private events operations.
⏩ Read more about the decision and future plans here.
Atlanta restaurants ringing in 2026
🥳 We’ve rounded up a slew of special New Year’s Eve dinners at restaurants around Atlanta to help you ring in 2026. Reservations and tickets are disappearing fast, so make your move today, because it’s never too early to plan New Year’s Eve festivities.
Check out opentable.com and Resy.com for a more comprehensive list of Atlanta restaurants throwing New Year’s Eve bashes.
⏩ Get our list of New Year’s Eve dining events here.
European-inspired cafe for remote workers replacing JavaVino
☕💻 European-inspired coffee shop and cafe At Arbeta will open in the former JavaVino space next year, blending modern cafe culture and a flexible workspace under one roof.
At Arbeta aims to provide a productive yet affordable option for Atlanta’s remote workers who may only need coworking space on occasion. Renovations will see charging ports installed throughout, along with creating work-friendly alcoves and private rooms for video meetings and presentations.
Expect coffee, food, cocktails, and wine served throughout the day.
⏩ Read more about At Arbeta here.
At the Market + Two Recipes
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS
🍠 Each week, Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets are partnering to give you two recipes that you can make using ingredients from your local farmers market. If you love sweet potatoes, we’ve got you in mind this week. Impress all your friends with a sweet potato soufflé or a hearty sweet potato-based soup. Check out both recipes here.
🖋️ Today’s Side Dish was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.