Table Talk: Lots of February restaurant openings
Feb. 24 — Happy Tuesday, friends! Welcome to the table.
In today’s “Family Meal,” I’m bringing you a quick roundup of February restaurant openings and announcements of upcoming restaurants, like the farmers market and restaurant consortium at Upper Westside Market and Japanese restaurant Koshu Club in Buckhead. I also tell you why I’m smitten with the mole tamal at Mi Oaxaquena in Doraville.
🎂 Marcus Bar & Grille chef Gary Caldwell shares his family’s recipe for burnt sugar cake. His family tends to make the cake with first grind sugar, but the restaurant swaps that ingredient for a burnt sugar syrup.
Lastly, I provide a few interesting food news nuggets, including two Atlanta chefs profiles I recommend reading, a feature story on Atlanta soul food, and the rise of murder mystery dinners.
🍸 Cheers!
Beth
February Restaurant Openings
👀 February may be the shortest month of the year, but it turned out to be a big month for restaurant openings around metro Atlanta. Nearly two dozen restaurants opened for business in February, equaling the openings of the previous month. And there are still four more days to go.
However, I have my eye on a number of upcoming restaurants announced in February, many of which will open in March and April. This includes the highly anticipated farmers market and restaurant consortium from Anne Quatrano at Upper Westside Market, and Japanese restaurant Koshu Club in Buckhead, from the Castellucci Hospitality Group.
Check out the quick, scannable list below, with links to our stories on specific restaurants, or links to a restaurant’s website.
🥂 Now Open
Salted Melon Market & Eatery (sandwiches, salads, smoothies)
Buckhead
Corbu’s Pizza
Buckhead
F1 Arcade (F1 simulators, bar bites, cocktails)
The Interlock (pictured)
Füm (Italian)
Stella at Star Metals
Taffer’s Tavern
Midtown
White Windmill Bakery & Cafe
Midtown
Stn 11 ATL (coffee, all-day restaurant, bar)
Midtown
Understory (monthly wine dinner series at Burle’s Bar)
Old Fourth Ward
PopUp Bagels
Old Fourth Ward
Wyld Bird (dinner, pollo asado at Home Grown)
Reynoldstown
Sugar Loaf Neighborhood Bakery & Cafe
Reynoldstown
Authentic Hand-Pulled Noodle House
Decatur
Canton Kitchen Authentic Chinese & Dim Sum
Decatur
Jim ‘N Nick’s
Tucker
Baby Blue (pizzeria at BlueTop)
Chamblee
Hey Yogurt (dessert, smoothies)
Doraville
Common Coffee & Cocktails
Doraville
Cafe Sparrow (coffee, pastries, sandwiches)
Roswell
Efendi Mediterranean Restaurant (Turkish)
Alpharetta
YAVA Kitchen and Brewhouse
Cumming
Ramyun Gallery and Lucky Claw (Korean)
Suwanee
The Library Bar (inside Scholar & Scribe)
Town Trilith, Fayetteville
🥳 Coming Attractions
Koshu Club (April; Japanese)
Buckhead
Upper Westside Market(March/early April)
(restaurants, retail, indoor farmers market from Anne Quatrano)
Underwood Hills
• Summerland (restaurant from Anne Quatrano)
• White Oak Pastures (beef, pork, chicken)
• Garnish & Gather (meal prep)
• Hop City Beer & Wine
• Prana Kitchens (South Asian)
• Noble Honey Company
• Honeysuckle Gelato
• Island Seafood Market & Oyster Bar
• Dips Kitchen (artisan dips)
• Pantry by Mikel (artisan cooking utensils, dishes, pantry goods)
• Xocolatl Chocolate
• Bellwood Coffee
• Georgia Peach Truck
• Blended Together (Caribbean cold-pressed juices, tonics)
• Pickles
• Pet Wants (fresh pet food)
• La Kiosque by Le Jardin Français (flowers, edible herbs)
• Woodland Wellness (wellness, spices, cleanse products)
• 68th & Monroe (personal care, beauty, body and skin care)
• Novare Events
Gocha’s All Day (2026; brunch, tapas)
Playa Bowls (2026; acai)
Atlantic Station
Ikara (March; fine dining, Indian)
Atlantic Station
Paris Baguette (2026)
Midtown
207 Peachtree (Spring; new restaurants and bars)
Downtown
CTR Food Works (May; food hall, 12 stalls)
The Center (former CNN Center), Downtown
Jagger Suite and Eggslut (Spring)
Downtown, Moxy Hotel
Chops Lobster Bar (Late 2026)
Centennial Yards, Downtown
New York’s Chopped Cheese (Spring)
Little Five Points
Te Quiero Tacos (March)
Switchman Hall, Peoplestown
Container Courtyard (Late spring; six food businesses)
Pittsburgh Yards, Pittsburgh
Unkie’s Pizza + Bar (2026)
Brookhaven
Rumi’s Kitchen (Reopening March 6)
Sandy Springs
MilkShake Factory (March 7)
Roswell
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The Move: Mole Tamal at Mi Oaxaquena
🫔 Mi Oaxaquena Authentic Mexican Food could get lost amongst its more well-known restaurant neighbors at the tiny Doraville shopping center on Shallowford Road. It shares real estate with Indonesian restaurant Batavia and popular Colombian restaurant Casa Vieja.
But Mi Oaxaquena holds its own just fine. And while the traditional Oaxacan tlayuda, served folded over here like a giant quesadilla, takes pride of place on the menu, I’m smitten with the mole chicken tamal ($4).
🍫 Mole negro infuses the masa with a subtle nuttiness. The nixtamalized corn dough is then stuffed with savory shredded chicken and wrapped in a banana leaf. As the banana leaf steams, it imparts a vegetal earthiness to the masa, resulting in a velvety richness that isn’t overpowering and is a pure pleasure to eat.
Burnt Sugar Cake Recipe
From Chef Gary Caldwell
🍰 This week, Chef Gary Caldwell shares the recipe for Marcus Bar & Grille’s burnt sugar cake. Burnt sugar cake, a predecessor to caramel cake, is a historic Black Southern dessert dating back to the 19th century. The cake is also deeply rooted in Caldwell’s own family history.
Caldwell grew up in Raceland, Louisiana. The community is home to the Raceland Raw Sugar mill, one of the oldest operating sugar mills in the United States. Caldwell’s father worked at Raceland for 30 years and often brought home pure, uncut (first grind) sugar straight from the mill.
First grind sugar is essentially what the mill ships to sugar companies for processing, and is not available at stores. Before sugar cane is ground, it’s burned, resulting in a lightly smoked aftertaste.
🍯 Caldwell’s family used first grind sugar for everything, including the burnt sugar cake his aunt prepared for holidays and special occasions. While you may not be able to procure first grind sugar, you can replicate the taste using burnt sugar syrup.
Caldwell shares the recipe for his family’s cake with you, along with the recipe for making burnt sugar syrup used to replace first grind sugar.
News Nuggets
👩🍳 Rough Draft/Georgia Voice reporter Katie Burkholder wrote a lovely profile on Chef Liv Hurst and how she’s creating a welcoming space through food at Cattle Shed Wine and Steak Bar in Alpharetta. Hurst, an Agnes Scott College alum, worked for restaurants like Kyma and Atlanta Fish Market before becoming the Executive Chef of Cattle Shed in 2021.
🇪🇹 Speaking of chefs, read this superb profile from The Atlanta Voice on Chef Ali Lemma and Ruki’s Kitchen, an Ethiopian pop-up-turned-restaurant now open at Switchman Hall in Peoplestown.
🍽️ One of my favorite Charlestonian chefs and food writers, Amethyst Ganaway, wrote about Atlanta’s past and present soul food scene for BBC Travel, and it’s a stunner of a feature story worth your reading time.
🦐 Shrimp labeling transparency legislation continues to sweep through the Gulf and Southeastern states, including Georgia. The labeling law would require restaurants to disclose whether shrimp served on the menu is imported. South Carolina joined Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia by introducing South Carolina House Bill 4248 this month. Read more about what prompted these bills here.
🍹 Over at Punch, drinks writer Nico Vera goes deep into the history of Coctel de Algarrobina (“Peruvian eggnog-like drink spiked with aguardiente”). The cocktail is currently sweeping through bars in Lima. Any ATL bars whipping this cocktail up for me to try? Hit me up at beth@roughdraftatlanta.com with details.
🔪 Do I need to take a trip to The Six Bells Countryside Inn in the Hudson Valley to partake in a murder mystery weekend complete with dinner and cocktails? Apparently Bloomberg spotted a murder mystery vacation trend. Closer to home, French restaurant Petite Violette hosts monthly “Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem” four-course dinners for $75 per person that include professional actors and audience participation.
➡️ Get double the Atlanta food and dining coverage with “Family Meal,” edited by Beth McKibben, on Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and “Side Dish,” edited by Sarra Sedghi, on Thursdays at noon. Subscribe to both here. ⬅️