Table Talk: A closure, a cookbook, a Nikkei dish
March 10— Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
Dining news abounds in “Family Meal” this week, which includes an update on the BrewDog sale I reported on last Tuesday. The Atlanta location closed yesterday. Read more about that below.
Dining reporter Sarra Sedghi brings you a profile on Lazy Betty chef Ron Hsu. Read how Hsu’s Atlanta childhood, growing up with restaurateur parents, and being Chinese-American influenced his debut cookbook, “Down South + East,” publishing March 17.
For “The Move,” I tell you why you shouldn’t sleep on Casa Coya, a new steakhouse and Peruvian restaurant serving Nikkei dishes in Reynoldstown.
Finally, after a reader requested the recipe for KR Steakbar’s cacio e pepe, Chef Kevin Rathbun delivered this week.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
🏥 Join Move For Grady on April 25! Three intown biking distances and two run/walk options means there’s something for everyone. Come to move, stay for the party – plenty of food and drinks to celebrate at GSU’s Center Parc Stadium. SPONSOR MESSAGE
BrewDog Shutters Sprawling Beltline Brewpub
🍺 Last week, I promised to monitor the upheaval happening at Scottish-based brewpub chain BrewDog following the sale of most of its overseas assets to US-based Tilray Brands. Tilray, which also owns SweetWater Brewing, purchased the UK and Irish assets of the brewpub, leading to multiple bar closures and the elimination of nearly 500 jobs.
Tilray was still in negotiations with BrewDog to acquire assets in Australia and the US. Tilray completed the purchase of BrewDog’s Australian assets yesterday, but is still negotiating the US assets.
⛔The outcome of those US negotiations, however, won’t matter to the Atlanta location, as BrewDog announced its closure on Monday.
BrewDog’s closure at Krog District leaves a gaping 12,000-square-foot space vacant along the Beltline and dozens of employees without jobs. Adding to the already messy situation and uncertainty regarding the status of BrewDog’s US properties, sources tell me that the Atlanta staff were caught by surprise over the closure on Monday.
🤝 Krog District owner 26 Street Partners declined to comment on what might fill the brewpub space in the future, wishing BrewDog and its team well.
The future of the brewpub space at Krog District remains in flux. I’ll keep you posted.
Don’t miss THE event of the spring – Move For Grady!
SPONSORED BY GRADY HEALTH FOUNDATION
🏃 It’s time to register for Move For Grady on April 25, Atlanta’s best ride/run/walk event supporting Grady! Choose one of three fully supported cycling routes or 5K or 10K run/walk courses that will show you Atlanta from a new point of view. Then stay to celebrate with great food, drinks and music at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.
❤️ Move For Grady raises funds to support Grady’s mission to build a healthier Atlanta. Register today, start training and join the party on April 25!
Chef Ron Hsu’s Atlanta Upbringing Influences
His Midtown Restaurant and Debut Cookbook
👦 Although he grew up Chinese-American and Southern in metro Atlanta, Chef Ron Hsu said he never felt different or alienated as a child. It’s a product of growing up in a multicultural city, he said, but also reflects the diverse environment Hsu’s parents, both restaurateurs, created for him and his siblings.
Hsu’s childhood growing up in the restaurant industry shapes the tone of his debut cookbook, “Down South + East,” publishing March 17. But the cookbook and the inspiration behind it are just part of Hsu’s story.
Living within two cultures
“I don’t think [my culture] was top of mind growing up, to be quite frank. As a child, I was probably a little more naive about everything. As an adult, I realize how much of an influence it had on me,” Hsu said. “But as a child, I don’t think it was like, ‘Oh, I’m Chinese,’ because it was part of my everyday.”
Hsu’s childhood backyard in Henry County included a chicken pen. The chef recalled chasing chickens around the yard to collect for meals his grandmother cooked. When friends came over to play, Hsu said they frequently asked why plucked chickens sometimes hung from the gutter, to which he replied, “That’s our dinner.”
🚌 Hsu and his siblings, Howard and Anita (Sweet Auburn BBQ, Tio Lucho’s), grew up in Stockbridge in the 1980s. Their parents ran a quintet of restaurants collectively called Hunan Village. The trio spent much of their childhood at Hunan Village 1, studying and working after school. Hsu’s late mother, Betty, struck a deal with the school superintendent. In exchange for adding Hunan Village 1 to the bus route, she provided boxed lunches for the middle schoolers once a year.
“I would wake up, go to school, and then get dropped off at the restaurant. I would do my homework. As soon as I was done, I would wash dishes. Once I got strong and comfortable enough using a knife or peeler, I would cut and peel onions and carrots,” Hsu said.
🇲🇾 At Hunan Village 1, Hsu grew to understand his parents’ sense of hospitality, which extended beyond the restaurants they owned. Betty Hsu never forgot her experience immigrating to the United States from Malaysia in the 1970s. After becoming a US citizen, she sponsored her parents and seven siblings.
His parents would later open their home to new employees who were undergoing the immigration process. Hsu said he sometimes gave up his bedroom to help these employees acclimate to the US.
Becoming a chef
Hsu didn’t picture himself becoming a chef.
While studying business at the University of Georgia, he worked part-time at an Athens restaurant called Speakeasy. His roommate persuaded him to drop out of business school to attend culinary school.
“I approached my mother and [told her] that I was going to finish and get my business degree, but after that, I would go to culinary school,” Hsu said. “She goes, ‘Why don’t you drop out next semester and go to culinary school?’”
🧑🍳 Hsu’s mother offered a caveat: In exchange for support, he needed to get a restaurant job outside Hunan Village. Hsu excelled at Speakeasy, and later moved to Australia for culinary school. After a year and a half, however, it got too expensive. He returned home and started working at Dish Atlanta in Virginia-Highland. That’s when Hsu met his mentor, Sheri Davis, who encouraged him to move to New York. She even lined up a few stage positions for him at esteemed restaurants.
“I liked Le Bernardin the most. They offered me a job and I took it. Three months after I staged, I moved to New York and started working at Le Bernardin,” he said.
Hsu worked his way up to executive sous chef and helped with chef Eric Ripert’s other restaurants, before moving on to the executive chef post at French-Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial in New York.
🍽️ After two years at Le Colonial, Hsu came back to Le Bernardin, this time as its creative director. The seven years he spent working with Ripert laid the foundation for Lazy Betty in Atlanta, which Hsu opened in 2019 with friend and fellow Le Bernardin chef Aaron Phillips. (Ripert wrote the foreword to Hsu’s cookbook.)
The James Beard-nominated tasting menu restaurant earned one star from Michelin in its 2023 and 2024 dining guides to Atlanta, as well as the 2025 dining guide to the American South.
Like Lazy Betty, the “Down South + East” cookbook, which Hsu wrote with Chef Hugh Amano, is an extension of his collective experience with hospitality and food throughout his life and career.
📖 Read the rest of Sarra’s profile on Ron Hsu here.
🏥 Join Move For Grady on April 25! Three intown biking distances and two run/walk options means there’s something for everyone. Come to move, stay for the party – plenty of food and drinks to celebrate at GSU’s Center Parc Stadium. SPONSOR MESSAGE
The Move: Hamachi Tiradito at Casa Coya
🇵🇪 Billed as a steakhouse, Casa Coya in Reynoldstown also offers traditional Peruvian, Chinese-Peruvian, and Japanese-Peruvian (Nikkei) dishes. And it’s those latter two categories where the kitchen really shines.
Chinese and Japanese immigrants began arriving in Peru as contract laborers in the mid-19th century, influencing the country’s cuisine, which already relied heavily on seafood in dishes like ceviche, along with staple ingredients like sweet potatoes and onions. As communities and cultures melded, new dishes emerged, like chaufa (Peruvian fried rice) and tiradito, paper-thin slices of raw fish prepared similarly to sashimi, marinated in citrusy sauces such as leche de tigre (tiger’s milk).
🐟 Casa Coya’s hamachi tiradito ($26) is a stunner, with charred avocado, chalaquita onions (red onions), and crispy sweet potatoes muddled together in zesty leche de tigre. Bright and fresh, with little pops of salinity, anchored by starchy sweet potatoes and avocado, the hamachi tiradito at Casa Coya deftly syncs flavors and textures. For me, this dish represents the evolving nature of cuisines, especially through cultural exchange, as seen in the blending of culinary traditions between Peruvian and Japanese peoples.
Reader Requested Recipe:
Cacio e Pepe From KR Steakbar
🍝 Earlier this year, a Rough Draft reader requested the recipe for the cacio e pepe from Kevin Rathbun’s KR Steakbar in Peachtree Hills. This week, we’re honoring that request by sharing the recipe with our readers.
Historians debate the origins of the Roman pasta dish. Laborers or shepherds most likely created cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) using cheap, spoil-resistant ingredients. But despite its probable humble origins, the simple pasta tossed with cheese and coarse black pepper continues to endure.
“Cacio e pepe is often said to be a barometer of a great Italian restaurant,” Rathbun said.
👉 Check out the full recipe here.
➡️ 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. ⬅️