Atlanta goes green (tea!)
April 16 — Hello, internet friends.
🐝 Atlanta is buzzing, and no, it’s not just from all the bees basking in sunshine and pollen.
Restaurant openings and events are starting to snowball, and so much is on the horizon around the Metro in advance of the World Cup. Yesterday, I navigated through Mitchell Street and South Downtown to attend a tour of the first phase of The Center opening in the former CNN building. It’s one thing to read about the Downtown developments, but far more interesting to catch glimpses of the construction.
🌱 In this week’s Quick Bites, get the scoop on Koshu Club’s opening in Buckhead, a new cottage bakery in Decatur, a bar makeover at Hotel Clermont, and new restaurants headed to Underwood Hills and Alpharetta. You can also learn about upcoming food events, including a plant sale and market in Chamblee and Caribbean dinner in Reynoldstown.
Today, you’ll find my stories on why matcha is having a major moment in Atlanta and how loud restaurants impact both staff and guests. There’s also a story on the opening of Ikara, a new fine dining Indian restaurant at Atlantic Station.
💿 Earlier this week in “Family Meal,” Beth provided an inside look into the kitchen playlists at Little Bear and Breaker Breaker, a new series on back-of-house playlists she’s kicking off this month. Plus, she let you in on where you can get Hawaiian barbecue in southwest Atlanta.
See y’all next week,
🍰 Sarra
🐾 The Midtown Mutt Gala returns May 3 from 2–5 p.m. for an afternoon of fashionable pups, music, vendors, and a doggy red carpet complete with Pawpurazzi! A small fee applies to enter the costume contest. Register by Apr. 26 and learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Quick Bites
Openings
🇯🇵 Koshu Club from Castellucci Hospitality Group (Cooks & Soldiers, Double Zero, Mujo) opened this week at 99 West Paces in Buckhead. The menu features Shōwa-era (tied to Emperor Shōwa’s reign from 1926 to 1989) cuisine, which blends traditional Japanese (washoku) and Western (yoshoku) dishes.
🧁 Allergy and food intolerance-friendly bakery The Cake Pharmacy launches a Saturday bakery-cafe on April 18 in Decatur. The bakery-cafe operates from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. In addition to baked goods, expect lattes made with Tanbrown Coffee and teas from The Chai Box.
Coming attractions
🧢 Women’s sports bar Jolene Jolene met its fundraising goal last week and will unveil the new permanent location soon.
🌯 Amasa Mexican Kitchen, Chichería Mexican Kitchen‘s sister restaurant, will open at City Center in Alpharetta this summer.
🍦 The Works will welcome two new interactive food concepts this year. The Food Work Shop, originated in Chattahoochee Food Works, features a workshop space with a culinary studio. The Body Creamery will offer ice cream and body butter.
🥪 Johns Creek development The Medley will soon include locations of CT Cantina & Taqueria, The Nest Cafe, and Tabla. All three restaurants should open this fall.
Menu changes
🥐 Michelin-starred Brush Sushi is celebrating 10 years in Atlanta with a refreshed menu featuring new cocktails and dishes like hay-smoked miso duck breast with a scallion pancake and umi masu clay pot rice. The restaurant now offers “bread” service, comprised of savory croissants from pastry chef ChingYao Wang (think snow crab, ikura, and mentaiko with whipped mascarpone and truffle and mushroom whipped cream with chive and gruyere).
State honors chef
👩🏾🍳 Chef Deborah VanTrece, the owner of Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours and Oreatha’s at the Point, was honored with a state resolution by the Georgia House of Representatives. The honor recognizes her decades-long restaurant career and work to inspire the next generation of Georgia chefs.
Makeover
🍸 The Lobby Bar at Hotel Clermont recently received a design makeover. The bar also underwent a menu refresh adding new cocktails, snacks, and happy hour to the mix.
Read and dine
📖 Did you know that the Krog Street Market food hall now features a book vending machine from Long Story Books on the patio? Simply insert payment, select a book, take the book, and read.
Add to your calendar
🪴 Contrast Artisan Ales in Chamblee will host Sip and Shop, an artisan plant sale and market, on April 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shop for local ceramics and carnivorous plants. Pollos de Guache will serve food. People can also partake in free repotting and participate in a plant swap.
🍓 The Grant Park Conservancy will debut Market in the Park on April 19, a new monthly series bringing local food and craft vendors, live music, and community programming to Atlanta’s oldest park.
🏝️ Reynoldstown’s Wylie & Rum will host Rawlston Williams on April 23 for a dinner celebrating his new cookbook, “The Caribbean Cookbook.” Williams and Wylie & Rum chef Brian Jones will prepare a multiple-course meal representing all of the island nations. Tickets are $125 via OpenTable and include a signed cookbook.
🇨🇳 Atlanta Chinatown Mall continues its Chinatown Market series on April 25. Vendors can apply here.
Sculpting Space, Shaping Experience
SPONSORED BY THE HIGH MUSEUM
🧑🎨 Step into the expansive world of Isamu Noguchi, where sculpture, design, and space converge in unexpected ways. Discover nearly two hundred works ranging from iconic furniture to unrealized visions and large-scale installations that reveal an artist redefining how we live, play, and experience form.
Plus, celebrate with a luminous community lantern parade from the High Museum of Art to Piedmont Park on April 23, featuring hands-on lantern-making workshops inspired by Noguchi’s iconic Akari lanterns with Chantelle Rytter.
Top Stories From the Week
Atlanta’s matcha madness
💚 There’s a new caffeinated beverage darling in town. Atlantans are clamoring for matcha drinks these days, including for matcha’s health benefits, less intense caffeine fix, and, of course, that bright green color.
⏩ Read more on Atlanta’s matcha craze.
Too loud?
👂 Noisy restaurants are becoming a problem for diners and employees alike, especially for people who experience sensory issues or hearing loss. The good news is the issue can be easily — and affordably — rectified.
⏩ Read my report on loud Atlanta restaurants.
A new Indian spot at Atlantic Station
🇮🇳 Ikara, a fine dining Indian restaurant, opened in the former Allora space inside the Twelve Midtown hotel at Atlantic Station last Friday. Stay tuned for their tasting menu, which drops later this month.
⏩ Read about Ikara and its menu.
At the Market + Two Recipes
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS
😋 Each week, Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets partner to provide two recipes you can make at home using fresh ingredients from the local farmers market. This week, it’s time to break out the asparagus. Click here for crunchy vegetable fritters and a tasty spring carbonara.
🐾 The Midtown Mutt Gala returns May 3 from 2–5 p.m. for an afternoon of fashionable pups, music, vendors, and a doggy red carpet complete with Pawpurazzi! A small fee applies to enter the costume contest. Register by Apr. 26 and learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
That Slaps!
🦪 I love a steakhouse because anything on the menu — the salads, the sides, the soup, and especially the seafood — are almost always consistently good. My family enjoyed dinner at Kevin Rathbun Steak on the Beltline last weekend. Everyone left the meal pleased.
While I would have posted a photo of the Full Monty seafood tower ($116) we ordered with oysters, crab, shrimp, and Maine lobster tail, the photo I took was blurry. It also did not do the fresh oysters or succulent stone crab chunks justice. You’ll just have to take my word.
