Atlanta Chinatown revamp + Best BBQ dim sum
Tuesday, Aug. 12 — Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
This week’s “Family Meal” features Sarra’s story on the revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown in Chamblee. It’s gotten a much-needed makeover, including a fresh coat of paint, upgrades to aging infrastructure, and updates to the food court. Beyond the cosmetics, however, Atlanta Chinatown now hosts a number of regular events, like mahjong meet-ups at the food court, artist markets and festivals, live performances in the courtyard garden, and indoor and outdoor movie nights. It’s all meant to preserve Atlanta Chinatown’s future by providing a multi-generational space for the entire community to enjoy.
For my “Editor’s Pick,” I tell you why Best BBQ at the City Farmers Market complex on Buford Highway is one of my favorite spots for dim sum. And Sarra talks up the seafood fritters from Le Nouveau Maquis in Tucker for her latest “Rough Cut.”
Finally, Eclipse di Luna shares its recipe for the restaurant’s popular summer watermelon salad.
Cheers!
🍾 Raise your glass on Thurs., Aug. 27 at The Hotel at Avalon for the Grand Tasting Alpharetta. A one-night-only celebration of Alpharetta’s top restaurants with tastings of wine, craft beer, and cocktails, live music, and more. VIP entry begins at 6 p.m., general admission at 7 p.m. Get tickets here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
The Revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown
🐉 Nearly 40 years after its opening in 1988, Atlanta Chinatown and its food court and restaurants are getting a glow-up. The courtyard garden received a refresh, interior walls now include murals by local artists, and new businesses are opening at the retail and restaurant complex in Chamblee.
While improvements to anchor businesses like Oriental Pearl Seafood Restaurant and Dinho Market were already in the works, property manager Vasti Pichardo said a broader revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown kicked off about 18 months ago. The sweeping project is meant to address aging infrastructure and the need to keep Atlanta Chinatown a relevant, multi-generational gathering space for the community.
Pichardo credits leaders from Atlanta Chinatown and the wider Chinese community for recognizing the need to upgrade the New Peachtree Road shopping center.
“When they gave me this project, I was like, ‘how are we going to revitalize it again?’ The upstairs hadn’t been rented since before COVID. The food court just needed a little bit of love,” she said. “It was one of those things where you’re kind of just figuring it out as you go through it, walk it, and then just feel that you have your finger on the pulse.”
Renovations began with the upstairs offices, followed by other upgrades, like fixing the pond in the courtyard and giving Atlanta Chinatown a fresh coat of paint.
🧧 New events, new perspectives
With renovations underway, Pichardo met with local artist Andrew Blooms last year to discuss ideas for making Atlanta Chinatown a more multi-generational community space. Blooms, who used to do markets at Atlanta Chinatown, asked how they could collaborate to continue supporting it.
“We shared a vision. The way I see commercial real estate is that it’s meant to be for community. One of the biggest things that I used to hear people say is, ‘Oh, they just think it’s just shopping, or it’s for people to make money,’ but it’s not,” said Pichardo. “People go [to Atlanta Chinatown] and spend time with their families. Ladies get their pedicures. You go have meals.”
Beyond a place for people to shop and eat, Atlanta Chinatown offers economic opportunities for small businesses. Many of the shops and restaurants are family-owned and operated.
The first order of business for Pichardo and Blooms was to bolster events that honored the past, but looked toward the future. They launched a new website and Instagram account for Atlanta Chinatown, then started Blooms Market in 2025. The monthly market brought in local artists and musicians from around metro Atlanta.
🥟 This year, Chinatown’s annual Lunar New Year festival coincided with that of the neighboring Taiwanese cultural center. The Atlanta Run Club hosted a Lunar New Year race as part of the festivities. A festival market operated in tandem with both Lunar New Year celebrations and the reopening of Oriental Pearl, following its renovations.
The revamped Lunar New Year weekend at Atlanta Chinatown, which included a mix of new and traditional activities and events, proved a roaring success. Pichardo and Blooms reached out to other local organizations to host regular events at Atlanta Chinatown.
Lotus Lens Collective, a local volunteer group showcasing Asian cinema, launched a monthly film series in February and outdoor movie nights this summer at Atlanta Chinatown. Volunteer-run, pan-Asian theatre group Chinatown Theatre Initiative came on board in May and holds monthly performances in the courtyard. In June, Atlanta Chinatown hosted the inaugural Buford Highway Arts Festival. Atlanta Run Club now hosts group runs every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., starting and ending at Atlanta Chinatown.
Blooms Market has since relocated to Ponce City Market on the Beltline. And while Blooms no longer works directly with the mall, he remains an Atlanta Chinatown tenant.
🆕 Building on momentum
Pichardo continues to build on the momentum she and Blooms created with new tenants like Normal Barbers and more regular events that promote Atlanta Chinatown as a third place in the community.
Momoko Mart, a toy store focused on boxed collectibles that opened earlier this spring, hosts meet-ups and trading events at Atlanta Chinatown. A July trading market focused on Pokémon and long-running anime series “One Piece.” An Aug. 16 trading event will feature a matcha pop-up from Shogun Matcha.
Many of Atlanta Chinatown’s recurring events don’t require a financial commitment to participate, including a mahjong mingle at the food court every first Tuesday of the month.
Sarah Thomas and Chloe Hyatt are the mahjong event’s primary organizers. While Thomas moved to Atlanta in September 2025, Hyatt grew up in Tucker and attended Chamblee High School. She’s been eating, shopping, and attending events and classes at Atlanta Chinatown since she was a child. Her adoptive parents enrolled her in a Chinese dance class as a means of connecting her to her culture.
“There was a period of time when Chinatown was dead,” Hyatt said, noting a slump from 2008 to 2023. “Unless it was for the New Year thing, it was like nobody was here. And a lot of the businesses, I believe, were struggling at some point.”
🀄🍜 Hyatt, Thomas, and other local Chinese adoptees first discussed a mahjong meeting in the Subtle Asian Atlanta Facebook group. Hyatt suggested the Atlanta Chinatown food court as a possible venue. After getting the green light from Pichardo, the first mahjong mingle took place in June. They expected around 15 people to attend. Close to 30 people showed up.
The mahjong crowd brings eager customers to Chinatown’s food court on an otherwise random Tuesday night.
“There’s no downside to it because it gives the businesses more money,” Hyatt said of hosting the monthly mahjong event in the food court.
Pichardo wants to add local art to the food court and upstairs hallway. She also hopes to eventually launch a night market as part of the regular events at Atlanta Chinatown. Pichardo would also love to keep attracting new businesses, while elevating Atlanta Chinatown’s longtime tenants by teaching them how to sustain growth for the future.
🐦🔥 “For us, it was, ‘How do we make it multi-generational,'” Pichardo said of continuing the revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown. “I feel like what we’re witnessing is the resurgence of this place because people have a renewed interest in it.”
Sip, savor, and celebrate!
SPONSORED BY FOOD THAT ROCKS
🫒 Join us on Thurs., June 5 for Food That Rocks, a tasting event presented by Taste of Atlanta, celebrating Sandy Springs’ diverse restaurant scene. This one-of-a-kind food festival brings incredible energy outdoors at City Springs where you’ll sip, savor, and celebrate the community’s vibrant culinary scene.
Get unlimited tastes from 20+ of Sandy Springs’ best restaurants and bakeries; and more than a dozen wine, beer & cocktail tastings. The evening also includes live music from Java Monkey and CJ and the Doughboys, and Chef Chats & mixology demos on the Publix Cooking Stage.
🎉 Food That Rocks is a “Party with a Purpose” in partnership with Second Helpings Atlanta.
Editor’s Pick
🍽️ I recently hung out with a couple of Atlanta food writing colleagues. After catching up over drinks, we began discussing where we love to eat when we’re not dining on the clock for our publications. The conversation turned to dim sum in Atlanta and which restaurants serve the best. Everyone has their opinions on Atlanta’s dim sum scene, including me. I’ll reserve that op-ed for another time.
While I love the traditional rolling cart services at East Pearl Seafood and Royal China in Duluth, one of my favorite restaurants for dim sum is Best BBQ at City Farmers Market on Buford Highway in Chamblee. You’re spoiled for choice here at this counter-service spot. But Best BBQ’s menu can be overwhelming, so come with a plan.
🥢 We tend to stick to dim sum at Best BBQ, with the occasional barbecue combo meal of roast duck, crispy roast pork, and barbecue spare ribs. Our dim sum order almost always includes prawn dumplings, siu mai, tofu skin rolls, and sausage buns, along with Singapore rice noodles or ginger and scallion Hong Kong-style lo mein. On a cold day – or when you’re feeling a little worse for wear – opt for the roast duck congee.
🥡 There’s not much seating at Best BBQ, and it gets especially busy on Friday and Saturday nights. So if you do take your dim sum to go, I suggest eating it in the parking lot, because as one of my colleagues rightfully said that night, “dim sum doesn’t travel well.” Unless it’s traveling via a rolling cart in a dining room, that is. The only way I prefer my dim sum to travel.
Recipe: Watermelon Salad
🍉 This week, we’re sharing the watermelon salad recipe from Eclipse di Luna.
The salad is popular at all four locations across metro Atlanta, with the recipe undergoing slight adjustments each year. This summer, the salad features cubed avocado.
✍️ Check out the full recipe here.
🍾 Raise your glass on Thurs., Aug. 27 at The Hotel at Avalon for the Grand Tasting Alpharetta. A one-night-only celebration of Alpharetta’s top restaurants with tastings of wine, craft beer, and cocktails, live music, and more. VIP entry begins at 6 p.m., general admission at 7 p.m. Get tickets here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Rough Cut: Le Nouveau Maquis
🗣️ Welcome to “Rough Cut,” where Sarra and I offer our first impressions on the food, vibe, and service at restaurants around Atlanta. You’ll find our Rough Cuts on Rough Draft’s Instagram account every Saturday morning.
Sarra and her husband recently ate at Le Nouveau Maquis, a Stone Mountain African restaurant that recently opened a second location in Tucker. They tried the Jamaican ginger beer, seafood fritters, chicken yassa, and a side of plantains. Their favorite dish was the seafood fritters, which were like a cross between crab cakes and hush puppies with a touch of beignets.
🦀 Check out Sarra’s Aug. 8 Rough Cut 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.
