From restaurant openings to closures
Tuesday, Sept. 1 — Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
This week’s “Family Meal” features a roundup of recent restaurant openings. There were more than two dozen restaurant openings last month, spanning from Dunwoody to the Old Fourth Ward to Fayetteville.
Speaking of new restaurants, Sarra and I are finishing up our last bit of dining ahead of the October deadline to determine the Best New Restaurants of 2026. We’ll announce the winners in early December.
But for all of the new-restaurant talk, we’ve also reported on several closures this year. You’ll find the latest restaurant closures of note further down in the newsletter.
Finally, in much happier news, I’m telling you why the vada pav at Bun & Bombay is worth the trip to Avondale Estates. And Chef Raul Thomas shares his recipe for Puerto Rican empanadas, which he serves as part of the concessions at Theater in the Square in Marietta.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
🌱 Come spend a day on the farm! Love is Love’s Fall Plant Sale & Family Day is Sept. 12 in Mansfield. Shop certified organic plants, enjoy FREE gardening and foraging workshops, farm tours, local food, artisans, kids’ activities and more. Pre-order plants by Sept. 6! Details here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
August Restaurant Openings
🫨 More than two dozen new restaurants opened around metro Atlanta in August, spanning from Dunwoody, Brookhaven, and Midtown, to the Old Fourth Ward, East Atlanta Village, and Fayetteville. Meanwhile, nearly a dozen new restaurants were announced in August, with some expected to open as soon as early September.
Check out this roundup of recent restaurant openings and upcoming restaurant announcements you might have missed in August.
🥂 Now Open
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream (Ice cream, dessert)
Dunwoody
Varuni Napoli (Neapolitan pizza)
High Street, Dunwoody
Siren (Wood-fired seafood, raw bar)
Brookhaven
High Noon Brunchery (Brunch cafe)
Buckhead
Botánico Cocina & Social Club (Latin food, cocktails)
Midtown
Pataaka (Indian, family style)
Spring Quarter, Midtown
Sozou (Japanese, sushi, handrolls)
Spring Quarter, Midtown
Shake Shack (burgers, shakes)
Centennial Yards
NoriFish (Sushi, handrolls)
Okiboru (Ramen, tsukemen)
Ponce City Market
Sargent (French-American; bookshop; lunch, dinner/wine, cocktails)
Old Fourth Ward
Spina Pizza (Pizza, calzones, cocktails)
Atlanta Dairies, Reynoldstown
Condessa Coffee
Grant Park
Sagra (Wine bar)
East Atlanta Village
Ford’s Chicken (Charcoal-roasted rotisserie chicken)
Avondale Estates
BOSK Coffee Wine and Tapas (Coffee, wine, tapas)
Southwest Atlanta
Amasa Mexican Kitchen (Mexican)
Alpharetta
Chuan Tasty (Sichuan, Chinese)
Alpharetta
Corner Sushi & Hibachi (Sushi, hibachi)
Roswell
Riverline Coffee (Coffee shop)
Smyrna
El Jalisco (Mexican)
Marietta Square Market
Terminus 72 (Late-night cafe, coffee shop open 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.)
Marietta
Vesuvio Pizzeria (Neapolitan-style pizza)
Powder Springs
Beyond BBQ (Barbecue plates, tacos, sandwiches, burgers)
Morrow
Que Delicia (Puerto Rican)
Fayetteville
🔜 Coming Soon
Ruby Chow’s (2027; Asian fusion)
Berkeley Park, Westside Beltline
&pizza (Sept.; rectangular pizza)
The Interlock
The Juicy Crab (Late 2026; Cajun seafood boils)
Midtown, Peachtree Street
Hal’s Steakhouse (2027; steakhouse, seafood)
Midtown will include art gallery and cafe serving lunch
Roswell (traditional steakhouse)
TBA restaurant (2027)
Former Switchyards @ Biltmore Midtown
Smileys Burger Club (Sept. 1; burgers)
Summerhill
Heritage (Mid-Sept.; African; fine dining)
Summerhill
Hungry AF (Late 2026; pasta, wings, phillies, burgers, and fried rice)
Tucker
Common Coffee & Cocktails (Early 2027; Coffee, cocktails, light bites)
Duluth
➕ More 2026 restaurant openings
❄️ JANUARY 2026 💗 FEBRUARY 2026 ☘️ MARCH 2026
🌈 APRIL 2026 💐 MAY 2026 ☀️ JUNE 2026 🏖️ JULY 2026
Salt: A Design Story
SPONSORED BY MUSEUM OF DESIGN ATLANTA
🧂 MODA’s newest exhibition – what if the seasoning in your pantry actually built the world?
The answer is more complicated than one might imagine. Salt shaped roads, cities, and civilization, and it sits at the center of rituals that mark birth, marriage, and death worldwide.
→ Visitors, taste your way through a curated salt bar. Explore the global craft salt revival, learn about Atlanta’s own Beautiful Briny Sea, and discover the design history behind the shaker on your table. Through Oct. 31.
August Restaurant Closures
😞 Closures are some of the toughest stories we write at Rough Draft. We don’t take them lightly, and we don’t relish being first, second, or last to report them. The death of a restaurant is often personal for the owners and staff, as well as for their regulars and community.
While August was a strong month for restaurant openings, it was also a tough one for restaurant closures. This includes six restaurants that closed across the metro, ranging from a mom-and-pop taco shop, to a beloved, relocated Italian restaurant, to a longtime Thai restaurant boasting sweeping views of Midtown.
🌮 Birria El Gordo in Marietta: 6 years
🍺 The Local Tavern on Briarcliff: 9 months
🍝 Baraonda in Sandy Springs (pictured): 25 years (Remember our story on the regulars who had been dining here since its days in Midtown?)
🫔 Casa Balam in Decatur: 2 years
🇹🇭 Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft in Buckhead: 16 years
🍣 Nori Nori in Sandy Springs: 20 years
Editor’s Pick
🥔 I had been meaning to check out Bun & Bombay next to the Waffle House Museum in Avondale Estates since it opened in July. The name and menu are inspired by chaiwallahs, or the vada pav stalls found throughout Mumbai (known as Bombay until 1995 when the government changed the city’s British colonial name). For me, vada pav is the superior slider.
A deep-fried, spiced potato dumpling sandwiched in a petite Portuguese pav bun typically dressed with cilantro-based green chutney and garlic chutney, the vada pav at Bun & Bombay exceeded my expectations. Here it comes triple dressed with garlic, tamarind, and green chutneys. Sweet, savory, herbaceous, with a soft, velvety inside and crispy exterior that’s not overly fried – yes, please. BTW, the butter chicken and chana masala were also both excellent, as was the piping hot cup of chai I ordered.
😋 If you’re a fan of vada pav, get thee to Bun & Bombay stat. According to the website, “The recipes are old-Bombay honest. The masalas are ground in-house, the chutneys are made each morning, and the chai is brewed strong enough to wake the neighborhood.” Truth to all of this.
The 411: This is a takeout window with covered seating on the patio. You can also order online for pick-up or delivery.
👉 Read more about Bun & Bombay from Sophia Qureshi of 285 South, one of Rough Draft’s partner publications.
🌱 Come spend a day on the farm! Love is Love’s Fall Plant Sale & Family Day is Sept. 12 in Mansfield. Shop certified organic plants, enjoy FREE gardening and foraging workshops, farm tours, local food, artisans, kids’ activities and more. Pre-order plants by Sept. 6! Details here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Editor’s Pick
🇵🇷 This week, we’re sharing a recipe for Puerto Rican-style beef empanadas from Chef Raul Thomas.
You may have encountered his empanadas at Theater in the Square. Thomas owns the theater and sells the empanadas as a concession.
➡️ 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.
