New stars
Thursday, Oct. 22 — So. Fox, the new Virginia-Highland restaurant from the owners of Kinship Butcher & Sundry, earned one Michelin star at last night’s ceremony in Nashville for the 2026 Guide to the American South. Chef Ryan Smith’s Uberto at Quercus in Gay, GA, about an hour south of Atlanta, also earned one star. We have more on the 2026 Michelin Guide below.
☀️ Sunny with a high of 76° today.
🏀 Angel Reese scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Dream beat the Valkyries 97-71 last night to take a 2-1 lead in the WNBA Finals. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday at State Farm Arena.
🚫 Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, who has repeatedly criticized the WNBA and its players on social media, was denied entry to last night’s game after refusing to watch from a private suite the Dream arranged in response to his safety concerns.
⛹🏾 The Hawks opened their season with a 132-125 win at Orlando last night. Atlanta plays at Charlotte on Friday.
💉 Seasonal viruses, including the flu, are spreading earlier this year, and health experts are encouraging people to protect themselves and others with annual influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
🏛️ The Sandy Springs City Council voted unanimously to proceed with land sale negotiations for 5.5 acres slated to be redeveloped into City Springs 2.0.
🚶 Sandy Springs’ $18 million project to construct sidewalks and multiuse paths along Mount Vernon Highway is complete, with final landscaping and plantings expected before the end of the year.
🗳️ Residents of a slice of unincorporated DeKalb County between Northlake Parkway and LaVista Road will vote Nov. 3 on joining Tucker.
🍎 DeKalb Superintendent Norman Sauce visited Dunwoody High School on Oct. 20 to discuss several system malfunctions that forced the school to move to remote learning last week.
🐈 LifeLine Animal Project is partnering with volunteer organizations to maintain stable and healthy cat communities in multifamily housing around the Atlanta area.
⛵ Yacht Rock Revue will play an intimate show at The Stave Room tonight at A CHaRM’ing Evening, a Live Thrive fundraiser with a decade-themed costume contest. Tickets are still available.
ELSEWHERE
🗣️ Vice President JD Vance said to “stop whining” about Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton’s estranged mother.
🇷🇺🇺🇦🇺🇸 U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a humanitarian” after he released a detained 74-year-old American retired teacher. The U.N. reported that Russian attacks killed 328 Ukrainian civilians in September alone.
🇮🇱🇵🇸 Israeli authorities briefly detained a candidate for Congress and about 80 activists accompanying Palestinians on an olive harvest in the West Bank yesterday.
⚖️ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must keep providing hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care to federal transgender inmates while litigation continues.
🚀 SpaceX shares jumped 10% after third-quarter revenue rose 161%, and Elon Musk also said the company was exploring a merger with Tesla.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Michelin reveals
• Quick Bites
• ‘Pumped UP’ at Gallery 100
• Upcoming Events
AND
• Venture Atlanta 2026
🏀 Atlanta Hawks basketball is back! Home tipoff for the 2026-27 NBA season is Saturday, Oct. 24, as the Hawks host the Rockets for Opening Night, presented by State Farm. All fans will receive a Harry the Hawk T-shirt.
Get tickets today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Michelin reveals its 2026 American South Guide
🥇 Michelin revealed its 2026 Guide to the American South at a ceremony in Nashville last night.
Tipsy Thaiger, one of Rough Draft’s Best New Restaurants of 2025, along with So. Fox, Spring 2nd Branch, Summerland, Pink Lotus, and Uberto, located 50 miles south of Atlanta, are all new entries in the guide.
⭐️ So. Fox and Uberto each earned one star for 2026.
📋 A handful of Atlanta restaurants dropped out of the guide this year, while two previously listed restaurants changed designations. But most Atlanta restaurants listed last year retained their status.
Michelin honored Chef Ryan Smith with a Mindful Voices award for his innovative work at Uberto. Smith also co-owns Staplehouse in Atlanta with his wife and business partner, Kara Hidinger.
👉 Check out all of the Atlanta restaurants listed in the guide here.
New $2.2 million riverfront estate
SPONSORED BY ATLANTA FINE HOMES
🏞️ A contemporary estate built in 2026 in Ball Ground offers 2.75± acres along the Etowah River, approximately an hour north of Atlanta.
Listed for $2.2 million, the four-bedroom home features floor-to-ceiling windows, expansive glass doors, and multiple decks overlooking the wooded property.
A 50-foot heated swimming pool, covered outdoor lounge, and private studio apartment create a resort-style setting.
The property backs up to a protected wildlife management area, offering privacy and seasonal river views.
Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty is Metro Atlanta’s No. 1 residential real estate company and No. 1 in luxury home sales above $1 million.
👉🏼 Explore our current listings.
2. Quick Bites
VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER| SUBSCRIBE HERE
😋 In this week’s Quick Bites, get details on restaurant openings in Brookhaven and West Midtown, a closure in Chamblee, and an upcoming coffee and matcha pop-up residency in Little Five Points. We’ve also rounded up a number of Atlanta food events, including Victory Sandwich Bar’s 15th anniversary party, a Buckhead oyster festival, and a Midtown Halloween party for dogs.
👉 Read the latest Atlanta dining news.
3. Eileen Braun goes big in ‘Pumped UP’ at Gallery 100
VIA SKETCHBOOK, AN ART NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE
🟣 Atlanta sculptor Eileen Braun is 5-foot-1. In “Pumped UP,” her solo exhibition at Gallery 100, she goes big.
The show, which opens this week and is on view through Jan. 14, 2027, gathers roughly 20 of Braun’s works, sculpted from dressmaker’s pattern tissue, cones of mill-end fiber, baling twine, construction-grade rubber, found objects and gold gilding foil.
It also marks a shift for Braun. It’s full of color. Pieces in “Pumped UP” range from turquoise and blue to orange and coral. In the past, her work was “predominantly black and white,” she shared. “My muse was delighted to finally have color to play with.”
🧑🎨 Read Sherri Daye Scott’s full story here.
🛍️ Shop local at the outdoor Midtown Artisan Market on select Sundays this fall at Midtown Green. Discover Atlanta makers offering handmade and vintage goods, plus food, community activities, and more. Oct. 25, Nov. 22 & Dec. 13, noon-6 p.m. Free admission. SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Upcoming Events
🎺 Rhapsody in Blue; tonight at 8 p.m. at Atlanta Symphony Hall.
🖌️ Paint and Sip; tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Design Atlanta.
🎃 Pumpkin Festival; Sat., Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. at Stone Mountain Park.
🏥 White Coat Grady Gala; Sat., Oct.24 at 6 p.m. at Flourish.
🥕 Market in the Park; Sun., Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. at Grant Park.
🎙️ WRFG presents an afternoon celebrating GA artists with singer-songwriters Kate Coleman (Run Katie Run), Hannah Murphy and Roger “Hurricane” Wilson. Sun., Oct. 25, 4 p.m.
🌭 Simply Weird Film Festival; Sun., Oct. 25 and Mon., Oct. 26 from 6-9:30 p.m. at Red’s Beer Garden.
📧 Find out how you can get your event featured in Rough Draft. For more events, visit RoughDraftAtlanta.com/events.
🎃 Join the Halloween fun! Trick-or-treating, games, arts & crafts, tailgating, music, a silent auction, and more are at Emily’s Trick or Treat! Join us in Sandy Springs on Sat., Oct. 24, from 2-4 p.m. Use code RoughDraft for $5 off. SPONSOR MESSAGE
5. What you missed at Venture Atlanta 2026
🧑💻 Founders recently took the stage at Atlanta Symphony Hall with a different kind of performance in mind. Specifically, they were convincing investors to bet on their businesses.
Last week, Venture Atlanta took over Midtown for its annual conference, with after-parties and other gatherings extending the networking across the city.
The conference’s purpose is simple: Connect companies to capital. That means setting up panels and pitch competitions and creating opportunities for one-on-one meetings between venture capitalists and founders.
➡ Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.
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