Vintage recipes are new again
Thursday, Oct. 8 — Hello, internet friends.
This week, I’m thinking about recipes – historic recipes, specifically. Flipping through an old cookbook is often its own anthropological study. There’s so much you can learn about an era by the dishes people made or the ingredients they used. I bring this up because the High just reprinted its cookbook from 1981, in celebration of the museum’s centennial year.
👀 Look for my story soon on what’s new in the reprint and how you can get a copy.
Now on to this week’s dining news.
In Quick Bites, get details on a burger residency above an Edgewood Avenue dance club, Smorgasburg Atlanta ending its 2026 season early in South Downtown, and Pollo Primo’s Ponce location.
👓 Keep reading for a story on Chef Kevin Gillespie’s departure from the restaurant industry and Atlanta. Plus, learn about a new Halloween pop-up taking place at an Athens restaurant and the upcoming restaurants headed to a new Northwest Beltline complex in Berkeley Park.
Finally, read Tuesday’s “Family Meal,” where I share a story on Monks Meadery’s niche events and its new location. And if you’re headed to Pride this weekend, check out our dining guide to walkable restaurants and bars near Piedmont Park.
See y’all next week,
🍰 Sarra
🍽️ A Taste of Chamblee has something for everyone, including live performances, a youth culinary competition, a Kids Zone, a curated Wine Workshop, and beer gardens with the ACC/SEC games on the big screens. Visit us Oct. 17 in Downtown Chamblee! SPONSOR MESSAGE
Quick Bites
Opening
🍔 Thicc Burger began a residency at Edgewood Avenue dance club and bar Pisces. Expect the pop-up to serve its smash burgers and patty melts on Friday and Saturday nights from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. The upstairs space above Pisces will also host beer and shot specials on Friday and Saturday nights from 8 to 10 p.m.
Coming attractions
☕ Pilar Coffee Bar will open a location at Ansley Mall in early 2027.
🐔 It appears Pollo Primo’s Poncey-Highland location will open soon in the former Best Sandwich Shop and Wurst Beer Hall spaces.
🇫🇷 Midi, the upcoming Parisian-style sandwich shop from Little Tart Bakeshop owner Sarah O’Brien, is looking for front-of-house workers. Expect Midi to open in Candler Park later this fall.
Closings
🍢 South Downtown pop-up food festival Smorgasburg Atlanta ended its 2026 season earlier than expected. The pop-up, which debuted in South Downtown nearly a year ago, canceled its Oct. 3 festival market, along with this year’s remaining festival markets. Smorgasburg should return in 2027.
🇮🇩 Gula Indonesian Cafe in Doraville is temporarily closed while the staff takes a break. Look for Gula to reopen with new specials on Oct. 23.
Community announcements
🎗️ Mary Mac’s Tea Room is mourning the death of Flo Patrick, a beloved server. Patrick worked at Mary Mac’s for 39 years, epitomizing the Ponce restaurant’s trademark hospitality.
❤️ A GoFundMe page was set up on behalf of a Souper Jenny-Brookhaven employee, following her cancer diagnosis. You can donate here.
📖 Marcus Samuelsson’s new cookbook, “Back to Green,” will publish Oct. 20. Pre-order it here. Attend a Q&A with Samuelsson at the Fulton County Central Library on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. It’s free to attend. However, a $48 ticket includes a signed cookbook from Samuelsson.
Menu updates
🍷 Buckhead restaurant Aria recently debuted Wine Wednesday, which offers small plates, an expanded selection of wines by the glass, and live music.
🍳 On Oct. 11, Botanico Cocina & Social Club in Midtown will launch an entirely gluten-free brunch menu. The menu is available on Sundays, starting at 10 a.m.
Add to your calendar
🇿🇦 South African chef Lorna Maseko will collaborate with Necessary Purveyor founder Tyler Dabestani for a special Oct. 9 dinner in the Old Fourth Ward. The seven-course prix-fixe dinner, based on Maseko’s Ekhaya dinner series, takes inspiration from South African culinary traditions and includes beverage pairings. Tickets cost $201.47 per person via Eventbrite.
🔨 Select Atlanta-area restaurants will donate proceeds to the MLK Service Project, as part of October’s Restaurants for Repairs fundraiser. Farm Burger, Leon’s Full Service, Twain’s, and Folk Art will participate in the event on Oct. 13. More area restaurants will participate on Oct. 20 and 27.
🎂 The Palm in Buckhead will celebrate the chain’s centennial with a five-course wine dinner on Oct. 17. Tickets are $192.60 per person.
🍺 Buckhead Butcher Shop will hold its inaugural Oktober Wurstfest on Oct. 25 from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets are $125 per person and include a beer flight, small bites, and bratwurst and sauerkraut demonstrations from chefs Jacob Rich and Matthew Ableman.
More Than Just Food
SPONSORED BY URBAN RECIPE
🫶 “When I walk in here, I feel like a piece in my heart is being filled.” For Christine, her Urban Recipe Food Co-op is about more than just food. “You speak, you check in, you have someone to listen.”
Every two weeks, neighbors show up to sort & share groceries together. “It’s just teamwork. Everybody doing it together.”
👋 Want to be a part of it? Volunteer with us! Opportunities are available for groups and individuals.
Top Stories
What’s next for Kevin Gillespie and his restaurants
👨🍳 Chef Kevin Gillespie announced on Instagram last week that he is leaving Atlanta and the restaurant industry.
Earlier this year, the “Top Chef” alum stepped down as chef of Scottish-Southern restaurant Nàdair. The Woodland Hills restaurant closed in June.
Marco Shaw, president and co-founder of Red Beard Restaurants, told Rough Draft that Gillespie will retain an ownership stake in Gunshow, and that it’s business as usual at the Glenwood Park restaurant.
⏩ Read the full story on what’s next for Gillespie and Gunshow.
Nighthawks Lounge in Athens introduces Halloween pop-up
🎃 You may have seen the news that Rough Draft is expanding coverage to Athens.
My fellow food lovers know that Athens has a solid restaurant scene, and I’m looking forward to exploring it again. Our Athens correspondent, Ansley Kelly, chatted with the owners of Nighthawks Lounge about its monthslong Halloween pop-up, The Haunting.
⏩ Learn more about The Haunting here.
The Berkeley breaks ground
👷 Construction is underway on The Berkeley, The Atlantic Companies’ adaptive-reuse development at 1500 Northside Drive.
The newly named project will transform the former Myers Carpet building into a retail- and restaurant-anchored commercial destination connected to the Northwest Beltline in the Berkeley Park neighborhood.
⏩ Read more about the project here.
🍽️ A Taste of Chamblee has something for everyone, including live performances, a youth culinary competition, a Kids Zone, a curated Wine Workshop, and beer gardens with the ACC/SEC games on the big screens. Visit us Oct. 17 in Downtown Chamblee! SPONSOR MESSAGE
At the Market
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS
💛 Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets partner each week to bring you two recipes you can make at home using fresh ingredients from your local farmers market. This week, we’ve got a recipe for yellow curry and one for pepper and sweet potato rice and beans. Click here to see both recipes.
That Slaps
💪 I have been prioritizing my protein intake these past few weeks, which means I’m relishing opportunities to eat fish.
During a recent dinner at Aria, I tried the restaurant’s citrus-cured hamachi garnished with avocado mousse, radish, cilantro, and passion fruit leche de tigre (my favorite). It was a strong introduction to Aria’s new menu under Chef Austin Goetzman.
🐟 The buttery hamachi and zippy passion fruit made an excellent pairing. My tablemates witnessed me trying my best to cover the entire dish in the leche de tigre.
We’re always looking for recipes to highlight on Rough Draft. If you have a favorite dish from a restaurant you want the recipe for, please email me.
