Carly Cooper

After three months of offering takeout and delivery only, Nakato Japanese Restaurant is back open, following a $2.4 million renovation that sought to modernize the 50-year-old business. Along with a complete remodel, Nakato launched new wine and cocktail offerings and seasonal food specials.

A pandemic project that turned into a social media sensation, PopUp Bagels launched in Connecticut in 2020, selling bagels and schmears via pop-up events. Five years later, PopUp has 15 brick-and-mortar stores around the country, and soon Atlanta will be among them. A Beltline location along the Eastside Trail is planned to open by the end of year. Rather than serve sliced bagel sandwiches like most bagel shops, PopUp focuses on “grip, rip and dip,” meaning bagels are intended to be eaten by ripping off bites and dipping them into a tub of schmear.

When Smorgasburg first opened in Brooklyn, New York, in 2011, it was an under-the-radar food festival you had to be in-the-know to attend. Nowadays, it attracts thousands of visitors to set locations in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. On October 18, it will make its debut in Atlanta. Set in South Downtown, it will run on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine. Here's a sampling of what to expect.

After 32 years, meat-and-three spot Eats is closing. Known for its jerk chicken and affordable prices, this unassuming restaurant on Ponce opened in 1993 and has been one of the few old-time holdouts amid the development of the Beltline and Ponce City Market. Here, owner Bob Hatcher reminisces about the origin of Eats and shares insight into his future.

Cobranded with Honey Bubble, Mama Lin’s Chicken Delight will serve Asian-style fried chicken sandwiches and sides, alongside boba drinks and desserts. A la carte side options range from a black fungus mushroom salad to 18-inch garlic-Parmesan “Forever Fries.” Tornado Potatoes will also be featured.

The 3,600-square-foot restaurant is the first Glide with ample seating, a full bar, and a small arcade. It maintains Glide's simple menu (seven pizzas, three salads, and lemon-pepper and buffalo hot wings), as well as its counter service model. Chocolate chip cookies and locally sourced ice cream are in the works.

A reality TV star and owner of Johnny’s Chicken & Waffles, Karlie Redd wants to revitalize the feel of downtown and make it a place Atlantans want to hang out. With her new restaurant and lounge, Red Room Bistro, she is merging bold Caribbean flavors with popular American food in a sultry atmosphere. The Red Room serves brunch, dinner, and late-night fare.

Chef Todd Ginsberg is teaming up with Bloom Roadside founder Josh Kim once again—this time, on the opposite side of town. The duo has been operating the cafe and yeast doughnut shop together in Alpharetta since 2022. Come April, they plan to open a counter-service restaurant in South Downtown. Originally planned as a diner, it will serve all-day breakfast, as well as sandwiches, salads, and soups—and Kim’s sour cream doughnuts.

Before becoming a chef and restaurateur, Hudson Rouse was a farmer. He enjoys planting vegetables on his Rockdale County land, and a focus on seasonality is part of his nature. At his Avondale Estates breakfast spot Rising Son, Memorial Drive diner Pure Quill Superette, and Reynoldstown cocktail bar Whoopsie’s, he uses local ingredients whenever possible. This will endure at his latest restaurant, an all-day cafe called Babygirl, slated to open in East Lake by April 2026.

Lazy Betty, Aaron Phillips and Ron Hsu’s Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant, is expanding its offerings to include a four-course dessert tasting menu, as well as pre-ordered specialty cakes for diners. Founding pastry chef Lindsey Davis has returned to steer the sweet ship after five years honing her skills at Aziza, the Kiawah Island Club, and Kimpton Hotels.

Depending on your point of view, the trend of “immersive pop-up experiences” can be fun, nostalgic, educational, expensive, or tacky. While Bubble Planet at Doraville's Exhibition Hub isn't an absolute can’t miss event, it sure elicits joy.

Chef Brian So, whose Spring restaurant in Marietta was awarded one Michelin star in 2024, is ready for his next adventure. In addition to remodeling Spring, which will reopen next year, So has been working on an authentic Korean restaurant called Spring 2nd Branch, also in the Marietta Square, with business partner and sommelier Daniel Crawford. Slated to launch in early September, Spring 2nd Branch is inspired by restaurants So ate at as a child.

Craig Richards first ate at Table 1280, the now-defunct restaurant in the Woodruff Arts Center, two decades ago. He fell in love with the minimalist space, noting its iconic location and importance to the Alanta Symphony Orchestra, Alliance Theatre, and High Museum of Art. When the opportunity arose to bring new life to the space, he jumped on it.

Molly Sanyour’s now-famous butt mugs, the first of which she created in 2018 and gifted to singer-rapper Lizzo before her concert, turned into an internet sensation when her students spotted it in a Lizzo photo shoot for Vogue. Once the orders started pouring in, she created Molly Sanyour Ceramics Studio, located just off the Westside Beltline in Adair Park.

Professional dancers for 20 years, Lindsay and Nebi Berhane supported themselves with food service jobs, including baking at Levain (Nebi) and Molly’s Cupcakes (Lindsay) in New York City. They dreamed of opening a cafe, and in 2020 they began testing recipes. Soon after, they moved to Atlanta and launched Sugar Loaf, selling biscuit sandwiches and baked goods at pop-ups and farmers markets. In December, the Berhanes will fulfill the next step of their dream: opening a brick-and-mortar cafe.

Adjacent to Alici—chef Pat Pascarella’s coastal Italian restaurant in Midtown Promenade—is a new cocktail spot called Bar Pilar. Named after Ernest Hemingway’s boat in “the Old Man and the Sea,” Bar Pilar is intended as a laid-back escape from the hustle and bustle of Midtown.

A dark and swanky cocktail lounge with live music and Latin-inspired fare is set to open in Ponce City Market later this year. La Cueva, which translates to “the cave” in Spanish, is moving into the former Root Baking Co. space on the second floor of the Central Food Hall.

After selling her cookies online and from a table at the Municipal Market twice a week, Delondra Grant opened a full-size stall there in June. Located between City Produce and Phew’s Pies, in the former home of Panbury’s, AB Cookie offers eight to 10 cookie flavors each week, plus cinnamon rolls and peach cobbler. The 3.5-ounce cookies are served warm with milk available for an extra charge. Fan favorites include the Loaded Chocolate Chip with walnuts, oatmeal, and hand-chopped chocolate, and the Banana Pudding cookie topped with white chocolate and vanilla wafer.

Located in a former Urban Wings off Collier Road near Patrick’s Sub Shop and DAS BBQ, Mission Burger serves plant-based burgers, chicken sandwiches, reubens, brisket mac ‘n’ cheese, and more using a variety of vegan meat substitutes ranging from Impossible to Gardein Ultimate Chicken to Be Hive seitan.

At the Postcard, iced matcha lattes come in flavors such as blueberry lavender, strawberry rose vanilla, and coconut water mango. A strawberry yuzu matcha tonic is also available. Other, off-menu matcha drinks are in the works and offered to regular customers.