James Beard Awards + Michelin + J’s Mini Hotpot
April 3 — It’s Thursday! Time for a little “Side Dish.”
For today’s Side Dish, we’re offering two recipes, including one for lemon asparagus risotto. The James Beard finalists were announced on Wednesday, and it was nearly a shutout for Atlanta. We have more on this below.
➕ Plus, read a feature from Sarra on Panda Fest, a large outdoor Asian food festival debuting in Atlanta this weekend. Sarra also has details on the closure of longtime Chinese-style hot pot restaurant J’s Mini on Buford Highway. As always, expect the latest Atlanta dining news, including a new Southern regional guide from Michelin, late-night delivery from Waffle House, and roundups of March restaurant openings and April dining events.
In case you missed it in your inbox on Tuesday evening, here’s a link to the latest edition of “Family Meal.” It features Beth’s top five winter restaurant openings and a recipe for Carolina hushpuppies from Atlanta chef Rodney Smith.
Cheers from the Rough Draft dining team!
🍸 Beth and 🍰 Sarra
💚 Love is Love Co-op Farm Spring Plant Sale is April 5. With 90+ varieties of certified organic seedlings, pop-up chefs, free gardening and foraging workshops, farm tours, music and more, it’s not your average plant sale! See the full schedule here! (SPONSOR MESSAGE)
Have You Heard?
⭐ Yesterday, Michelin North America announced that it will debut a new regional guide to the American South later this year to include Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the existing Atlanta guide. When reached for comment about what this means for Atlanta going forward, Michelin sent the following statement:
“The MICHELIN Guide Atlanta launched in 2023 as it proved to be a culturally diverse city, with a vibrant culinary scene. Beginning in 2025, the Atlanta MICHELIN Guide selection will be included in the American South regional edition. This is only the beginning of our story with the American South region and as the MICHELIN Guide looks to the future, we observe very often the extension of its geographical scope within a state or a region over time.”
Michelin provided further clarification, telling Beth, “Atlanta will be rolled into the American South Guide. One announcement ceremony only.” It appears the Southern dining guide doesn’t include the rest of Georgia.
🧇 Waffle House now features late-night delivery through Dispatch from Olo in Atlanta. That’s right, after 9 p.m., people hankering for scattered, smothered, and covered hashbrowns or the All-Star Special can order those dishes for delivery into the wee hours. Click here to see if you’re within a late-night Waffle House delivery zone.
‼️ Check out this brief roundup of recent restaurant openings you might have missed in March. Nearly two dozen restaurants opened last month around Atlanta!
🍕 A third location of Atlanta Neapolitan pizzeria Varuni Napoli will open later this year at the High Street development in Dunwoody. This is also the first location outside the Perimeter.
😢 Sadly, Atlanta’s own Jon’nae Smith was eliminated during Monday’s episode of “Spring Baking Championship” on Food Network. While Smith did not move forward in the competition, Atlantans can still catch her baking at events like The New South.
👏 Shout out to Sarra for being named a finalist for the 2025 Atlanta Press Club Awards for her Rough Draft story “Atlanta’s pop-up scene: The challenges and rewards of operating a DIY restaurant.” Congratulations, Sarra, for this well-deserved nomination!
🔥 Scoville Hot Chicken in Sandy Springs will move to the taproom at Mutation Brewing just up the street on Roswell Road, according to this Instagram post. A grand opening takes place on April 26.
🌮🪦 Have you missed Supremo Taco on Memorial Drive? Well, the beloved street taco joint from Chef Duane Kulers (Pollo Primo) will make an appearance tomorrow night at the very first Oakland Food Truck Friday! From 5-8 p.m. at the new Oakland Cemetery Visitor Center Plaza, Kulers and his crew will serve choriquesos and other popular favorites from the former Memorial Drive restaurant.
April Dining Events
📆 Looking for food and dining events to attend in April? Several food events, dinners, and tastings will take place in April, including a Peruvian street food pop-up in Poncey-Highland, an oyster happy hour in Riverside, a whiskey tasting in Midtown, and food festivals in Buckhead, Brookhaven, Marietta, and Dunwoody.
⏩ Click here for the full list of April food and dining events.
Meet Ripple Fries— Sweetgreen’s Fresh Take on a Fast Food Classic!
SPONSORED BY SWEETGREEN
🥔 Sweetgreen’s new Ripple Fries are air-fried in avocado oil and made with just five simple ingredients for a crispy, flavorful bite—without seed oils. Enjoy them solo or with housemade Garlic Aioli or Pickle Ketchup.
✅ Now available at Sweetgreen at Ashford Lane.v
Top Stories
Aria alone will represent Atlanta and Georgia at the 2025 James Beard Awards
🥇 Of the 12 James Beard semifinalists from Atlanta and Georgia, Aria is the lone representative this year – a finalist for Outstanding Hospitality. The 2025 nomination from the James Beard Foundation becomes a fitting tribute to Chef Gerry Klaskala and his ardent commitment to hospitality at Aria over the last 25 years.
Last week, Klaskala announced his retirement from the restaurant industry. This includes stepping down as owner and head chef of Aria, the Buckhead restaurant he opened in 2000 inside a converted house on East Paces Ferry Road.
Klaskala and his business partners turned the keys to the Buckhead fine dining institution over to Aria’s long-tenured general manager and sommelier, Andrés Loaiza. Hospitality has been a core tenet at Aria since its opening, something that will continue under Loaiza, also known for his gracious service at the Buckhead restaurant.
⏩ Read more about Aria and its James Beard nod here.
J’s Mini Hot Pot closes in Chamblee after 21 years
🎙️ The IOC has a plethora of podcasts – including interviews, previews, and recaps – on its official site. 🍜 J’s Mini Hot Pot Deluxe in Chamblee closed after 21 years in business on Buford Highway. A New York-based franchise, the Chamblee location was the first Metro Atlanta restaurant to serve Chinese-style hot pot when it opened in 2004, according to We Love Buford Highway. The J’s Mini team will now shift focus to the remaining Duluth location on Pleasant Hill Road.
Sarra spoke with Lily Pabian, executive director of local nonprofit We Love Buford Highway, about the significance of the closure of J’s Mini Hot Pot. Pabian said that many mom-and-pop restaurants along the Buford Highway corridor are still dealing with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
⏩ Read more about the closure from Sarra.
Local restaurants leading the lineup this weekend at Asian food festival Panda Fest
🐼 Billed as the “biggest outdoor Asian food festival in the US,” Panda Fest heads to Atlanta for the first time, April 4-6, bringing with it hundreds of food stalls lining Atlantic Station’s Pinnacle Lot in Midtown.
In addition to food stalls from Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and New York restaurants, Panda Fest will feature more than two dozen Metro Atlanta Asian and Pacific Islander restaurants and businesses, including Kamayan ATL, Food Terminal, Java Saga, and Kani House.
⏩ Read more from Sarra and peek at the local restaurant lineup.
💚 Love is Love Co-op Farm Spring Plant Sale is April 5. With 90+ varieties of certified organic seedlings, pop-up chefs, free gardening and foraging workshops, farm tours, music and more, it’s not your average plant sale! See the full schedule here! (SPONSOR MESSAGE)
At the Market + Two Recipes
🍋 It’s all about the green! Rough Draft Atlanta and Community Farmers Markets are partnering to bring you two spring recipes you can make with ingredients from your local farmers market. This week, you can try lemon asparagus risotto and a spring greens and chickpea skillet. Click here for both recipes.
