Where you can look forward to eating and drinking this year

Photo by Mia Yakel

Atlanta’s dining scene has already started 2018 with a bang. The hotly anticipated Emerald City Bagels opened this week in East Atlanta Village, new Thai spot Chai Yo began dinner service by reservation only, and Achie’s, the new restaurant from Hugh Acheson, opened at the beginning of the month at the new Omni Hotel at the Battery. Here are 14 more restaurants we’re eagerly anticipating this year.

Ama

8Arm’s Nhan Le is continuing on with the BeltLine-adjacent seafood spot originally dreamed up with late business partner Angus Brown. Le says he’s aiming for an early summer opening and also mentioned the addition of an in-house coffee roasting program called Three Heart.

Ammazza

This popular Edgewood pizza place had an unfortunate string of bad luck last year. Not one but two cars crashed into the building—on separate occasions—one of them causing a massive flood. If all goes according to plan, the restaurant is scheduled to reopen later this year, with a Decatur outpost to follow.

Arnette’s Chop Shop

The Haven, Valenza, and Vero Pizzeria team has a new steakhouse in the works. Located at 2700 Apple Valley Road in Brookhaven, Arnette’s Chop Shop will offer cuts of meat of all sizes, as well as raw bar items. There will even be a rooftop bar.

Coalition Food & Beverage

After an opening delay last year, Coalition, the newest restaurant from Ryan Pernice (Table & Main, Osteria Mattone), promises to bring “chef-driven American cuisine” to Canton Street in Alpharetta in the spring. The restaurant will be led by chef Woody Back.

Ford Fry’s as-of-yet-unnamed Morningside restaurant

Mega-restaurateur Ford Fry didn’t launch any new concepts last year (focusing instead on expanding Superica and the El Felix), but in late 2018 he’ll open a new Tex-Mex spot with a healthy spin on Piedmont Road in Morningside. Get ready for breakfast tacos, salads, and wood-roasted chicken.

Photograph courtesy of Missy and Kristin Koefod

The James Room

Ponce City Market’s 18.21 Bitters founders Missy and Kristin Koefod are opening a coffee shop-meets-cocktail bar along the Atlanta BeltLine. Located near Studioplex and Krog Street Market, it will serve coffee and pastries in the morning and 18.21 Bitters signature cocktails in the evening. The Koefods are targeting a spring opening.

Hattie B’s Hot Chicken

After a lengthy delay, this Nashville-style hot chicken spot is finally making its local debut in Candler Park this spring. Prepare yourself for six spice levels of fried chicken, pimento macaroni and cheese, creamy cole slaw, and black eyed pea salad. Want a sneak peek? You can try Hattie B’s fried chicken at a pop-up at Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q on February 3 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Photography by Andrew Thomas Lee

Watchman’s Seafood & Spirits

The Kimball House team is taking over the Krog Street Market space formerly home to the Luminary with a restaurant and bar tentatively set to open in late spring or early summer. It’ll be a casual seafood spot with a focus on Gulf seafood and Southern oysters, as well as craft cocktails.

Manny’s Grant Park Pub

Manuel Maloof, grandson of the Manuel’s Tavern founder, is opening this namesake pub at 588 Woodward Avenue this spring. The drink menu touts 20 beers on tap, an extensive wine list, and Moscow mule slushies.

Photo by Mia Yakel

Mary Hoopa’s House of Fried Chicken and Oysters

Chef Robert Phalen (One Eared Stag) is opening a restaurant featuring this pairing in early 2018. Located at Hosea + 2nd in East Lake, it will serve the whole bird (in both sweet and hot varieties), sandwiches, snacks such as boiled peanuts and clam wraps, and more.

Momonoki

The team behind Brush Sushi Izakaya is opening a casual Japanese restaurant on Eighth Street in Midtown. Expect rice bowls, ramen, matcha, Japanese-style desserts, coffee, wine, beer, and sake.

Photograph courtesy of O4W Pizza

Unnamed O4W Pizza concept

After leaving Irwin Street Market and opening O4W Pizza in Duluth in September 2016, Anthony Spina will return his famous Grandma Pie to Old Fourth Ward in late summer. He’s partnered with Cypress Street Pint & Plate’s Billy Streck to create a gastropub in Studioplex that will serve pizza, pasta, and Italian sandwiches.

Tiny Lou’s

Jeb Aldrich, the son of 4th & Swift owner Jay Swift, is taking the lead in the kitchen at Tiny Lou’s, the restaurant that will anchor the completely renovated Hotel Clermont. The restaurant will be an “American-French brasserie,” and the name references a hotel dancer from the 1950s who was known as “the girl who refused to dance for Hitler.”

Wood’s Chapel BBQ

Coming to 85 Georgia Avenue in Summerhill late this year, this barbecue spot is the latest project from the General Muir team. Named for a church that served the neighborhood after the Civil War, Wood’s Chapel will serve wood-fired pit barbecue (pork will reflect a North Carolina style, while brisket will be more Texas styled, Todd Ginsberg says in a press release) along with a variety of sandwiches, including “a barbecue variety of a Cuban sandwich.”