This week, a beloved barbecue restaurant changed ownership, a plant-based ice cream shop prepared to reopen, and a food hall and French restaurant both headed to Midtown.
Socks’ Love Barbecue has new owners
Cumming restaurant Socks’ Love Barbecue announced on social media it has changed ownership after seven years of operation.
Chef-owner Steven Hartsock planted the seeds for the barbecue restaurant at his wedding in 2010 when he handed out a spice rub to guests called Socks’ Love Rub, according to a 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.
Soon, he had turned the rub into a commercial brand and later started a catering company with lunch service in Cumming.
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Over the years, Hartsock’s barbecue has earned its fair share of accolades, including being named Georgia’s best barbecue by Yelp and selected as a winner of the AJC’s Best of Atlanta reader poll.
Hartsock said both recognitions shot the restaurant to a new level of notoriety. But after seven years of the constant challenges and long days and nights of restaurant life, he decided it was time to do something else, in part so that he could spend more time with his family.
He reached out to Brian and Kelly Tam of Tam’s Backstage in Cumming, who had previously expressed an interest in purchasing the restaurant. He intended to just sell the lease and bring an end to Socks’ Love Barbecue, but the Tams were insistent that the restaurant continue on in its current form.
Hartsock was uncertain if he wanted it to continue without him, but after some consideration, he realized the Tams recognized the value in what he’d created and wanted to carry it on.
“As the days have gone on, I’ve grown more and more excited about what the future holds for the brand and for the restaurant and for the Tams,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think they have the energy and the staff and the ability to take it to the next level.”
On Friday, the Tams, along with Hartsock, held a meet and greet and farewell at the restaurant as he passed on the torch.
Hartsock will take the next few months to mourn the loss of the restaurant “as if it were a death, in a way,” he said.
The next chapter of his life won’t include a restaurant, at least for a long time, he said, but Hartsock does plan to return to the sauce and rub business at one point. Otherwise, he’ll be pursuing a career outside of the food industry.
“I’m leaving on my own terms, and that’s a great feeling to have,” he said.
1050 Buford Highway, Cumming. 470-302-8383, sockslovebrands.com
Credit: Courtesy of the Peacherie and Brasserie Lundi
Credit: Courtesy of the Peacherie and Brasserie Lundi
The Peacherie and Brasserie Lundi open in Midtown this month
A food hall and French brasserie are opening Sept. 10 in the lobby of 1375 Peachtree, an office building in Midtown.
Food hall the Peacherie will include two food and beverage vendors to start, according to a news release. Discourse Eatery comes from Shawn Miles Davies and Jordan Bynum and features a menu of fried green tomatoes with cherry tomato jam, pimento cheese dip, smoked honey chicken and smoothies.
Ninja Way Express from chef Jack Bai of Gekko Kitchen will also open in the food hall. It will offer sushi and hibachi with dishes like a hibachi chicken bowl, a shrimp bowl and poke.
Brasserie Lundi, a full-service French restaurant from chef Akhtar Nawab, will occupy a 3,400-square-foot space with a menu of dishes like oysters; foie gras torchon with stone fruit preserves and brioche; steak tartare with quail egg; poulet rôti with bacon and mushrooms; and poached halibut with charred leeks and smoked trout caviar.
Credit: Courtesy of the Peacherie and Brasserie Lundi
Credit: Courtesy of the Peacherie and Brasserie Lundi
A dessert menu features a peach tart with bourbon caramel, and the beverage program will offer aperitifs, French cocktails and Old World wine. Guests can access the restaurants through the 1375 Peachtree parking deck, and parking validation is available.
Both concepts come from Nawab’s Brooklyn-based hospitality group Hospitality HQ.
The Peacherie will be open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, and Brasserie Lundi will be open 5-10 p.m. daily with plans to expand into breakfast service 8 a.m.-10 p.m. starting Sept. 25.
1375 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. peacherieatl.com
Credit: Courtesy of the Creamy Spot
Credit: Courtesy of the Creamy Spot
The Creamy Spot will reopen in a new home
Plant-based ice cream shop the Creamy Spot will reopen in a shipping container in Pittsburgh Yards Sept. 13.
Wendy Golding began her ice cream shop as a pickup window in the MET development, then moved into a residency inside Best End Brewing at the Lee + White development.
The brewery closed its doors at the end of 2024, leaving the Creamy Spot without a home for several months while Golding waited on a shipping container along the Beltline at the Pittsburgh Yards to finish development.
On Sept. 13, the Creamy Spot will host a grand opening celebration from noon-4 p.m. to launch its 40-foot shipping container at Pittsburgh Yards near the Nia Building co-working space.
The Creamy Spot to-go window is right in the middle of a green space that has several other shipping containers surrounding it with outdoor seating and free parking, Golding said.
The opening menu will feature soft-serve, ice cream sandwiches, and a selection of ice cream scoops in rotating flavors like baked, a vanilla base with baked goods mixed in; cookies and cream; and golden kiwi.
The grand opening soft-serve flavors include vanilla, chocolate, frozen lemonade and Biscoff.
352 University Ave. SW, Atlanta. instagram.com/thecreamyspot
Other news of interest
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Little Five Points Diner, the chef-driven diner in the Davis Plaza of Little Five Points, temporarily closed for about six weeks, owner Sean Germain said, but it reopens on Saturday with new hours. It will now be open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday with the same menu.
422 Seminole Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-622-4135, instagram.com/l5pdiner
Peckish, chef Tamara Hewitt’s brunch residency at Pullman Yards, will be remaining in the former Fishmonger space permanently, according to a news release. The restaurant will also launch dinner service on Sept. 17. The dinner menu with highlight Hewitt’s Jamaican heritage with offerings like coconut PEI mussels, oxtail empanadas, seafood hush puppies, Jamaican escoveitch fish, Rasta pasta shrimp basket and curry goat.
Starting Sept. 17, the new hours will be 5-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 5-10 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays.
225 Rogers St. NE, Atlanta. 404-228-2026, peckishrestaurant.com
Chin Chin, a Cobb County Chinese restaurant, burned to the ground early Tuesday morning, according to a report from WSBTV. Sabrina Gao, the daughter of Chin Chin owner Jasmine Chen, began a GoFundMe to help her mother rebuild the restaurant and recover some of its losses.
“My family is devastated,” Gao wrote in the post. “She has owned her restaurant for around 15-16 years. … She is lost right now without a clue on what to do. Lots of people lost their jobs today, but my family and I lost our homes today.”
617 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta. chinchinmariettaga.com
Season, a breakfast and lunch restaurant near Marietta Square, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a special menu available Sept. 19-21 that highlights its greatest hits over the past year, according to a news release.
301 Lemon St., Marietta. 678-439-2935, seasonmarietta.com
Restaurant openings
White Windmill, a Korean bakery and coffee shop, opens its fourth location on Saturday in Buckhead near the Lindbergh MARTA station in the Uptown Atlanta development. The grand opening will feature coffee, pastries and a DJ.
562 Main St. NE, Atlanta. 770-209-2347, whitewbakerycafe.com
Blake’s Oyster Bar, a sister restaurant to D’Juan’s New Orleans Bistro from Donald Williams Jr., opens this weekend with a menu featuring New Orleans cuisine and seafood.
510 Fairburn Road SW, Atlanta. instagram.com/blakesoysterbar
Mobay Spice, a Caribbean restaurant in Toco Hill, reopens its dining room next week after an expansion. An exact reopening date has not yet been announced.
2957 N Druid Hills Road, Atlanta. 404-941-7028, instagram.com/mobayspiceofficial
Cucina Baci, a wine shop and Italian market, has reopened. The restaurant features a baby grand piano, live music, and stage performances like circus and magic shows. An Italian market, deli and cafe include a menu of paninis, salads and pasta. Cucina Baci will hold a grand reopening celebration on Sept. 26 with live entertainment, lobster rolls and Italian lobster specials.
2295 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. 404-869-8003, cucinabaci.com
Restaurant announcements
Credit: Rosana Lucia
Credit: Rosana Lucia
Kamayan ATL, a popular Michelin-recommended Filipino restaurant on Buford Highway, announced on social media it will be relocating next door to the former Wang Eye Clinic space at 5150 Buford Highway NE in Asian Square. According to a report from Rough Draft Atlanta, it will remain open in its current space throughout construction.
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