Necessary Purveyor at Ponce City Market pairs Miami style with local substance
Necessary Purveyor, the restaurant at the bottom of the new Scout Living building at Ponce City Market, is difficult to characterize.
It’s a market, sandwich shop and full-service restaurant all rolled into one, with a mostly American menu that has European tinges. It also has weekend brunch and a dash of celebrity thanks to its coffee supplier, NBA star Jimmy Butler’s Bigface brand.
Once you find out that Necessary Purveyor’s original restaurant is in Miami, it begins to make more sense.
The restaurant follows a recipe common in Miami. Its interior of white tile and warm metals makes for a nice backdrop on social media. The menu has just enough global flair to feel sophisticated, along with a balance of healthy options and indulgences. And it’s meant to be a hangout spot where you can see and be seen.
Some might roll their eyes and label Necessary Purveyor as just more Instagram bait, but there is some substance beneath the glossy surface. According to founder Tyler Debastani, the restaurant makes nearly everything in-house from scratch, using local ingredients — the main exception being different types of bread used for sandwiches.
Those sandwiches are available all day and also show up on the brunch and dinner menus. A mortadella sandwich might seem out of place among the more upscale dinner options, but the “mile-high” version served in the evening was enough of a spectacle that it worked. The soft brioche bun and drizzle of maple syrup over the tower of tender, savory mortadella took the indulgence factor a notch higher.
Seafood gets a spotlight during dinner, when the salad bar changes over and displays chilled shellfish. The restaurant also serves a very good lobster roll, featuring a generous portion of tender, sweet, cleanly picked knuckle and claw meat.
French-leaning dishes, such as chicken paillard and steak frites were well-made, if not exceptional.
The same can be said of the cocktails I tried, which were tasty but not memorable. The vodka-based Beltline bliss balanced the complex sweetness of guava with lemon, but it cost $19 thanks to the addition of Moet & Chandon rosé Champagne. I appreciated the use of a nice sparkling wine in the cocktail, but I question the value of the upcharge.
Surprisingly, one of the best dishes was the fried chicken. The quality began with the chicken itself; Necessary Purveyor uses smaller chickens with more flavorful meat than the flabby, inflated birds often found at the grocery store. The breading was light, with a delicately flaky crispness, and the pieces were cooked to the right temperature. The meat retained its juiciness but released easily from the bone, and the joints separated with little effort.
The chicken was served with honey, hot sauce and a simple slaw made with both red and green cabbage, adding color to the plate.
The service was excellent during both of my visits — quick, professional and courteous. For first-timers, it might not be clear where to get in line and place an order for lunch or brunch, but the staff gently corrals the crowd into place. After you order from the counter, staffers check in regularly and don’t forget about their customers. Dinner, which is available just three nights a week, is a full-service experience.
It also was a breath of fresh air that servers at both dinner and brunch encouraged me and my guests not to rush out of the restaurant. We’re in an era of timed reservation windows, and during my research for the Atlanta 50, there were too many restaurants where I felt hustled out the door.
At Necessary Purveyor, the welcoming service is even more impressive when you consider that the restaurant serves food to the entire Scout Living building, which is a bit like an upscale, extended-stay hotel. The street-level restaurant and its local customers easily could be treated as an afterthought, but they’re not.
Necessary Purveyor might be a sleek Miami import, but it’s not a soulless cash-grab.
NECESSARY PURVEYOR
2 out of 4 stars (very good)
Food: casual American and European, sandwiches
Service: quick, friendly, professional
Noise level: moderate to loud
Recommended dishes: mile-high mortadella sandwich, steak frites, lobster roll, cocktail shrimp, fried chicken
Vegetarian dishes: pancake stack, avo toast, egg and avocado biscuit, egg salad bagel, omelette, green forager sandwich, haloumi sandwich
Alcohol: full bar
Price range: $25-$75 per person, excluding drinks
Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays
Accessibility: fully ADA-compliant
Parking: paid at Ponce City Market
Nearest MARTA station: none
Reservations: dinner only, via resy
Outdoor dining: yes, communal seating
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 639 Glen Iris Drive, Atlanta. 404-748-4085
Website: thenecessarypurveyor.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s dining critics conduct reviews anonymously. Reservations are not made in their name, nor do they provide restaurants with advance notice about their visits. Our critics always make multiple visits, sample the full range of the menu and pay for all of their meals. AJC dining critics wait at least one month after a new restaurant has opened before visiting.
About the Author
Henri Hollis is a reporter and restaurant critic for the Food & Dining team. Formerly a freelance writer and photographer with a focus on food and restaurants, he joined the AJC full-time in January 2021, first covering breaking news. He is a lifelong Atlantan and a graduate of Georgia Tech.
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