Lauded pastry chef’s dessert and cocktail bar opens Thurs. in El Ponce basement
Atlanta pastry chef Claudia Martinez and business partner Artie De Los Santos will open Bar Ana, a late-night dessert and cocktail bar, in the basement of El Ponce on Thursday.
The former El Bar nightclub at 939 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE has been transformed into Martinez’s dessert-focused bar with a menu of plated desserts and cocktails.
During the day, Recuerdos, a coffee pop-up that centers Mexican coffee and immigrant stories, will operate out of the space with a menu of espresso and tea drinks developed by owner Ivan Solis and pastries from Martinez.
By night, Bar Ana takes over with a dessert menu, cocktails and a $50 three-course tasting menu set to launch later this year.
When El Ponce owner Rosa Thurnher learned that Martinez was looking for a location to open her first concept, she offered her the basement space formerly home to El Bar, which closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Bar Ana isn’t a nightclub, it will be open late and will play a variety of music genres including Afrobeat, hip-hop, lo-fi, Latin music and bachata.
Bar Ana’s menu will feature a rotating selection of seasonal desserts including dishes like an apple spice cake with tamarind caramel, pecan crumb and dulce de leche cremeux; a quesillo shortbread tart with pear sorbet and caramel popcorn; and Araguani chocolate with passion fruit ganache, pomegranate and mole crunch. There will also be savory pastries and charcuterie available.
The cocktail program was developed by Mayim Williams (formerly at Kimball House and El Malo), who incorporated many Caribbean elements into the menu as an homage to her Jamaican heritage, Martinez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Beverages include options like a guava gin and tonic with guava gin, Granada Vallet and tonic; a Caribbean sour with rye, apple brandy, orgeat, lemon and Williams’ homemade Jamaican bitters; and a dirty pineapple with gin, pineapple brine, vermouth and Strega liqueur.
The interiors were designed and built by Dallas Dawson, an Atlanta-based artist and fabricator. Martinez said her team did research for Bar Ana in Mexico City where she was inspired to create a “high-end space” tucked beneath a Mexican restaurant that still feels comfortable for diners.
“We don’t want it pretentious, we want to be inviting,” she said.
With those prompts in mind, Dawson and his team put together the rest. Bar Ana’s ceiling, with its striking vines against a white background, was salvaged from Dawson’s studio after a fire recently destroyed the space he shared with several other artists, according to a GoFundMe.
The space offers seating for about 40 total guests, Martinez said. Bar seats are available for walk-ins while the tables are reservation-only.
When Bar Ana isn’t in session, Recuerdos will serve coffee drinks behind the bar. Solis launched Recuerdos, which means “memories” in Spanish, as a pop-up about four years ago. With his coffee shop, Solis hopes to both acknowledge the memories and experiences that made him into who he is today while also encouraging others to create new memories around coffee.
“You’re getting a cup of recuerdos,” he said.
When Martinez had the opportunity to take over the El Bar space, she invited Solis to run the daytime program, he said. From 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Recuerdos will serve drinks like the cafe de olla, a cappuccino with unrefined brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and orange peels, and the horchata chai featuring house made vegan horchata, oat milk and chai.
In the evening, Bar Ana will incorporate espresso, cappuccinos, drip coffee and two specialty drinks.
Recuerdos is open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday-Monday. Bar Ana is open 6 p.m.-midnight Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays and 6 p.m.-2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
939 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta. 470-763-9626, baranaatl.com
About the Author
Olivia Wakim is a digital content producer on the food and dining team. She joined the AJC as an intern in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree. While in school, she reported for The Red & Black, Grady Newsource and the Marietta Daily Journal.
