Peckish showcases ascendant chef’s talent in Kirkwood neighborhood
Peckish, the pop-up-turned-restaurant in Pullman Yards, is a true diamond in the rough.
The scrappy little restaurant where seemingly every table wobbles is home to an incandescent talent in chef Tamara Hewitt, a cook whose whimsical, detailed, delicious creations have taken her to the helm of her own kitchen.
In conversation with Hewitt, one would never guess she is the mad scientist/artist who bakes raspberry-filled cheesecakes shaped like the moon. Earnest and unassuming in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, her passion emerged when she described using pottery tools to gouge craters into the textured surface of the sculptural moon dessert.
Hewitt began her career working in country club kitchens before starting her own catering company and, later, creating the Peckish pop-up to showcase her cooking. Specializing in hyperrealistic pastries that look like coffee cups, bananas and potted plants, her beautiful desserts have charmed many and opened doors to new opportunities.
The pop-up’s success at Pullman Yards inspired the owners of the artsy event venue to offer Hewitt a permanent space in a building formerly occupied by Fishmonger, which closed its location there in October 2024. Running a full-service brunch and dinner restaurant is a completely different animal than a catering business or specialty bakery; Hewitt told the AJC she sleeps a lot less these days.
The resulting restaurant is joyful and exuberant but a little rough around the edges. Perhaps it’s just this time of year, but Peckish reminded me of visiting the home of a good cook during the holidays. It might be a little loud and a touch chaotic, with a few fixer-upper projects visible, but you know you’re going to eat well and have a good time.
Hewitt’s Jamaican heritage is tightly woven into the fabric of Peckish, infusing the menu with tropical sunshine. A bowl of mussels is served in an addictively rich, steaming coconut broth. Crab hush puppies, an approachable take on Jamaican conch fritters, are more like light beignets studded with sweet crabmeat. Goat curry, served with rice and peas, features meat so tender it falls apart at the touch of a fork.
Several items on the dinner menu pull double-duty at brunch, the meal Peckish truly does best. The high tea tower is an excellent way to try a variety of dishes and could serve as a meal unto itself for two people.
During my brunch visit, the tower cost $95 and included 10 items, plus a choice of dessert and a pot of tea. As a table of four, we all got to try a large portion of the menu and order seconds of our favorite dishes. My only complaint was a small tea selection that leaned more toward herbal teas than the caffeinated stuff.
As one might expect from a restaurant run by a pastry chef, the savory baked goods tend to be made from scratch and better than average. That certainly holds true at Peckish, where the crust of the oxtail empanadas was tender and flaky yet sturdy enough to corral its hearty filling. Ditto for the solid biscuit sandwiched around nicely fried chicken dripping in hot honey. And the scratch-made English muffin used for the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich was pillowy and divine — a completely different (and, in my opinion, better) eating experience than the store-bought English muffins many people know.
In its found home, with a patio that gets a little too loud and service that can occasionally drag as members of the small team juggle various duties, Peckish feels like a restaurant still pulling itself up by the bootstraps. But it houses an exceptional talent in Hewitt, a chef who can transform Jamaica’s humble national dish of saltfish and ackee into one of the most artful and arresting pastries you’ll ever see. Hewitt’s talent has already brought her impressively far, but Peckish might just send her to the stratosphere.
Peckish
2 out of 4 stars (very good)
Food: Southern, Jamaican
Service: enthusiastic but occasionally unfocused
Noise level: moderate to loud, especially loud on the patio
Recommended dishes: high tea tower; hot honey chicken biscuit; ackee and saltfish fishbone; bacon, egg and cheese sandwich; smoked jerk wings; seafood hush puppies; oxtail empanadas; coconut P.E.I. mussels; tamarind-glazed pork belly; curry goat; caramel mocha latte; baby banana; red velvet flower; full moon; teddy bear truffle
Vegetarian dishes: jerk sweet potato rice burger; vegan Peckish skillet; peaches and cream stuffed waffles; tostones; smoked gouda grit cake; breakfast potatoes; tomato peach panzanella; collard and kale Caesar salad; curry cornbread; rice and peas; steamed cabbage
Alcohol: full bar with short list of tropical cocktails
Price range: $25-$75 or less per person, excluding drinks
Hours: 5-10 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Saturdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays
Accessibility: fully ADA accessible, though the Pullman Yards parking lot is gravel
Parking: paid parking on-site validated for two hours at restaurant
Nearest MARTA station: 3/4-mile from Edgewood-Candler Park station
Reservations: yes, available via Resy
Outdoor dining: yes, enclosed patio
Takeout: yes, orders taken via phone
Address, phone: 225 Rogers St. NE, Atlanta. 404-228-2026
Website: peckishrestaurant.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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