7 Atlanta pop-ups you can’t miss this week
Each week, Punk Foodie highlights Atlanta pop-ups worth catching before they disappear, helping readers find the city’s most interesting chef-driven dining concepts, food trucks, supper clubs and limited-time food events.
The independent chef scene often reveals how immigrant traditions, first-generation entrepreneurship and local ingredients are merging into a new Southern food identity. Atlanta offers a unique laboratory where chefs test ideas to determine if temporary kitchens can transform into revolutionary restaurants.
1. Cambodian flavors with Texas craft barbecue from Misfitsss and Bamreu
Who: Misfitsss (@misfitsssbbq) from Bryan Hull and Tyler Heath; Bamreu (@omigaitsbamreu) from chefs Dara and Tammy Nhep
When/Where: Saturday, March 28, noon until sold out. Round Trip Brewing Company (@roundtripbeer). 1279 Seaboard Industrial Blvd. NW, Atlanta.
Why Go: A Cambodian and Texas craft barbecue collaboration? Yes, please. Misfitsss pitmaster Bryan Hull and chef Tyler Heath regularly mash up Texas barbecue with flavors from Buford Highway. For this pop-up, they partner with Bamreu’s husband-and-wife team, Dara and Tammy Nhep, Atlanta-born chefs with Cambodian and Vietnamese roots. It may be one of the first pop-ups in Atlanta to explore Cambodian flavors through the lens of Texas barbecue.
What to Get: Try the kathiew, a Cambodian-style pho with beef cheek, smoked beef and pork broth.
Also on the menu: Twah ko burger with smoked lemongrass pork, pickled vegetables and special sauce; prahok ktis, a cold-smoked pork dip served with vegetables; and kaw sach chrouk, smoked and braised caramelized pork belly with hard-boiled egg and rice.
2. Dhaba BBQ and Minhwa chefs unite for Indo-Korean pop-up
Who: Jay Patel of Dhaba BBQ (@thedhababbq) and Minhwa’s chefs Lino Yi (@linlinsdindin) and Molly Follett
When/Where: Saturday, March 28, 5-9 p.m. Minhwa Spirits (@minhwaspirits). 2421 Van Fleet Circle, Doraville.
Why Go: This Indo-Korean pop-up brings together three distinct culinary perspectives into one cross-cultural menu. Lino Yi, who runs the kitchen at Minhwa and is a former Lazy Betty sous chef, offers flavors shaped by his American childhood spent around his parents’ Korean restaurant. Jay Patel, the former vegetarian and self-taught pitmaster behind Dhaba BBQ, brings a deeply personal “Texas meets Mumbai” approach, blending his Gujarati upbringing with Texas craft barbecue. Molly Follett, Minhwa’s pastry chef, rounds out the menu with globally influenced desserts.
What to Get: Patel’s honey masala burnt end sando with masala onions and giardiniera cilantro aioli (a new item for Dhaba), Yi’s kimchi mandu and Follet’s spiced carrot panna cotta inspired by gajar ka halwa.
The rest of the menu features: tandoori chicken sando with masala onions and giardiniera cilantro aioli; tikka pulled pork sando with cilantro lime slaw and hot honey barbecue sauce; KFC wings in soy garlic or spicy gochujang; and cheesy kimchi fried rice.
3. Kai Halpaus and Jorom Paler unite for a kaiseki supper club experience
Who: Gathered Grounds (@gatheredgroundsatl) from Kai Halpaus with Barkada (@barkada.atl) from chef Jorom Paler
When/Where: Sunday, March 29, 6-9 p.m. West End (exact location in the West End will be revealed at time of ticket purchase).
Why Go: Kai Halpaus is a culinary curator who trained under chef Grossman at the Chastain and has lived in Germany, Thailand, Hong Kong and South America. Halpaus’ Gathered Grounds is a monthly supper club with a rotating menu inspired by his travels. This month, he is highlighting Japan with the help of chef Jorom Paler from Barkada, who hosts regular sushi pop-ups around the city.
What to Get: The menu is a set kaiseki. The miso-glazed spring mushrooms and pink peppercorn tuna nigiri look like standouts.
The rest of the lineup includes: spring radish and snap pea sunomono; clear bone broth with spring greens; bluefin tuna sashimi; miso-glazed spring mushrooms; pink peppercorn tuna nigiri; shaved asparagus salad; charcoal-grilled barracuda; short rib, ramp and spring pea takikomi gohan; and hojicha ice cream sandwich.
4. Neighborhood institution Mi Barrio returns as a pop-up
Who: Mi Barrio (@1mibarrio) from Jesús and Martha López
When/Where: Sunday–Tuesday, March 29–31, 4–8 p.m. Grant Park Market (@grantparkmarket). 519 Memorial Drive. SE, Grant Park.
Why Go: Mi Barrio was a Grant Park institution that began as a street cart before the brick-and-mortar restaurant opened in 2003. Though the restaurant closed in 2024, this pop-up brings it back to Grant Park Farmers Market.
What to Get: Try the tacos de barbacoa and al pastor with grilled jalapeno and onions.
Also on the menu: chile rellenos, carne asada plates, burritos, quesadillas, taco salads and, on cold days, pozole. You’ll also find their customer-favorite queso dip and traditional homemade salsa.
5. Stroud Eats’ Cajun flavors hit Boggs Social & Supply
Who: Stroud Eats (@stroudeats) from Ryan Stroud
When/Where: Saturday, March 28, 4 p.m. until sold out. Little Cottage Brewery (@littlecottagebrewery). 120 Olive St., Avondale Estates.
Monday, March 30, 5 p.m. until sold out. Boggs Social & Supply (@boggssocial). 1310 White St. SW, Westend.
Why Go: Ryan Stroud learned to cook in Cajun and seafood restaurants on the Gulf Coast and creates menus that reflect his upbringing on a chicken farm in a swamp. He focuses on the kind of authentic Cajun food you would find in small mom-and-pop spots along I-10.
What to Get: the boudin tacos with crispy fried corn tortillas, homemade boudin, melted quesadilla cheese, onions, cilantro, and Swamp Sauce.
Rounding out the menu are: the hot chicken sammie with jalapeno slaw and Swamp Sauce, and the catfish cake on a pineapple cornbread cake, the boudin melt on toasted sourdough and sweet potato pastor tacos.
6. Beksa Lala brings Polish comfort food to Breaker Breaker and Sceptre
Who: Beksa Lala (@beksa_atl) from Basia Piechoczek
When/Where: Breaker Breaker (@breakerbreaker_atl). 921 Wylie St. SE, Reynoldstown. Monday, March 30, 5–9 p.m.
Sceptre Brewing Arts (@sceptrebeer). 630 East Lake Drive, Oakhurst. Tuesday–Friday, March 31–April 3, 3–9 p.m.; Saturday, April 4, noon–9 p.m.; Sunday, April 5, noon–8 p.m.
Why Go: Chef Basia Piechoczek’s Beksa Lala pop-up brings Polish comfort food to venues across Atlanta. In the next couple of weeks, find her at Breaker Breaker doing Polish dumplings (pierogi and much, much more) and sandwiches. Then, for Easter week (March 31- April 5), find her at Sceptre with a number of special dishes made for the holiday.
What to Get: At Breaker Breaker, try the pierogi, pyzy (potato dumplings filled with smoked duck), kluski Slaskie with mushroom gravy, rolled pork belly sandwich and strawberry-filled knedle.
At Sceptre, leading up to Easter weekend, go for the potato pancakes, a babka bread pudding, smoked deviled eggs, and zurek, a rye sourdough soup with kielbasa and potatoes.
Piechoczek will offer a fish fry special on Friday, Easter prep activities on Saturday including butter lamb making, pisanki wax drawing and natural dye painting eggs, and a brunch menu on Sunday featuring the Beksa Lala pierogi bacon egg and cheese (BEC) sandwich.
7. Wick & Nicks host an underground supper club in their Grant Park loft
Who: Wick & Nicks (@wickandnicks) from Jared Warwick and Ben Skolnick
When/Where: Sunday, March 29, 8–10 p.m., and Monday, March 30, 8–10 p.m. Grant Park. (Exact location revealed at time of ticket purchase.)
Why Go: Ben “Nick” Skolnick of BoccaLupo and Jared “Wick” Warwick of Octopus Bar are industry veterans who honed their culinary skills through years of kitchen experience. The monthly underground supper club is held in their private loft. Their highly curated, hyper-seasonal tasting menus feature carefully sourced local ingredients, in-house dry-aged meats and foraged produce.
For Skolnick and Warwick, designing an immersive environment is just as important as the food. The dining experience is elevated with details like gold flatware (a Skolnick family heirloom), while the loft itself functions as a comfortable listening room, anchored by a vintage Adrian Pearsall boomerang sofa and a high-end sound system featuring a McIntosh deck.
What to Get: Two dishes worth highlighting are the dry-aged Australian wagyu New York striploin with charred radicchio, brie gnocchi Romani, consume and ramps and the Parm churro with huacatay gelato and nixtamalized strawberry.
Other dishes on the menu include (but are not limited to) golden tile crudo with ajo blanco, oro blanco granita and green oil; local morels and duck with rillette, fresh ricotta, maple and ramps; and crispy capoletti with braised lamb neck, fennel caponata and bright lights Swiss chard.
Know a pop-up we should check out? Punk Foodie is always looking for chefs and pop-ups shaping Atlanta’s underground food scene. If there’s a pop-up you love — or if you’re a chef running one — send us a tip. Email a.big.fan@punkfoodie.com or message @punkfoodie.atl on Instagram.
About the Author
Short bio: The Punk Foodie project from Sam Flemming covers Atlanta’s independent chef scene with a focus on the city’s growing world of pop-ups, residencies, and chef-driven dining events. He covers the entrepreneurs and immigrant foodways helping redefine Southern food today. Email sam@punkfoodie.com.
