8 Atlanta pop-ups you can’t miss this week
Authentic Asian street food at ATL Southern Night Market
Who: ATL Southern Night Market (@atlsouthernnightmarket).
When/Where: Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, 6-midnight. Hong Kong Supermarket. 5495 Jimmy Carter Blvd., Norcross.
Why Go: The folks at Hong Kong Supermarket in Norcross are putting on a night market with Vietnamese, Chinese and Lao street food, along with an ao dai (traditional Vietnamese tunic) fashion show. Unlike some Asian food festivals that come through the city, this is a locally run, authentic celebration with food prices ranging from $5 to $15. Food vendors include Nam Phuong (@namphuong_jimmycarter), Thanh Son Tofu (@thanhsontofu.atl), Wow Banh Mi (@wowbanhminpho) and Hu Tieu My Tho alongside Chinese and Lao vendors like Wongkee, Happy Valley (@happyvalleyatlanta), Angel Bakery and Laos Mama (@laomama123).
What to Get: Thai-style spicy chicken feet, Vietnamese rice paper salad, banh mi and pork organ congee.
Expect many other options, including Lao sausages from Lao Mama.
Cantonese and American dishes from Soupbelly
Who: Soupbelly (@soupbelly_atl) from Candy Hom
When/Where:
Saturday, April 18, 8:30 a.m.-noon. Peachtree Road Farmers Market (@ptreefarmersmkt). 2744 Peachtree Road NW, Buckhead.
Wednesday, April 22, 5-10 p.m. (or until sold out). Minhwa Spirits (@minhwaspirits). 2421 Van Fleet Circle, Doraville.
Why Go: Dumpling superstar Candy Hom from Soupbelly repertoire is defined by the blend of Cantonese and American dishes she grew up with. Her recent Substack piece on Third Culture cuisine is a must-read.
What to Get: At the Peachtree Farmer’s Market, get the beautiful rose-shaped chicken potstickers and the garlic chile oil cold noodles. Also on the menu are pork and cabbage potstickers, Cantonese sticky rice with Chinese sausage and jars of her homemade chile oil. She’ll also have frozen dumplings available for purchase.
At Minhwa Spirits, Hom will serve up her Cantonese fried chicken sandwich made with salt and pepper fried chicken thigh, chile oil mayo, pickles and cheese.
Made-from-scratch soups from Side Hustle Soups
Who: Side Hustle Soups (@sidehustlesoups) from Nancy and John Rinehart
When/Where: Sundays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Avondale Estates Farmers Market (@aefarmersmarket). 64 N. Avondale Road, Avondale Estates.
Why Go: Nancy and John Rinehart‘s soup-making starts with their own stocks and spice blends, then adding hearty ingredients to end up with a full meal in a bowl. Nancy brings three decades of culinary experience running the kitchen at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, while John’s front-of-house background in Atlanta fine dining includes Eno and Bacchanalia. What started as a COVID-era side hustle delivering made-from-scratch soups to house-bound families is now a full-time venture, operating out of a commercial kitchen with a takeout storefront.
What to Get: The hot soups served at Avondale Estates Farmers Market include hearty chicken stew, shrimp tom kha (Thai coconut soup) and black bean soup with cumin cashew creme.
You can also find frozen options like chicken and sausage gumbo, rainy day tomato basil soup, Tuscan five-bean soup, loaded baked potato soup, beef short rib stew with gnocchi and many more.
Soups are also available for takeout at their storefront in Decatur or for delivery.
Portuguese custard tarts from Nata Atlanta
Who: Nata Atlanta (@nata.atlanta) from Kennen Thrasher
When/Where: Sunday, April 19, noon-2 p.m. Rebel Teahouse (@rebelteahouse). 225 E. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur.
Why Go: Nata is the only pop-up in Atlanta that specializes in Portugal’s most famous dessert, the pastel de nata. Everything is handmade with the same ingredients as in Portugal. Owner Kennen Thrasher is half Portuguese and started baking the dessert during the pandemic before finding a wider audience with his pop-ups.
What to Get: The pastel de nata is the only item on the menu. Get it while you can, as Thrasher does not pop up often.
Seasonal and ingredient-driven dishes from Long Game
Who: Long Game (@longgame_atl) from chef John Hajash
When/Where: Mondays, 5-10 p.m. 7th House (@seventhouse). 565 Northside Drive SW, Adair Park.
Why Go: John Hajash’s Long Game pop-up is seasonal, focused and ingredient-driven. He said he believes in highlighting and complementing the natural flavor of whatever he’s cooking and building layers with fermentation techniques. Prior to Long Game, Hajash worked in Atlanta as Chef de Cuisine at Talat Market and as bread baker at Evergreen Butcher & Baker.
What to Get: The hamachi with Meyer lemon and the English pea agnolotti with green chorizo.
Other dishes include marinated olives with citrus, country sourdough with cultured butter, asparagus with radish and bread, miso bagna cauda, half chicken milanesa with carrot and many more.
Cajun Chinese from Chino & Slime (Li and Lopez)
Who: Chino & Slime (@chinoslime.atl) from Zheng Li (@concept.luna) and George Lopez (@nolagoods_)
When/Where: Monday, April 20, 6-11 p.m. Commune (@commune_atl). 6 Olive St., Avondale Estates.
Why Go: Chef Zheng Li is a former sous chef at Talat Market and chef de cuisine at Holeman and Finch. He was raised in China before moving to the U.S. at age 11. His current pop-up endeavor, Concept Luna, delivers Chinese flavors with a modern approach rooted in his Chinese upbringing.
Chef George Lopez has worked at Emeril’s and Maypop in New Orleans and in Atlanta at Lazy Betty, Staplehouse and Gunshow. He describes his food as “Gulf Coast diaspora cooking” — full of New Orleans deep flavor, slow cooking, heavy seasoning and soul.
The two chefs call the fusion of their specialties Cajun Chinese, and dubbed their pop-up venture with their personal nicknames.
What to Get: the lo bak’go with beef tartare, pickled peppers and cilantro mayo and the roasted oyster ravigote with Creole ravigot cheese, Alabama crab and vermicelli.
The menu also features emperor salad with sesame Caesar, tofu skin and bok choy; fried pork baos with secreto, 13 spice and remoulade slaw; dirty jajang bucatini with black bean, onsen egg and nduja; and sweet potato pie with 5 spice, cashew cream and furu ice cream.
Artisanal after-hours pastries
Who: Viennoiseries After Dark (@viennoiseriesafterdark) from Chloë Chadet and Christelle Chadet
When/Where: Viennoiseries After Dark offers French pastries for evening delivery only, with limited weekly drops.
Why Go: Led by self-taught baker Chloë Chadet and her Parisian mother, Viennoiseries After Dark produces small-batch French pastries (croissants, madeleines) and quiche using traditional lamination techniques learned during Chloë’s time in France. Production is kept intentionally small to maintain quality and freshness. Order early; quantities are limited, and items often sell out shortly after release.
What to Get: The pain au chocolat and bicolor croissants.
Orders are placed online or via direct message for delivery on Thursday through Saturday, with a noon cutoff on the day of delivery. Deliveries are restricted to a 15-mile radius from Midtown Atlanta with a flat fee of $6 for orders delivered between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Viennoiseries handles all deliveries itself and does not require a minimum order amount.
Latin and Cuban sandwiches from Madre Garcia’s
Who: Madre Garcia’s (@madregarcias) from Alex Garcia.
When/Where: Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Piedmont Park Green Market (@piedmontgreenmarket). 1071 Piedmont Ave. NE, Midtown.
Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Grant Park Farmers Market (@communityfarmersmarkets). 1040 Grant St. SE, Grant Park.
Why Go: Madre Garcia’s Alex Garcia blends deeply personal family tradition with obsessive attention to craft. His food is rooted in the Puerto Rican and Cuban flavors passed down from his mother. Every sandwich is elevated with handcrafted ingredients like his 18-hour pernil (a pork shoulder stuffed with four heads of garlic and Latin spices, slow-cooked overnight) and seven-day cured ham. Alex spent a year perfecting his Cubano sandwich and recently left his corporate job of 19 years to focus on the pop-up.
What to Get: The Cubano, made with Madre’s smoked pernil pork, applewood smoked ham, house-made dill pickles, Swiss cheese, house-made poncho peppers and yellow mustard on Cuban bread basted in rendered trimmings.
Also on the menu is the vaca frita (think Latin Philly cheesesteak) with shaved beef and sauteed onions stir-fried in Madre’s house-made mojo (a marinade of lemon, lime and oranges mixed with garlic and cumin), pickles, Swiss cheese and poncho peppers.
On Our Radar:
- April 17-18: ATL International Night Market in Suwanee with more than 50 food vendors. Wow.
- April 18: Isale Eko Nigerian supper club; the launch of Ziggy’s Polish street sandwiches at Banshee late night.
- April 19: Tio Lucho’s and Puma Yu’s collab pops up in Athens.
- April 21: Page to Plate with chef Steven Satterfield at Leftie Lee’s. Satterfield will prepare a recipe from his cookbook, tell tales and sign copies of “Vegetable Revelations.”
- April 30: Madre Selva’s one-year anniversary guest chef dinner featuring chef Jaime David Rodríguez of Celele in Cartagena, Colombia (very few tickets left)
- This summer: Leftie Lee’s Leftie + friends summer camp with pop-up chef instructors. Get your kids signed up now before slots sell out.
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.
