El Azteca opening in Sandy Springs and more dining news from the week

El Azteca will take over the former Uncle Julio's space at Perimeter Town Center in Sandy Springs. / Courtesy of Ackerman & Co.

El Azteca will take over the former Uncle Julio's space at Perimeter Town Center in Sandy Springs. / Courtesy of Ackerman & Co.

Popular Mexican restaurant El Azteca, which opened its first location more than 30 years ago, is expanding. The restaurant will open in a 10,763 square-foot space at Perimeter Town Center, a mixed-use development in Sandy Springs at 6115 Peachtree Dunwoody Road. Slated to open in September 2021, the location will be El Azteca’s fourth, joining locations in Buckhead, in Sandy Springs on Roswell Road and in Athens, Ga.

Ackerman Retail’s Courtney Brumbelow and Haley Hartman completed the lease on behalf of the landlord.

The two-story restaurant with a glass facade will take the place of the shuttered Uncle Julio’s. El Azteca will join other Perimeter Town Center tenants including One Sushi and Biryanis Place.

Lucian Books and Wine is now open at 3005 Peachtree Road in Buckhead. The book shop and wine bar comes from co-owners and partners Katie Barringer, formerly of Cover Books, and Jordan Smelt, formerly of now-shuttered Decatur restaurant Cakes & Ale, as well as Mickey Mixson.

Named for Lucian, one of Barringer’s favorite artists, the bar features a concise menu from chef Brian Hendrickson, also formerly of Cakes & Ale, while Smelt will oversee the 250-bottle wine selection.

Dinner dishes include ricotta gnudi, roast duck with morel and peas, black bass with kohlrabi and mushroom broth and asparagus with salsa verde and feta.

Daytime options include scotch egg, fries and onion dip.

The space was designed by Lindsay Miller of Seiber Design.

Lucian Books and Wine will be open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, with dinner service beginning at 4 p.m. Takeout will also be available.

Surina Thai will open at 2390 Chamblee Tucker Road in Chamblee, in the former Chom Chom Vietnamese Kitchen space, What Now Atlanta reports.

Nearly 50 Georgia restaurants made Wine Spectator’s list of best restaurants for wine as part of the magazine’s Restaurant Awards. This year’s awards program recognizes 2,917 dining destinations from all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 72 countries internationally.

Launched in 1981, the Restaurant Awards are judged on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award.

Metro Atlanta restaurants that made the list include Aria, Marcel, Cafe Lily, Osteria Mattone, Piastra and Umi.

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A-street opens in Roswell

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