28-05-2025
Best Dishes Eater Atlanta Ate in May 2025
May is my birthday month. Rest assured, this Taurus spent it dining out. Here are some of my favorite dishes from this very celebratory month. And for those curious, I spent my birthday brunch at Kamayan ATL enjoying a Filipino feast, followed by a cocktail party celebrating Aria's chef Gerry Klaskala's retirement, and finally returning home to a raspberry and dark chocolate cake from St. Germain, paired with an Alsatian sparkling rosé. Black garlic custard from Speakeasy Supper Club
Chef Kyle Shankman's Speakeasy Supper Club is serving a new menu that builds beautifully with seasonality and creativity. Served at a long dining table at the chef's house, the dinner is an intimate affair. One of my favorite courses of the night was a black garlic custard with edamame, green pepper, and edible succulents. The black garlic had a dense, umami-packed richness, cut with the herbaceous edamame and bell pepper, alongside sweetness from the succulents. (Am I the only one who didn't know there was such a thing as edible succulents?)
The dinner ends with a visually striking lemon poppyseed cake, with a yellow base and pink top stamped in a honeybee shape. The cake has bee pollen and golden milk with a surprise plum center when you cut into it. Additionally, I could've eaten eight dinner rolls with the housemade honey and lavender butter, which has been a staple on the menu since the beginning. You could spot chef Zach Meloy's handmade plateware at the dinner, too. Major uff . Tickets are $145 per person, and you can bring your own wine.
Shankman's son, Trevor, runs the mega-popular Maria supper club at Vine Club in Adair Park. The father-son duo will team up for a pop-up dinner this fall. Tuna cheek ramen from O by Brush
I went to a tuna cutting at one-Michelin-starred O by Brush recently, where chef Jason Liang carved a 206-pound tuna and fed diners nigiri, hand rolls, and other dishes from the fresh cuts. Though tuna spinal jelly and the forehead (noten) are my favorite cuts, one standout was the tuna ramen in the lineup. The tuna cheek (kama-toro) was grilled and folded into a massive ramen with quail eggs and its own fat. The noodles (though not made in-house) were perfectly chewy, and the eggs and tuna made the mixture luxuriously fatty. Tickets for a Father's Day tuna cutting are on sale now.
Related I Went to a Tuna Cutting in Atlanta. Here's What Happened. Grilled white sweet potato from Ticonderoga Club
Ticonderoga Club at Krog Street might have my favorite martini on deck (it's called the Nerve Pill and it's off-menu), but the grilled white sweet potato is the sleeper at the restaurant. It reminded me of the sweet potatoes I'd eat on the streets of New Delhi, grilled on coal, with a sprinkle of salt and lemon. Here it's served smashed and grilled with cream and a ton of herbs. It's the perfect bar snack for $13 — you'll thank me later. Gochujang sabayon yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) from Spring
Atlanta's top Asian chefs gathered at the recent Good Luck Smokeshow at Sweet Auburn BBQ — you've got to look at the unbelievable lineup here. There were many stellar Asian dishes to sample, but the gochujang sabayon yukhoe (pronounced yook-whay), a spicy Korean beef tartare, with Korean pear, cucumber, and a gochujang egg yolk sauce, was a true standout. It was from Brian So's one-Michelin-starred Spring restaurant in Marietta. You mix the tartare with all of the other components and spoon it into seaweed for a refreshing, fiery bite. Though the dish was a special for the event, chef So says two yukhoe dishes will be served at Spring 2nd Branch opening this July.
You can find all these spots on the Best Dishes I Ate List in the Eater App. Now you can make and share your own lists on the app. If you make a list, let me know, because I want to know what you're getting into.
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