June 2023
Features
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Mariah Parker’s next move
The 31-year-old is already a successful rapper, an activist, a PhD, and a former county commissioner in Athens. Now they’ve become an organizer for an ambitious new labor union—and become an Atlantan.
Where Atlanta chefs shop for spices
Your DeKalb Farmers Market is beloved for plenty of reasons: The Decatur behemoth serves the diverse Atlanta metro with hard-to-find ingredients at (mostly) reasonable prices, from produce from all over the world to extensive selections of fish, meat, cheese, and more. But the grocery store’s especially a hit with chefs stocking up on spices for their home pantries.
Buford Highway Farmers Market: By the Numbers
We asked owner Harold Shinn—whose father, a Korean immigrant, opened the market in 1974 to serve the area’s growing Asian population—to share a little about the family business, which has since expanded to cater to Atlanta’s Hispanic and Eastern European communities and beyond.
Behind conveyor belts at Sugar Bowl Bakery, a diverse group of workers with stories to tell
Sugar Bowl was founded in 1984 by Andrew Ly and his four brothers, who’d left Vietnam by boat, eventually making their way to California. They worked odd jobs until buying their own bakery in San Francisco, and have been growing their business ever since. Today the company’s line revolves around four main products: palmiers, apple fritters, madeleines, and brownie bites, which it sells to major retailers including Walmart, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s.
Norcross’s Green Land Food brings Middle Eastern delicacies to American tables
Ghassan Warrayat pulls the lid off a blue tin, revealing perfect rows of small, round shortbread cookies, each topped with a single pistachio: graybeh, whose recipe is written in the 10th-century cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh. These ones are from Habibah, one of the oldest confectioners in Jordan.
21 products from metro Atlanta grocery stores you ought to add to your shopping list
From ketchup to caviar, we’ve rounded up several interesting beverages, gifts, dinner shortcuts, and condiments.
The international potato chip pyramid: 24 unique flavors you need to try
One of the chief pleasures of shopping at a well-stocked international grocer: Lay’s potato chips. Here are a few bags we picked up around town recently.
An ode to the humble Publix birthday cake
Are there better cakes? Sure: They’re made in local bakeries or by cottage bakers with locally sourced dairy, heirloom flour, and fancy European-style buttercreams. But they’re expensive and require planning—it’s hard to beat $20 for an eight-inch round cake that can be picked up on a whim and still tastes great.
Behind the meat counter at Stella Mart, a Bosnian grocery and butcher in Lawrenceville
“You go to any Bosnian house, they will make sure you eat something,” said Admir Junuzovic, sitting across from me at a metal table outside Stella Mart, the Bosnian grocery and butcher he owns in Lawrenceville. Junuzovic—who began working at Stella Mart as a teenager when his parents opened it in 2005—had agreed to meet early, before his day filled up with county inspectors, orders, and so on.
Your metro Atlanta grocery guide: 90+ stores to explore
Consider this your ultimate directory of neighborhood markets, gourmet and specialty shops, butchers, international grocers, and national and regional retailers.
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The Connector
How young trans people—and their families and medical providers—are contending with a wave of animus
By the time all states had adjourned their legislative sessions in 2022, 17 bills aimed at transgender and nonbinary children had been passed into law—a record. Since January of this year, the U.S. has seen more than 100 bills being introduced that would prevent trans youth from being able to access healthcare—another record. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 2023 is the fourth consecutive record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, with some bills aiming to restrict healthcare up to age 26.
The man in the yellow hat: Meet the owner of the Savannah Bananas
Jesse Cole owns seven yellow tuxedos. He shows me during our Zoom interview, adjusting his camera to fit an open closet door into the frame: sure enough, six canary-yellow tuxes, hanging at the ready. He’s wearing the seventh while we speak—top hat included.
What (or who) is behind the rise of RICO?
What do Atlanta Public Schools teachers, “Cop City” forest defenders, the rappers Young Thug and Gunna, and former president Donald Trump have in common? All have been—or may be—prosecuted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, aka RICO.
In Juliette, Georgia, an anagama-style kiln draws a crowd every spring
This past March, the artists gathered at the Juliette home of ceramist Roger Jamison had trekked not only from across Georgia, but from Kentucky and the Carolinas as well. Many have made the journey every year since 2001 to participate in this rite of spring, occasionally staying as houseguests or camping in tents on Jamison’s property.
The Bite
The verdict on 3 new Atlanta restaurants: Marcus Bar & Grille, Dolo’s Pizza, and Mobay Spice
Marcus Samuelsson rolls into Old Fourth Ward, pizza in Underground Atlanta, and Jamaican in Toco Hills.
Review: Spend a very happy hour at Whoopsie’s
Take me to a minuscule bar with clever low-budget decor, shove a one-page menu under my nose that doesn’t look like typical pub fare, and I am sure to fall in love before even tasting anything. Whoopsie’s, recently opened in Reynoldstown, checks all the boxes, playful and serious in equal proportion: a sparse 40 seats, lots of thrift-store finds and reclaimed furniture, lights turned way down low.
Things we like: Arak
When you order arak service at Zakia, a bottle is brought to you tableside on a golden cart—it’s an event, a presentation. “Would you like me to prepare this?” your server will ask before gently combining the spirit with cold water and ice, which is the traditional way to drink it. It’s a bit of a magic trick—the clear liquor turns a hazy white as soon as the other elements are added. This is because the essential oil of aniseed is soluble in alcohol but not in water.
Redefining Teatime: The deep roots of yaupon holly
Yaupon holly—North America’s only native caffeinated plant—has a long history in Indigenous cultures. As the tea becomes trendy in the U.S., will those roots be forgotten?
Nourish + Bloom is the next generation of neighborhood market
Opened last year by Jamie Michael Hemmings and Jilea Hemmings, Nourish + Bloom is the world’s first Black-owned autonomous grocery store.
The Goods
Meet three Atlantans who are making women’s fitness apparel more accessible
“There’s a direct correlation between what you wear and how confident you feel,” says Jacqueline Dow of J. Dow Fitness. “Ensuring a woman feels beautiful and that her clothes are made for a body type like hers—I hope that inspires a journey to explore what a healthy lifestyle looks like.”
Room Envy: A beachy retreat in Buckhead
This retreat channels both Florida’s Palm Beach and the French Riviera, although it belongs to a family home in Buckhead.
Letters written to Mayor Jackson during Atlanta Child Murders illustrate the tragedy’s impact
“Through these materials we see the vast impact that this tragic event in Atlanta had on generations of Atlantans, as well as the work done within Jackson’s administration” to address the murders, said Tiffany Atwater Lee, head of research services at the library’s Archives Research Center.
5 Reasons to love Acworth
The nickname “Lake City” is a clue to what makes Acworth special. “The lakes are probably our greatest asset,” notes Taylor Aubrey, marketing coordinator with the city, located 33 miles north of Atlanta off I-75.
Miscellaneous
A love letter to Little’s Food Store
Perhaps Atlanta’s only bona fide bodega, Little’s has been slinging burgers and dogs mostly uninterrupted since 1929, when Marvin Little—and later his son, Leon, who still owns the building—ran the pint-size Carroll Street shop, and when Cabbagetown was a rough-and-tumble mill village anchored by the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, a redbrick compound since transformed into pricy apartments and half-a-million-dollar condos.
