HOW SWEET IT IS

New eats at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market

By Annie Kinnett Nichols

Sweet Auburn Curb Market just keeps getting sweeter thanks to some new eateries opening stalls inside the iconic building on Edgewood Avenue.

An Atlanta institution since 1917, the market is ranked the 16th Best Food Market in the world by USA Today.

Along with fresh fruits, meats, flowers and other market staples, some great foodie favorites have also debuted here, including Grindhouse Killer Burgers and Bell Street Burritos.

Here’s a look at what’s new:

Le Metro Creperie

If you love a good crepe with a twist this place is perfect for you. If you’re gluten-free then you are in double luck. Started by mother daughter team Christine Taylor and Gwen Denninghoff, there’s lots of crepes to choose from: Mother Gaia with homemade hummus and cucumbers; Banh Mi Crepe with chicken and Sriracha sauce; Grandma Prince with brie, prosciutto, arugula and peach jam; and the classic Limonette crepe. lemetrocreperie.com

Rawesome Juicery

Liquid lunch just took on a new meaning with this cold pressed where you can make your own or choose from one of their amazing recipes. Along with the fruit and vegetable juices, there are also smoothies, made to order salads, wraps, zucchini noodles, and cleansing shots to start your day off right. rawesomejuicery.com

Panbury’s Double Crust Pies

South African expats Lauren Duxbury and Adam Panayiotou are taking comfort food to another level with these pies, which have become a breakfast and lunch staple. Expect to taste the flavors of Jamaica, New Zealand, Africa and Britain in these pies with their flaky crust filled with chicken and mushroom or curry. They also feature a fresh fruit pie every day. panburys.com

Arepa Mia

Arepa Mia was started by Lis Hernandez, who hails from Venezuela where his mom was a street vendor. Hernandez learned by helping his mom cook up these amazing recipes every day growing up. When he came to Atlanta, he realized it was the perfect spot to recreate his mother’s wonders. There are 14 Arepas, which are gluten-free corn meal or flour patties sliced in half and filled with grass-fed beef, sautéed chicken, tilapia, beans and veggies. They also have empanadas, cachapas – all Venezuelan and all amazing. arepamiaatlanta.com

Sweet Auburn Curb Market has free parking with validation and is walking distance from Downtown. You can drive, walk, bike or take the Atlanta Streetcar right to the front door. For more information, visit thecurbmarket.com.

Panbury’s

By Megan Volpert

Decatur is beginning to suffer from an overabundance of choices. You can get French, Thai, Korean, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Indian, Irish, and 17 unusual kinds of ice cream, all within a couple of blocks. It’s delightful; it’s a great way to raise your kids right –unless your kid wants to eat nothing but pickles and mac ’n’ cheese. Well, you can still order them some junk off the kids’ menu while you enjoy your higher class food, can’t you? Except your awesome eatery doesn’t really focus on having a great pickle and mac ’n’ cheese for the kids. Decatur needs a reminder of the familial food things at the heart of the South – it needs a Revival!

Enter Atlanta native Kevin Gillespie with a treasure trove of classic homestyle recipes under his arm, courtesy of Grandma Geneva. Naturally, my wife and I ordered the Family Style Dinner. We each got to pick an entree and dessert off the regular menu, and the kitchen took care of the rest – meaning finger sandwiches and pickles, bread service, a salad to share, five gigantic sides of the chef’s choice, and coffee or tea. We ate until we were overfull; we ate a complete meal out of the leftovers the next day; we finally finished the last bites on the third day; we only paid about forty bucks apiece for this much face-stuffing.

Everybody around here knows that Chef Gillespie knows what he’s doing. When you go in, the only hipsters are the ones behind the bar making two terrific kinds of punch (go with the Chatham Artillery). Revival is not a place for trying out edgy new concepts. The interior is blue and white with actual Gillespie family photos hanging everywhere. All the food is the very best possible version of exactly what you think it is. My wife ordered a beef and pork meatloaf that was, naturally, wrapped in bacon. I order the fried chicken, which was neither greasy nor overcooked. We both swooned over the fatback-fried silver queen corn, and actually raced for the last bite of hickorysmoked greens. Most of the time, neither of us will even go near the greens!

This is all very telling, because even as Gillespie is delivering exactly the Southern menu you desire, he is most considerately tweaking the details to provide a surprisingly unique plate. Take the cornbread for example. It’s brown and crispy on the outside, thanks to a light dose of bacon fat. The inside is completely fluffy; no hint of the usual flaking or crumbling you’d expect after an outside with such crunch. They’re shaped like triangles instead of slices or muffins. The butter is sculpted, not simply scooped. This is a bread service that speaks to a thousand loving little considerations – the time and attention lavished upon you by grandma.

Revival is a deeply hospitable place, and more than just the familial food style makes it so: the place owes its soul to Kevin Gillespie’s little sister, Kayla. You don’t have to ask around to figure out which one she is. The Gillespie siblings share twinkling blue eyes, flaming red hair, mischievous grins, and serious charm. Kevin works the kitchen magic, and Kayla works her spell over the dining room. She told us some great stories about the stuff on the walls, helped us decide on desserts, and kept all the servers in good spirits so they remained just as friendly and helpful as she was.

Every time she approached a table with a little kid digging happily around in a blue ramekin of perfect mac ’n’ cheese, Kayla would talk to the children first and the guardians last. She reminds me of my favorite cousin – the one I most often got to see when we all ended up at grandma’s house for dinner. As much as Decatur certainly appreciates a celebrity chef making dinner in the neighborhood, Revival is truly at its best when it reminds us of our roots and traditions. Couldn’t we all use a little more Sunday Dinner in our lives?

Megan Volpert lives in Decatur, teaches in Roswell and writes books about popular culture.