A Yucatán Dinner Series Kicks Off at Candler Park’s Gato This Weekend

After hosting Thai pop-up Talat Market on evening weekends in the kitchen for over a year, Gato owner Nicholas Stinson is set to begin his weekend dinner series at the Candler Park restaurant called “Gato Nights” Friday, October 5. The new BYOB pop-up explores the deep, regional food roots of Mexico, starting with the regions of southern Mexico and the Yucatán. Stinson says the menu is filled with “seasonality and surprise.” Sorry, no tacos, burritos, or Tex-Mex here.

Gato Nights will operate as past pop-ups have at the restaurant, opening at 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday and on a first-come, first-served basis.

Gato

The quaint, congenial restaurant on the corner of McClendon Avenue and Clifton Road offers a Southwestern-influenced breakfast and lunch throughout the week and, for nearly a decade, has served as a restaurant incubator on weekend evenings for moonlighting chefs. Past Gato pop-ups have included New York’s Québeco-American diner M. Wells and Stinson and chef Allen Suh’s popular Gato Arigato series.

In recent years, Stinson has given young chefs like Parnass Lim Savang of Talat Market and Jarrett Stieber of Eat Me Speak Me creative freedom in the kitchen they otherwise wouldn’t be afforded in traditional restaurants around town.

Now it’s Stinson’s turn behind the counter. The longtime chef and restaurant industry advocate is ready to share the cuisine he loves to cook with Atlanta’s dinner crowd.

Take a look at a sample menu for what to expect at Gato Nights:

Gato

Friday-Sunday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; BYOB; first-come, first-served.

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