An Easy Breezy Restaurant Inspired by Sunny Coastal Regions Is Opening at Buckhead Village

After announcing the anticipated winter opening of American-European restaurant Atrium in the former Brezza Cucina space at Ponce City Market, owner Tal Baum and Oliva Restaurant Group plan to open coastal cuisine-inspired restaurant and bar Carmel at Buckhead Village. That restaurant should also open in 2022, across from Nars Cosmetics at the development.

As with Baum’s other restaurants, Oliva Restaurant Group culinary director chef Brandon Hughes will lead things in the kitchen at Carmel, which will serve lunch and dinner and weekend brunch.

“Our take on coastal cuisine is less about a specific suite of recipes or from a particular region,” Baum states in a press release, who says the menu for Carmel centers around a “general philosophy and approach” to food.

This coastal philosophy and approach to food appears to be how Atlanta-based Smith Hanes Studio plans to design the restaurant. Expect influences from coastal regions found throughout the Mediterranean and California with airy, indoor-outdoor spaces and a patio.

Eater reached out for more menu details and an anticipated 2022 opening ETA.

Baum opened Bellina Alimentari in 2015 inside the then fledgling food hall at Ponce City Market. In 2019, she opened Israeli restaurant Aziza and falafel stand Falafel Nation at Westside Provisions District, beneath Ford Fry’s steakhouse Marcel. Then, just two months prior to the pandemic-related shutdowns last year, Baum opened Israeli-style shipudiya or skewer house Rina at the Ford Factory Lofts on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Ponce City Market pâtisserie Saint-Germain Bakery opens a bakery-cafe later this summer at Buckhead Village. Named for the Parisian neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the 6th arrondissement, the cafe will open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and serve French pastries alongside a menu of grilled sandwiches, croque monsieurs, quiches, and soups. In addition to coffee, tea, and espresso, expect French wines and champagne by the glass here focused on offerings from organic and women wine producers.

3009 Bolling Way, Atlanta. olivarestaurants.com.

• Ponce City Market Restaurateur Expands Into Jonathan Waxman’s Former Space [EATL]