Summerhill Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar D Boca N Boca Finally Opens

After nearly three years of delays due to construction and permitting, Mexican restaurant and tequila bar D Boca N Boca finally opens Friday, June 17.

The opening date for the Georgia Avenue restaurant has shifted several times over the last two months, much to chef and owner Helio Bernal’s frustration. But when asked if this time the opening date in Summerhill was firm, the reply was a hard “yes.”

D Boca N Boca transforms Bernal’s longtime pop-up the Real Mexican Vittles into his dream restaurant, where he shares his family’s legacy in Veracruz on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and in the Yucatán through food. Family recipes serve as inspiration for many of the dishes at D Boca N Boca.

Fate Hospitality

Fate Hospitality

Other dishes pull from places like Mexico City, with its famed street tacos, or the pollo asado, ceviche, and aguachile from Sinaloa and Monterey. There’s also huachinango (Veracruz-style roasted red snapper) on the menu and huitlacoche (corn smut), often referred to as the Mexican truffle.

One dish even nods to an Atlanta legend, Braves baseball player Hank Aaron, who hit his 715th career home run just down the street at Fulton County Stadium, now a parking lot, which includes a historical marker listing Aaron’s record-breaking achievement in 1974. Aaron is commemorated on the menu at D Boca N Boca, too, with the Hammerin’ Hank Chop — a spice-rubbed steak described as a “legends cut of meat” served with salsa and vegetables.

Fate Hospitality

The bar at D Boca N Boca carries both local and Mexican beers, along with tequila and mezcal for making margaritas, palomas, and original cocktails. Mezcal and tequila flights are also available.

For now, Bernal plans to keep the tight menu at D Boca N Boca centered on late-afternoon drinks and snacks and dinner in the evenings. Lunch and weekend brunch should follow in the coming weeks.

Take a look a the menu:

D Boca N Boca joins several restaurants and bars now open along Georgia Avenue in what’s become a bustling dining district in the Summerhill neighborhood, including Little Bear; fried chicken shop How Crispy Express; Halfway Crooks Beer; Big Softie ice cream shop; Hot Dog Petes; and Wood’s Chapel BBQ.

Chef Duane Nutter and restaurateur Reggie Washington will open Southern National across the street from Little Bear later this year. Chef Richard Tang (Girl Diver, Char Korean) also plans to opens game bar Press Start along Georgia Avenue in 2022.

39 Georgia Avenue, Atlanta. Temporary hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Patio seating available with fire pits.