With Full Commission Closing, a Grant Park Pop-Up Incubator Also Closes

One of the original restaurants at the Larkin on Memorial complex is now closed in Grant Park.

Full Commission closed for good over the weekend after four years at the Memorial Drive complex, owner David Traxler confirms to Eater. A source with knowledge of the closure tells Eater the restaurant owes thousands of dollars in back rent and had been struggling for several months.

Traxler opened Full Commission in 2018 as an all-day restaurant and bar serving pastries and coffee in the morning, with brunch, dinner, and cocktails later in the day. The pandemic forced a shift in service at the restaurant, including a temporary closure in 2020 and the discontinuation of brunch and dinner last year in favor of hosting a series of pop-ups throughout the week.

Polish food pop-up Brave Wojtek, Laotian food pop-up So So Fed (2022 Eater award winner for best new pop-up), and Taiwanese-American food pop-up Mighty Hans took over brunch and dinner service at Full Commission this past September, part of a kitchen residency program at the restaurant. Former 8ARM general manager and bartender Joshua Fryer served cocktails during dinner as part of the So So Fed pop-up. Harbor Coffee and Korean food pop-up Kimchi Joy joined the incubator at Full Commission in December.

Matt Reeves and Brave Wojtek are returning to the traveling pop-up circuit and offering online pierogi orders. Molli Voraotsady and her critically acclaimed Laotian food pop-up So So Fed, along with Joshua Fryer, are taking on a new residency at OK Yaki in East Atlanta Sunday and Monday evenings. Fu-Mao Sun and Mighty Hans will continue popping up at Gigi’s Italian Kitchen on Thursday nights in Candler Park. Kimchi Joy is seeking a new pop-up residency, and Harbor Coffee will soon open in its permanent cafe space in Inman Park.

The success the pop-ups enjoyed at Full Commission during those few short months in Grant Park was bolstered by the variety of dishes offered under one roof. It also demonstrated the desire and need for a true pop-up incubator restaurant to open in Atlanta, a city with a robust pop-up dining scene. A more permanent incubator restaurant space would provide small-scale food operations and roving chefs the ability to showcase their culinary talents with little overhead costs and allow a community of diners to begin supporting the next generation of chefs by helping them build capital in their businesses.

Latin food restaurant Birdcage, owned by chef Leslie Cohen of neighboring Firepit Pizza Tavern, opens by the end of the year at the Larkin. The restaurant takes over a standalone building along Memorial Drive across from the chef’s brick-oven pizzeria. Birdcage joins Woodward and Park, Ramen Station, Grant Park Market, and Kale Me Crazy at the complex.