:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71933354/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0067.0.jpg)
After closing in 2020 at its previous location in Buckhead ahead of a move to Midtown, Holeman and Finch Public House finally reopens Thursday, February 9, at Colony Square. The double-stack cheeseburger, crunchy gentleman, and bone marrow are all back, along with new additions like a raw bar, Sunday roast, breakfast, and many more seafood dishes.
For chef and co-owner Linton Hopkins, the reopening of Holeman and Finch is like returning home. He’s excited to be back again in the kitchen at his beloved restaurant, churning out its greatest hits and creating new dishes he hopes Atlantans will come to embrace. And while the first year of the pandemic caused he and wife and business partner Gina Hopkins to press pause on construction in Midtown, the long delay provided them an opportunity to rethink the overall vision for Holeman and Finch going forward.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402777/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0037.jpg)
With seating for over 100 people inside, and more on the patio set to open this spring, the design at Colony Square is very personal, Hopkins says. It combines the comfortable environs and casualness of the Buckhead location, with the quiet elegance of the couple’s fine dining restaurant Restaurant Eugene next door, which they closed in 2019.
“When we signed this lease in 2019, designed it, got our building permits, we were in a much different place in the world and in our idea for the new location,” Hopkins says. “The design was modern, with open ceilings and exposed concrete. Then the pandemic hit, and Gina and I asked ourselves, ‘what do we really want here?’”
A total redesign now sees the exposed concrete and ceilings once planned for the space warmed up with beadboard, dark woods, framed art and photographs, and enclosed booths with tufted leather seating. To add a touch of modernity, the wood and slate bar called for in the original design was replaced with a sleek zinc bar top custom made in Savannah.
Holeman and Finch at Colony Square features a raw bar with seating for four people serving oysters and shellfish towers. Even the kitchen is customized to Hopkins’s exacting standards, including a shelf for sausages and plenty of storage for the many jars of put-up preserves and pickled vegetables used in dishes throughout the year.
“I feel like this space is more Gina and Linton than any restaurant we’ve ever done,” Hopkins says.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402780/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0035.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402779/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0036.jpg)
A few familiar favorites from Buckhead are returning to the dinner menu in Midtown. This includes a take on the croque monsieur called the crunchy gentleman, the wildly popular double-stack cheeseburger, charcuterie plates, and the roasted bone marrow with parsley and red onion salad. The sticky toffee pudding is back, too, along with new desserts like a lemon tart and bananas foster and a more robust coffee program. Pastry chef Ayanna Reid replaces Jennifer Yee, who has since moved on to a new position in Las Vegas.
Weekday breakfast, which begins in a few weeks, will offer biscuits, egg dishes, grain bowls, and house-made granola and fresh fruit. At lunch, look for sandwiches like po’boys and hearty salads. Weekend brunch and Sundays dig into comfort foods, including the English stalwart the Sunday roast with a choice of beef, chicken, pork, or vegetables.
Expect to see a larger selection of local and sustainable seafood on the menu in Midtown, and the possible return of Hopkins’s riff on gentlemen’s relish (anchovy paste) — one of the original dishes served at Holeman and Finch when it opened in 2008. Several English cheeses have been added, along with Sapelo Island clams tossed with bacon, bourbon and jalapenos. The entree section features Carolina flounder muniere served with roasted potatoes. The roasted truffle wrapped in bacon sitting atop sunchoke puree once served at Restaurant Eugene is also making an appearance on the opening menu at Holeman and Finch in Midtown.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402786/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0062.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402793/HFcolonysquare_062222_final_0059.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24402796/HFcolonysquare_012323_final_0042.png)
“The biggest idea of cooking at Holeman and Finch is using the whole animal, whole vegetable, and whole fish. You have to be bound by the time and place you’re in,” Hopkins says. “The first step in every recipe we have is preservation and how we can use everything and capture seasons in a jar to use later.”
Hopkins plans to be at the restaurant daily, working alongside chef de cuisine Mason Bostwick, tweaking ingredients in recipes, meeting with farmers and local food purveyors, or breaking down whole hogs for entrees, charcuterie, and building cooking fats.
Brendan Town (the Lawrence) takes over the legendary bar program at Holeman and Finch, a bar that sparked the cocktail movement in Atlanta 15 years ago and launched the careers of some of the city’s most notable bartenders like Greg Best (Ticonderoga Club) and Andy Minchow (Dead End Drinks). The opening cocktail menu includes the Althea made with gin and quina and the Foxy Whiskers mixed with apple brandy, vermut negre, coconut aquavit, cacao, and coffee.
“We’re really challenging ourselves in every way in Midtown. It’s what gets me up in the morning,” Hopkins says. “Holeman and Finch has always been a challenge to me to be better and to try and make everything from scratch. It started at Eugene, but Holeman and Finch opened me up creatively. I’m excited it’s back.”
Check out the dinner menu below. Weekday breakfast and lunch and weekend brunch begin soon.
Currently open Monday - Thursday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. and 12 a. m. Daily dinner service, weekday breakfast and lunch, and weekend brunch begin in the coming weeks.
1201 Peachtree Street, Building 400, Atlanta. holeman-finch.com.