Hotel Row’s Long-Awaited Downtown Atlanta Debut Begins With This Thai Restaurant

What began as a catering company in 2019 sparked by their mother’s home cooking evolved into a Thai food stall at Chattahoochee Food Works two years later for owners Sai Untachantr and Bank Bhamaraniyama. Now the siblings are set to open their first restaurant on Saturday, April 15, in downtown Atlanta.

The opening of TydeTate Kitchen also marks another big milestone: it’s the first restaurant to open along this revitalized stretch of Mitchell Street in a block of century-old storefronts known as Hotel Row.

Newport

When it comes down to it, Untachantr says, TydeTate Kitchen is simply a family business, something they can do together and enjoy. Even the name has family ties, representing Untachantr’s two sons, whom her mother dotes on and loves cooking for whenever she can. She’s the family chef, says Untachantr, and the one who always cooks for their gatherings.

Using some of their mother’s recipes to create dishes for TydeTate Kitchen was a no brainer. And while opening a food stall was never part of the original plan for the business, when the opportunity to bring their family’s Thai food to Chattahoochee Food Works presented itself, Untachantr and Bhamaraniyama jumped at the chance.

“This is how we get our foot in the door. We don’t have a lot of space to work with at the food stall, so we keep the menu simple,” says Untachantr. “It has classic Thai dishes you find at Thai restaurants, but I think people are really responding to the flavors — sweet, tangy, that umami. These are the flavors I grew up with.”

Those classic Thai dishes Untachantr references, like basil chicken, Thai fried rice, and pad thai, are all on the menu at the restaurant. With the larger kitchen at Hotel Row, Untachantr and Bhamaraniyama will eventually expand upon the menu to add new, more involved dishes. Untachantr says to expect more soups, street foods like chicken satay and cho muang, and papaya salad in the future.

TydeTate Kitchen

TydeTate Kitchen

TydeTate Kitchen

TydeTate Kitchen

TydeTate Kitchen

The Hotel Row restaurant includes one other new addition — a full bar. Look for bright and refreshing cocktails, including the Red Cheeks made with vodka, lychee, elderflower, and tajin and the Passion Fizz mixed with rum and passionfruit nectar. For now, the restaurant is BYOB pending the approval of its liquor license.

Like the Chattahoochee Food Works stall, people order at the counter and can either take their food to go or grab a seat at the bar, at seats along a railing flanking the kitchen, or at one of the tables. Bistro tables are available outside in front of the restaurant.

Being part of the revitalization of this area of downtown Atlanta, and in particular the preservation of the historic buildings along Hotel Row, was a key factor for Untachantr and Bhamaraniyama in making the decision to open their first restaurant.

Kristin Ferro

In 2016, Newport Holding, the private real estate investment firm redeveloping Hotel Row, purchased 48 buildings in what’s known now as the South Downtown District with the intention of opening new businesses by restoring and preserving much of the existing historic architecture. During its heyday in the first two decades of the 20th Century, the main commercial hub on this stretch of Mitchell Street featured hotels, retail businesses, and restaurants meant to serve two nearby railway stations. The facades of these historic structures remained relatively unchanged for over a century.

Newport hosted a series of pop-up food and retail shops in the buildings on Hotel Row throughout 2019, meant to introduce the community to the company’s future plans for the block and to scout for permanent local businesses and restaurants to repopulate the storefronts.

Joining TydeTate Kitchen next door this spring, chef Bella Jones will open Liz and Leon’s exploring the foods of her family and the African diaspora, alongside a bar called Sweet Gigi’s. A location of Spiller Park Coffee and Pizza Clementine and cocktail lounge Thirteenth Floor, owned by Slater Hospitality, the group behind Skyline Park and Leave of Absence, should open in the coming months. Across the street at 222 Mitchell, Ohio-based arcade and game bar Pins Mechanical Company and a rooftop diner from Slater Hospitality are slated to open in 2024.

“Speaking with April Stammel [Newport senior vice president] and her pitch on the whole project in South Downtown and their intentions to rebuild this community is what really drew us here. We saw the vision,” Untachantr says. “It’s a great opportunity to be part of something, and our experience at the food works and the different cuisines served there will continue with us and our restaurant neighbors at Hotel Row.”

Take a look at the menu for TydeTate Kitchen below:

TydeTate Kitchen

TydeTate Kitchen

Open daily 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Hours expanding in the summer. Currently BYOB pending liquor license.

229 Mitchell Street, Atlanta. tydetatekitchen.com.