Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants 2017

8Arm

Photograph by Caroline C. Kilgore, mural by Carl Janes

Dwarfed in size by Ponce City Market, in a building just across from it, 8Arm beams with independent spirit. When the restaurant first opened in the summer of 2016, chef Angus Brown’s menu moved the dining needle in a way PCM’s offerings still do not, with a refined high-low mix. Sadly, Brown passed away in January, but the morning-to-late-night restaurant has gone on, absorbing and reflecting the frisson of its neighborhood the same way co-owner Nhan Le and Brown’s first restaurant, Octopus Bar, does with the devil-may-care energy of East Atlanta Village. Le’s partner Skip Englebrecht also owns the sprawling antiques market Paris on Ponce next door, and the interior of 8Arm at times feels like a display annex of his eccentric shop. Outside, beverage director Joshua Fryer delivers classic cocktails from inside a shipping container painted with palm fronds against a pink background. (It’s one of the most Instagrammed tableaux of the summer.) Chefs Wilson Gourley and Keith Remes have stepped up to run the daytime and nighttime menus, respectively, and while they’re still finding their footing, baker Sarah Dodge has emerged as one of 8Arm’s brightest stars. She labors over a whole range of baked goods, including a pleasantly tart pain au levain. (Her sourdough starter has a name: Pete.) Basically, 8Arm is an extremely cool place—as well as a useful neighborhood staple—run by extremely cool people. Together, the convivial vibe they bring to Ponce is what keeps the city’s young intown crowd packed in for cinnamon rolls in the morning and El Floriditas at night.

Illustration by Valero Doval

Must-order: Buttermilk biscuit sandwich
Crumbly, buttery, and unrivaled in the city, Dodge’s biscuits are the basis for a breakfast sandwich stuffed with pimento cheese, bacon, and soft-scrambled eggs. She bakes them throughout the day, so “if someone comes in at 2 p.m., they get a fresh biscuit.”

710 Ponce de Leon Avenue, 470-875-5856