Tag: Tal Baum

For 25 years, ever since he secured his first cooking position—at Waffle House, no less—Zeb Stevenson wanted to be the chef at his own restaurant. “That was really all I ever set out to do,” he says. In 2019, he achieved his goal, opening Redbird in Westside Provisions District with Ross Jones (formerly of Watershed on Peachtree, where Stevenson was previously executive chef). His “free-spirited,” vegetable-forward approach to cooking attracted diners for four years, even surviving the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in February 2023, Stevenson reluctantly shuttered his life’s dream, noting unsustainable costs of labor and food.

“It started as a love letter to the coast,” Tal Baum says. “It’s light and airy and welcoming. We want to bring you that sensation of liberation and relaxation [you get] when you’re on the coast.”

Ever since Jonathan Waxman’s Italian restaurant Brezza Cucina closed at Ponce City Market last year, the cold, industrial-looking space has sat vacant, like a ghost amid an otherwise vibrant food hall. Tal Baum and her Olivia Restaurant Group (Bellina Alimentari, Aziza, and Rina) are set to change that with the opening of Atrium on January 31.

Hit hard by the pandemic, food halls, like Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market, and their vendors are figuring out how to hang on.

When Rina, the new restaurant from Aziza's Tal Baum, opens in the Ford Factory Lofts, it will bring a slice of Israeli beach life to the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail.

Atlanta has its fair share of Middle Eastern spots, but true, full-service Israeli restaurants are another story. Bellina Alimentari owner Tal Baum is looking to change that with the opening of Aziza in the Westside Provisions District this month.

Though there are abundant “Middle Eastern” restaurants in Atlanta, ones designated as “Israeli” are rare; Tal Baum and a few other chefs are trying to change that. Three new restaurateurs are bringing Israeli-style food to Atlanta.

Among the four new properties announced for Westside Provisions District are a new Italian restaurant from the Storico Fresco team and an Israeli restaurant from Bellina Alimentari's owner.