The Best New Cheap Eats in Atlanta

Breakfast

Photograph by Josh Meister

Acai Power Bowl
Veda Juice Bar
Health nuts have been flocking to this bright spot in Peachtree Hills for cold-pressed juices since 2014, and now a second Veda Juice Bar location has popped up in Colony Square Mall. For a wholesome breakfast that’ll actually fill you up, try the Acai Power Bowl, which comes with freshly sliced  bananas and strawberries, almond milk, almond butter, and a drizzle of honey. $8, 1197 Peachtree Street, 404-963-2725

Pancakes
Bread & Butterfly
Sure, you can find cheaper flapjacks at the Original Pancake House, but at Bread & Butterfly, you can mop up the last pool of pure maple syrup in a stylish bistro setting. Were it not for the bill, which comes in dollars not euros, you’d think you were in Paris, what with the pressed-tin ceilings and woven-rattan cafe chairs. Served two to a plate, the pancakes themselves are each as wide as this magazine and as fluffy as a good birthday cake. $9, 290 Elizabeth Street, 678-515-4536

Photograph by Andrew Thomas Lee

Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwich
8Arm
Atlanta finally has a biscuit worthy of a city that is the capital of the South. Pastry chef Sarah Dodge’s crumbly, buttermilk showstoppers are the crown jewel of 8ARM’s breakfast menu and—with the addition of peppery pimento cheese, bacon, and soft scrambled eggs—the foundation for terrific (if hard to hold) sandwiches. $10, 710 Ponce de Leon Avenue, 470-875-5856

Desayuno Chapin
Xela Pan
Desayuno chapin means “breakfast of champions” in Spanish, and this traditional Guatemalan dish is certainly a champion in the value department. In addition to eggs scrambled with tomatoes and onions, you get yellow rice, sweet fried plantains, a rectangle of queso fresco, a pool of frijoles volteados (black beans cooked down into a paste), and your very own basket of daily-made corn tortillas. $7, 5268 Buford Highway North­­east, Doraville, 770-452-8880

Photograph courtesy of Superica

Chilaquiles
Superica
A Mexican staple, chilaquiles are what happens when nachos meet molé-like hot salsa for breakfast. At Superica Texas native Kevin Maxey fries up leftover El Milagro tortillas and then bathes them in a smoky red chile gravy. That part’s pretty standard, but the toppings are what make it special: two fried eggs, pickled jalapeños and carrots, and loads of cilantro. $12, 3850 Roswell Road, 678-705-1235, Krog Street Market, 678-791-1310

The “Kickstart”
Rising Son
Chef Hudson Rouse is officially 2017’s Cheap Eats hero. The former Home Grown GA chef doesn’t like gussied-up Southern food: “I don’t think there’s a place for expensive fried chicken,” he has said. So he’s doing it nice and simple at Rising Son, which he opened with his wife last year in Avondale Estates. The Kickstart breakfast gets you two eggs, bacon, cheesy grits, and a palm-sized biscuit—all for a single-digit price tag. $8, 124 North Avondale Road, 404-600-5297

Savory Hand Pie
West Egg Cafe
After introducing these last June at the Westside Provisions Farmers Market, pastry chef Carrie Hudson now serves her savory hand pies at West Egg Cafe below the White Provision Residences. The best are filled with butternut squash, goat cheese, and thyme—sweet and herbaceous—all stuffed into a flaky, buttery crescent moon shell. $5, 1100 Howell Mill Road, 404-0872-3973

This article originally appeared in our April 2017 issue.