Tag: Busy Bee Cafe

As the civil rights movement unfolded in Atlanta, leaders and organizers came to the table, quite literally, in a coterie of Black-owned restaurants.

The James Beard Foundation awarded Atlanta's historic Busy Bee Cafe with a 2022 America's Classics Award. The award is given to "locally owned restaurants that have timeless appeal and are beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community." 

Barbecue, vegan burgers, all-day brunch, pizza, seafood, and more.

In this hiatus, I’ve had ample time to return to memories of the restaurant scene of Atlanta’s past.

The best of Atlanta's food and drink in 2018, including best new restaurant, new chef, zero-proof cocktail, healthy food, date restaurant, and more.

“During the civil rights movement, we’d start our day at Busy Bee or Paschal’s,” says Andrew Young, referencing his days at the SCLC with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. “But you didn’t go to those places so much to eat as you did to meet. That’s where you found out what was going on.”

Tuck into the city's best comfort food with these 13 favorite dishes, including Spice to Table's Kerala Fried Chicken, Southern Sweets Bakery's Caramel Cake, and more.

Busy Bee Cafe may boast the city’s best fried chicken, but it wasn’t always their top seller. When owner Tracy Gates first started working at the restaurant in 1987, the menu was dominated by ham hocks and chitlins.

Really, I don’t mind waiting for a table. It’s part of the experience, and one can learn a lot about a place by just showing up. Plus, where to go to feast on smothered chicken, pork neck bones, turkey wings, and oxtail buried in gravy.

The best baklava comes from a shop famous around Atlanta for its pita, Leon International Foods. And a restaurant's food may be highly complex, but that doesn't mean its name needs to be.