Tag: Nick Melvin

Chef Nick Melvin—the man behind Poco Loco burritos and Doux South pickles—is launching a neighborhood-focused Tex-Mex spot called Communidad in Old Fourth Ward. Located in the former Highland Bakery space, it will serve breakfast tacos all day, as well as quesadillas, soups, salads, and Latin pastries. With a name that plays on the word “community” in Spanish, Communidad is intended to be “a place all walks of life can feel comfortable,” Melvin says.

A wave of closures at the height of the pandemic made sense. But as diners have returned in droves to sit-down restaurants—a 2022 survey suggests that more people are eating out now than before the pandemic—independent eateries have continued to struggle. What are restaurants up against these days—and how can they survive?

Chef Nick Melvin's popular Saturday burrito pop-up, Poco Loco, is getting a brick-and-mortar space in Kirkwood. The restaurant is set to open soon in the former Dish Dive space.

When the pandemic shut down Atlanta in mid-March, Nick Melvin made the difficult decision to furlough himself from his chef position at Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q. But he couldn’t keep out of the kitchen for too long and soon launched a burrito pop-up out of his house called Poco Loco.

In October 2015, just a month after Venkman's opened its doors to the public, chef Nick Melvin wasn't in the restaurant's kitchen. He was two hours away in a North Georgia rehab facility.

"It's just familiar. It makes you feel good."