Heeeeey, UGA folks (students and faculty who may not have been here over the summer). If you haven’t yet picked up a new and improved Flagpole Guide to Athens, now is the time to do it. Available all over town, it is the only comprehensive guide to restaurants and more around our fair burg. You can always check it out online, too, at guide.flagpole.com, where you can sort eateries by useful categories such as “counter service,” “delivery” or the all-important “full bar.” Here’s what changed since UGA graduation in May and what’s on the horizon.
In Five Points, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams (a chain, but a generally delightful one) opened in the former teensy bank on Lumpkin Street, and Emmy Squared, the Detroit-style pizza joint that replaced The Grit on Prince Avenue, also opened its doors. Nighthawks Lounge, a bar from the Slaters, opened in Newtown on Tracy Street, with cocktails and snacks. Nearby, Sunroof Coffee just started doing business, with coffee drinks and snacks from Sweetie Pie by Savie out of a small space with a walk-up window. Out on Highway 29, by the Space Kroger, Elliano’s Coffee, a franchise with many kinds of drinks and a drive-through window, got going. As of the beginning of August, a second Athens location of the sandwich franchise Firehouse Subs opened nearby as well. Maepole and The Flying Biscuit Cafe opened Oconee County branches in the Epps Bridge area, both in the same shopping center as Trader Joe’s. Garfia’s Mexican replaced Wok Star in Winterville, and Oak House Distillery opened up at long last in a historic home on Macon Highway, with gin and regular live music.
Daily Groceries moved into its new location (in the round building on Prince Avenue that was most recently a Walgreens) at the beginning of July and now has a lot more elbow room inside. The store has cakes from the baker who was at The Grit for years, sandwiches and lots of other stuff. Turn at The Flying Biscuit Cafe or go around the back way off Park Avenue. The driveway to the left of the building, if you’re facing it, is for folks exiting the parking lot only. The West Broad Farmers Market added a Tuesday evening market at Athentic Brewing Co. nearby. Home.made on Baxter Street stopped doing dinner, closed Sidecar, stopped doing dine-in entirely for a brief period, and now is back to doing dine-in lunch with counter service and limited seating on weekdays. Kique’s Kitchen moved from its Danielsville Road gas station space to a bigger, nice space in Watkinsville and changed the previously unfortunate spelling of its name. Dooley’s, in downtown Athens, cut a lot of its menu and shifted to counter service. And Cafe Racer closed its original Crawford location for the time being, focusing on its food truck, which you can find all over Athens, and, so they say, on opening the Atlanta Highway location.
Downtown’s Iron Factory, Viva Argentine in the Bottleworks, the Carriage House of Athens on Atlanta Highway and International Grill and Bar on Mitchell Bridge Road all closed for good. Slutty Vegan, on Baxter Street, closed “temporarily,” but it doesn’t seem to be open again yet, despite the presence of students. And The Mayflower, Athens’ oldest restaurant in a space across from the Arch downtown for 75 years, announced that it would be shutting down (although it’s still open for now) and leasing its space to an as-yet unnamed tenant.
Plenty more places are still working on opening by the beginning of UGA’s football season, the better to take advantage of the massive potential business on home game weekends, although construction delays remain extremely common. Paris Banh Mi, a franchise doing Vietnamese sandwiches and bubble tea, hopes to open downtown this fall. Taco Mama, which is moving into the former Fuzzy’s Tacos space on Washington Street downtown, seems very close to opening, with a big sign outside and a recent hiring fair. Over on Broad, Effin’ Egg, a casual breakfast franchise, also seems like it could get going any day now. A branch of the big barbecue franchise Jim N Nick’s is close to opening in Oconee County, in the Epps Bridge Parkway area. Wire Park, in Watkinsville, already has Lalo’s Tacos and Cantina and South Main Brewery, but a few more eateries (Scoops, with ice cream and candy; Apotheos Roastery for coffee; the Original Hot Dog Factory; Gekko Kitchen; and a smaller version of Mama’s Boy) are at various stages of completion. Entangled Cat Cafe and Market hopes to open this fall in downtown Watkinsville, to the left of the courthouse, partnering with the Georgia-based animal rescue organization Circle of Friends Animal Society to give this area its first cat café. A small, curated grocery store (Prince Market) is looking to open in the 100 Prince Building. Just down the street, Birdie’s, next to the Lark Winespace, is shooting for October to start retailing gourmet foods (fancy cheese!) and made-to-order sandwiches, salads and soups. Treehouse Kid and Craft moved from Broad to Barber Street over the summer and is in the process of adding its Treathouse area, with vegan soft-serve ice cream in cool flavors; you can already pick up a popsicle there. And Guthrie’s, the beloved chicken finger eatery that left Athens many moons ago, announced that it’s coming back, opening a location in the former Dairy Queen by the Marathon gas station on Jefferson Road.
Want to keep up with food news? Grub Notes is your place for it, with regular restaurant reviews in the print edition of the paper and news online.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
