Atlanta Magazine
11 dishes and drinks to make the most of strawberry season in Atlanta
But like fresh strawberries, they ll disappear soon
Photograph by Lia Picard
There are only a few certainties in life: Death. Taxes. The fact that locally-grown strawberries always taste better than the ones at the grocery store. How many times have you picked out a carton of strawberries at the grocery store, tempted by their plumpness and scarlet hue, only to sink your teeth into one and discover that it tastes like . . . nothing? No sweetness, no juiciness. Fortunately, Atlanta’s chefs and bartenders are aware of this certainty, too, and many of them source locally-grown strawberries from farms like Rodgers Greens & Roots and Georgia Proud Provisions. They also know how to make the most of these fleeting fruits that will probably be gone by June.
Inspired by a vacant restaurant, Alyson Williams and Yusef Walker decided they wanted to make and sell pizza. Never mind the friends-turned-business partners had little background in the art of the pie.
“I had to learn to make pizza first. That was the first challenge,” said Walker, 30, who grew up in Queens and came to Atlanta seven years ago to help his brother open Negril Village and, later, Ms. Icey’s Kitchen & Bar. He’d been looking for a solo project, and Williams, a Stone Mountain native and Howard University graduate who’d worked at Negril and Ms. Icey’s, wanted a restaurant of her own.
Atlanta Magazine
Gilly Brew Bar is bringing its signature elixirs to Castleberry Hill
The drinks combine tea or coffee with bitters, herbs, syrups, and sometimes alcohol
Courtesy of Mary-Claire Stewart
Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas founded Gilly Brew Bar in Stone Mountain in 2018 with a goal of building community while disrupting the norm. They created a coffee shop that uses its kitchen as an incubator for up-and-coming chefs, while serving Firelight Coffee Roasters’ cold brews, cortados, macchiatos, and more. In addition to traditional drinks and masala lattes Gilly has grown a following for its James & James-brand elixirs.
These elixirs are what Brown calls “medicine for the soul.” They are named as chapters (Chapter 1, Chapter 3) as each is designed to tell a story and ties to the bible. “In historic times, drinks were poured out as an offering to a deity,” Brown says.