As people scale back dining out, Atlanta restaurants roll out budget-friendly menus

Fried catfish and beer-battered cod sandwiches from Captain B s at Ticonderoga Club Courtesy of David Bies At Avize the Westside fine dining restaurant in recent days named one of Bon App tit s Best New Restaurants in America Chef Karl Gorline serves modern Alpine dishes with luxe ingredients like foie gras and American Wagyu But Bar Avize the restaurant s sibling next door has become just as much of a destination for its fancy takes on comfort food including caviar-topped chicken nuggets and a viral NYC Happy Meal featuring a broccoli Caesar salad truffle fries and a mini martini Across Atlanta restaurants like Bar Avize are launching weekly specials swapping finer-dining dishes for nostalgia-fueled plates and offering budget-friendly tasting menus in hopes of attracting price-conscious diners and boosting sluggish sales Greg Best a partner at Krog Street Sphere s Ticonderoga Club advised Rough Draft these recession indicator menus are the direct effect of skyrocketing food costs tariffs and contemporary declines in consumer restaurant spending The sector at large is taking a massive hit now noted Best of the country s current uncertain and chaotic political and economic climates According to CNN s analysis of Commerce Department figures the first half of marked one of the weakest upsurge periods for U S restaurants and bars in the last decade even slower than the COVID- lockdowns of and Best stated Ticonderoga Club which also closed for four months in and due to a water main break has experienced a major drop-off in customers this year including multiple multi-week regulars We had a brief period of time after the height of Covid where people sought luxe food again he declared But I think right now the average dining constituents is getting fatigued and when times are hard people want nostalgic foods They want the mac and cheese the burgers and the pizza he continued Fried clam sandwich at Captain B s Fish Camp Courtesy of David Bies In August Ticonderoga Club revived its popular pop-up Captain B s Fish Camp to try and draw more business during the restaurant s slower days and offer more affordable options on the menu to new and existing patrons The menu features what Best calls well-sourced comfort-level seafood available for takeout and dine-in system on Sunday Monday and Tuesday evenings from Ticonderoga Club s Pineapple Room We re trying to be smart and fall back on things that our customer base has reacted positively to in the past he commented of Captain B s It s also a new opportunity for guests of ours to get the Club experience without the same price tag of sitting down and doing a full dinner Captain B s Country Boy for instance is a Mississippi-style catfish sandwich on white bread and costs and can come with sides like hushpuppies or coleslaw for each Related Story Captain B s Fish Camp returns to Ticonderoga Club for an end-of-summer residency Chef Deborah VanTrece owner of Twisted Soul Cookhouse Pours in Blandtown and Oreatha s At the Point in Cascade Heights is also adding more affordable dishes to her restaurants menus Honestly this has been the slowest summer I ve ever had since I ve been open and we are definitely feeling the pinch and adjusting our menus accordingly she mentioned Like Best VanTrece believes consumers are becoming price-conscious at the same time restaurant owners like herself are facing rising food costs and challenges sourcing menu items due to ongoing tariffs For example one of Oretha s most of popular cocktails My Okassan uses a Japanese whisky that took six months to procure due to tariffs and shipping delays So much of my menu depends on what products are available or what we can afford so we re constantly changing everything making it all subject to availability and pricing VanTrece revealed of sourcing ingredients and navigating price adjustments Pork neck bone coq au vin Provide by Twisted Soul Cookhouse Pours In recent months she subbed a strip loin for filet mignon in one of Twisted Soul s majority popular dishes the Steak Lady D the restaurant s play on classic steak Diane The decision to switch from strip loin to filet mignon came down to the price of meat rising by a pound in a single week VanTrece is trying to fill her menu with comforting budget-friendly staples like rice and potatoes and started offering a blue plate special during lunch institution at Twisted Soul I m constantly paying attention to what s moving and what isn t on the menu and switching things out which in the past I didn t really worry about so much and I could give things time to catch on VanTrece announced of her menu expansion strategy these days Related Story The Michelin Guide to Atlanta Michelin-starred Lazy Betty in Midtown is another Atlanta restaurant adding more budget-friendly options for customers The restaurant in recent days launched a four-course dessert tasting a menu of four rotating sweets from pastry chef Lindsey Davis available only at the bar Davis offers desserts like an elevated take on a cookies and cream bar that hints to nostalgia but stays true to the fine-dining aesthetic of Lazy Betty At per person the dessert tasting menu is still a luxury but attainable especially for special occasions And while Lazy Betty also serves a eight-course tasting menu in the dining room the bar features a scaled-down four-course version for per person Lazy Betty chef and co-owner Ron Hsu declared the concise tasting menus at the bar give people the chance to experience the restaurant without the time commitment or price tag of the full eight-course tasting experience which can last for more than two hours Photo by Matt Wong for Lazy Betty At Little Bear in Summerhill Chef Jarrett Stieber has served an affordable tasting menu since the restaurant opened in February So several people are turned off by fine dining because it seems pretentious explained Stieber Little Bear s four-course prix-fixe menu with an amuse bouche is just significantly less expensive than majority tasting menu experiences at restaurants in Atlanta We can charge and make a good profit margin and make gripping food that s a bit more approachable without sacrificing attention to detail and quality he announced Like Ticonderoga Club Little Bear is experimenting with a new operation format opening for dinner on Monday nights starting on Sep Stieber s goal is to draw an industry crowd similar to Gigi s Italian Kitchen in Candler Park while offering a dining option on a day when majority of restaurants are closed This is a way for us to grow and generate revenue and expand as a business without killing what makes us special revealed Stieber It s more logical to open an extra night or two rather than jam more seats in and have inconsistent amenity Monday nights at Little Bear will feature off-menu specials plus industry discounts and drink specials like a rotating staff-choice beer and a shot Provided by Little Bear Related Story Five Atlanta food trends in While VanTrece does not plan on adding organization days she does plan to experiment with additional offerings including opening on Thanksgiving for the first time this year serving affordable to-go meals for families and starting a monthly multi-course supper club dinner I think it could be another great way to bring people together and offer specific fun things that are off-menu stated VanTrece of the anticipated supper club According to Best Captain B s has been a hit so far at Ticonderoga Club So much so that he and his partners are prepared to mix things up again if needed potentially launching other restaurant-within-a-restaurant concepts including the return of Chef David Bies s playful Hooters-inspired sports bar Coach B s Sports Bar Grill or an Indonesian street food stall The trend in Atlanta for quite a while now has been about what s new on the pop-up landscape or on social media but we re tenured enough in this meeting to feel confident in understanding how to pull levels and push buttons that will lend us various flexibility as a restaurant commented Best All restaurants can do right now Best noted is continue to weather whatever storms arise and meet their customers where they are because hospitality remains the through-line no matter the challenges The post As people scale back dining out Atlanta restaurants roll out budget-friendly menus appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta