The menu for Auburn Angel, opening April 19, is a far cry from its legendary forefather, the Auburn Avenue Rib Shack. The restaurant will serve what Chef Robbie Pacheco calls “global cuisine” with dishes like grilled octopus with heirloom blue corn masa and a duo of tempura-fried prawns and firefly squid. 

For Pacheco and restaurateur Asa Fain, that’s the point of Auburn Angel. The restaurant should reflect present-day Atlanta – a city filled with residents representing multiple cultures from around the world.

Fain and Pacheco see Auburn Angel as carrying on the legacy of the building at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Fort Street. It’s been a restaurant in one form or another since the 1940s, and they will continue that legacy with the next restaurant to occupy the space. 

Fain, who owns restaurant and live music venue Apache Cafe, purchased the historic Sweet Auburn District restaurant building in 2018. It had been vacant for four years. He had always planned to preserve elements from the building’s former restaurants while updating the structure to bring it up to code and into 21st-century Atlanta. Approval of the design and preservation plans needed by the city and various historic architecture organizations took nearly two years.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused Fain to cease work on the building for months in 2020 and 2021. When efforts resumed, Fain was rocked by supply chain issues and rising construction costs. He had decided to expand the restaurant’s footprint, doubling it in size. Auburn Angel now features seating for 60 people inside, with additional seating for 60 more people on the covered patio. 

“The name Auburn Angel reflects the energy and spirit of this place. It’s part of the neighborhood and this iconic street,” Fain said. “There is optimism and hope in the building. It’s still standing after all these years, despite having to do so much work to bring it forward and salvage things like the front facade and the smoker pit.”

Auburn Avenue has deep ties to the Civil Rights movement in Atlanta, along with the Black community and Black-owned businesses. The street has been home to numerous restaurants over the last century like the old rib shack, which became Thelma’s Kitchen & Rib Shack in the 1990s, and B.B. Beamons just down the block. Nightclubs such as The Top Hat saw music legends like Billie Holiday and B.B. King on stage. Those legends would often dine at restaurants in and around Auburn Avenue following their performances.  

Fain said he will honor the building’s past lives in some of the design details. The grill pit from Auburn Avenue Rib Shack remains patinaed, scorched from years of fire and smoke. Ribs from the pit were served to Civil Rights giants like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Wesley Dobbs. The grill pit will be given pride of place near the entrance to Auburn Angel. The space still features the original concrete walls, some layered in decades of paint. 

Pacheco, whose kitchen chops include Cardamom Hill and Restaurant 356, said the menu kept developing every time he stepped foot in the historic building. He drew inspiration from his travels while also trying to anchor the food he will serve at Auburn Angel to Atlanta.

“I see the menu as more contemporary but with old-school values, where you go to the market every day for local ingredients and the menu is small and changes often.” he said. “I don’t want food at Auburn Angel to be pigeonholed into one thing or be pretentious. For me, the food matches the interiors of the restaurant and you just want to come and experience it.”

While Pacheco said he doesn’t play favorites with dishes on the menu, he points to the porcelet collar served with a cilantro and watercress puree as best representing his cooking style and what he’s hoping to achieve at Auburn Angel. The dish is seasonal and doesn’t use a lot of ingredients. Pacheco said he coaxes the flavors out of the ingredients he does use, like earthy notes from the root vegetable salsify, bitter tang from pickled mustard seeds, and subtle sweetness from a dusting of dehydrated carrots. 

Pacheco and Fain tapped pastry chef Pamela Moxley to handle desserts for the restaurant. Moxley was the pastry chef at Miller Union and Floataway Cafe and a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2015.  

“I think our menu has a great beginning and it will continue evolving and we’ll see what draws people in,” Pacheco said. “I’ve got a good team with me of seasoned people who’ve worked for me for years. Pamela has carte blanche to do her thing. We do a lot of collaborating in the kitchen and aren’t trying to follow trends. We’re just seeing what develops over time here.” 

Auburn Angel will officially open to the public on Friday, April 19, with reservations highly recommended for dinner. 

Auburn Angel, 302 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta. Open Wednesday – Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Reservations highly recommended. Valet parking available.