A small market and pupuseria will open in early November along Sylvan Road in Sylvan Hills.
Ken Katz and Jeanette Flores-Katz will relocate their popular pupuseria and Salvadoran restaurant, La Bodega, from the Met in Adair Park to Sylvan Hills, taking over the D&D Barbeque space on Sylvan Road. Here, the couple will finally operate La Bodega as they had always intended – selling fresh produce and pantry items and serving pupusas, sandwiches, and hot dishes.
It’s the kind of neighborhood market and counter-service spot the Katzs had hoped to expand into at The Met. Four years after opening there, despite steady business at the Adair Park complex, those plans never materialized. Flores-Katz said it was a combination of factors – some pandemic-related, some landlord-related – that led to the decision to seek a new location for La Bodega. They’ve been looking for more than two years.
“The industry is really bad right now. Everyone is closing, it seems, and we’ve been trying to reinvent ourselves since the pandemic,” Flores-Katz said, who added that closing their Salvadoran restaurant Buenos Dias Cafe in downtown Atlanta a year prior to the global health crisis likely spared them further financial losses.
“For the first two years at The Met, we were in survival mode,” she added. “But we need to start growing again and pick up where we left off and create a bodega where we sell fresh fruits and vegetables and hot food.”
Flores-Katz, a native of El Salvador, army veteran, and former fashion designer, said she and her husband tried to engage in talks with The Met’s landlord, Carter, about their plans for La Bodega. That included adding a grease trap to the 3,400-square-foot space to help increase pupusa production. The couple are selling their fresh and frozen pupusas at farmers markets throughout Atlanta, and now home shopping network QVC is interested.
La Bodega is one of several businesses located at The Met, which saw the sudden closure of MINT Gallery and the eviction of its resident artists earlier this summer. Artists in residence at the gallery were given eight days to vacate, with public records showing MINT owing $41,617.66 in back rent to real estate development company and landlord Carter.
At the time of MINT’s closing, rumors were circulating that Carter intended to sell the entire Met property, with some sources indicating the deal was already underway. The evictions at MINT Gallery and rumors of an impending sale left some wondering what would happen to other businesses at The Met, including La Bodega.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported the sale of The Met to Atrium Health on September 19. Katz-Flores said, however, the sale and rumors of a sale didn’t factor into their decision to leave the complex.
Related Link: MINT Gallery abruptly closes its doors at MET Atlanta
For the Katzs, owning the Sylvan Hills building and the property outright should help secure La Bodega’s future and allow them to expand the business into wholesale pupusa production, self-contained delivery service via electric bikes, and, if Flores-Katz has her way, a small restaurant serving Salvadoran dishes.
The owners of D&D Barbeque, known for its pork ribs and rib tips, sold the building and property to the Katzs. At 1,500 square feet, the Sylvan Road location is a downsize for La Bodega, but expanding the business on the property and being just four miles from their home in East Point made the opportunity hard to pass up. A small business loan from Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, sealed the deal.
“It’s tiny, but it’s mine,” Flores-Katz said, referring La Bodega as part-Salvadoran mercado and part New York City bodega.
When it opens later this fall, La Bodega will sell Flores-Katz’s from-scratch pupusas, sauces, and salsas, alongside produce and basic pantry items. The market will keep food waste down by using overripe fruits and vegetables or items not sold to create prepared dishes and pupusa fillings.
Pop-ups will continue at La Bodega in Sylvan Hills, just as they did from the window at The Met. The couple believe serving the community includes assisting other chefs and food operators and giving them a cost-effective way and space to do business. Being an entrepreneur can be both rewarding and cost-prohibitive. Offering people space to test the market sometimes makes all the difference, Flores-Katz said, letting them shoot their shot and miss a few times without risking financial ruin. With the market open daily, people should expect a different pop-up in the kitchen every day during breakfast and lunch.
“They can pop up and test out dishes and see what’s working or not,” Flores-Katz said. “We are across the street from Prep [commissary kitchen] and there are a bunch of food trucks. We’ve been talking with a couple of them about how to help out with ordering ingredients and not buying too much, so we may start carrying what they need at La Bodega.”
Trees Atlanta will spruce up the parking lot at the Sylvan Road property, planting trees and shrubs around tables under umbrellas and canopies outside.
Future plans include expanding the building to add indoor seating, employing local high school students who would deliver to nearby residents via electric bicycles the Katzs would purchase, and maybe operating a small Salvadoran restaurant next door to the market manned by Flores-Katz. For now, building a second, gluten-free kitchen will provide space to ramp up pupusa production to sell wholesale in grocery stores and on QVC.
Pupusas will be at the heart of La Bodega. El Salvador’s national dish is something Flores-Katz takes very seriously. She describes pupusas to customers all the time as puffy corn-based tortillas stuffed with “everything you can get your hands on.” The street food is portable and easily eaten cold or hot. Regional differences see pupusas ranging from the size of your hand to that of a small pizza with fillings of chorizo, beans, and cheese to vegetables, edible loroco flower blossoms, and shrimp closer to the coast in El Salvador. Flores-Katz likes to get creative with her pupusa fillings. At La Bodega, expect some pupusas filled with orange duck or takes on a Philly cheesesteak.
But Flores-Katz doesn’t judge how one eats a pupusa. She typically tops her’s with fresh salsa and slaw, folds it, and eats the pupusa like a taco.
While La Bodega will likely open in early November, the couple want to host a pre-opening celebration around Día de Muertos to introduce themselves to the neighborhood. Like D&D Barbeque, they believe La Bodega will become another neighborhood institution serving its residents.
La Bodega, 1975 Sylvan Road, Sylvan Hills. Opening early November. Follow on Instagram for updates.
