Wendell Brock

4 weeks ago | atlantamagazine.com | Wendell Brock

Falafel burgerPhotograph by Martha WilliamsThe vestiges of Anthony Spina’s Italian American childhood, spent largely in New Jersey, are all over the 25-year-old chef’s first restaurant. That would be Small Fry, a tiny slip of a room at Atlanta Dairies on Memorial Drive, where Spina makes magic by embellishing deep-fried foods with Italian touches. Behold Spina’s vodka parm sandwich: Never before have I seen a breaded chicken cutlet smothered with so much sauce, pesto, and cheese.

Mar 4, 2025 | atlantamagazine.com | Wendell Brock

James Kim (left) and Ming Han Chung of Minhwa SpiritsPhotograph by Ben RollinsWhen James Kim was young, he used to visit his father’s family on Geoje Island off the southern coast of South Korea. There were no traffic lights in the village, but there were rice paddies on steep slopes, and his uncle fermented makgeolli, Korean raw rice wine, in clay pots. Compared to the dry cleaner’s shop his immigrant parents ran on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross, it was idyllic.

Nov 21, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Wendell Brock

Joshua Fryer grew up in a family of food-loving Tennesseans. Sometimes, they’d drive 45 minutes to try a new fried-catfish place. “From real, real young,” he craved his grandmothers’ field peas, okra, and cornbread. And to this day, his parents serve country ham and chocolate gravy—a standard of the mountain breakfast table—on Christmas mornings.

Oct 23, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Wendell Brock |Daniela Cintron |Carly Felton Cooper |Craig Edwards |Vené Franco |Christiane Lauterbach | +1 more

Edited by Vené FrancoWritten by Wendell Brock, Daniela Cintron, Carly Cooper, Craig Edwards, Vené Franco, Christiane Lauterbach, and Xavier StevensI don’t know about you, but for me, keeping up with Atlanta’s restaurant scene can be, in a word, overwhelming. Even for someone who covers food for a living, it’s a challenge to monitor the relentless pace of change in our city. Throw in a historic water main break and the closing of some of our favorite places, and it can border on heartbreaking.

Oct 23, 2024 | ourcommunitynow.com | Wendell Brock

ShareI don’t know about you, but for me, keeping up with Atlanta’s restaurant scene can be, in a word, overwhelming. Even for someone who covers food for a living, it’s a challenge to monitor the relentless pace of change in our city. Throw in a historic water main break and the closing of some of our favorite places, and it can border on heartbreaking.