Atlanta Magazine • Atlanta Magazine February 2026 • True to Place

Restaurateur Asa Fain and chef Robert Butts transform a defunct civil rights food mainstay into a casual gourmet restaurant for Auburn Avenue destination diners

Despite my obsessiveness when it comes to tracking new restaurants, I consider myself an average Joe when exploring eats. Auburn Angel has been on my Places to Eat in Georgia list for about a year now, so when a friend invited me to brunch, I was excited to check it out.

The restaurant is located where the Auburn Avenue Rib Shack used to be. I was curious what changes were made to the community staple that fed churches, businesses, and civil rights organizations for 30 years. Restaurateur Asa Fain bought the space in 2019 after the Rib Shack closed in 2014. The space was expanded and includes a covered patio where you enter the restaurant through a wrought iron gate.

Inside, the decor is bright and modern. Marble floors, an L-shaped marble- top bar, circular booths upholstered in chartreuse alligator, and large teal-blue Nitori chairs in the wait area complement the smoke-gray Shaker- style paneled walls and midcentury globe chandeliers in the main dining area. In the smaller loft dining space, long wooden pews salvaged from Ebenezer Baptist Church and bistro tables bank the two forest-green walls lit by pendulant lights. The intimate room is visible to passersby, who can see through the storefront windows facing Auburn Avenue.

We opted for a roomy corner booth so we could spread out a bit, knowing we’d have quite a few plates. We started with what the server described as one of the most popular dishes, the Hoe Cakes & Potlicker. We tried the Chicken n’ Doughnuts, a tender portion of fried chicken with an unexpected sweet and sour flavor from the lemon-pepper butter and sweet tea syrup, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We also ordered the Mushroom Hash, a delicious, savory vegan dish featuring Ellijay mushrooms, potatoes, and kil’t greens with a piquant collard chimichurri.

Butts, a Southwest Atlanta native, spent time abroad in France after finishing culinary school to hone his craft before returning to his hometown. He worked in well-known kitchens across Atlanta, including Saltyard, Simon’s, 4th & Swift, and Twisted Soul, then took a sabbatical to work in kitchens in New York City before taking over as executive chef at Auburn Angel. He is also a co-owner.

Chef Butts’s menu reflects what he describes as international Southern food, a style that highlights local and regional meats and produce paired with ingredients and cooking techniques from around the world. While the cuisine on the menu highlights his cooking aesthetic, the chef shows his Atlanta pedigree with the names he’s chosen for some dishes and cocktails: Them Ribs & Grits on the brunch menu, for example, which features smoked spareribs coated in a blueberry- and sweet tea–infused barbecue sauce over Marsh Hen Mill grits—a regionally milled grain from Edisto Island, South Carolina—and topped with a house-made pickle slaw. The ribs are smoky, sticky with a mild sweetness from the sauce that drapes the creamy, seasoned grits. The pickles add just enough acid to pull it all together.

I do love good cocktails to pair with my food. The restaurant has a curated selection of award-winning wines, including one of my favorites, Be Human Cabernet Sauvignon (2020), and an impressive list of 12 beers and ciders, along with a small list of craft cocktails. Notable boozy quaffs include the Auburn Angel, the restaurant’s take on an old-fashioned, and the Cussin Granny, a margarita variant made with blanco tequila, cherry pepper, Cointreau, and yuzu.

I keep coming back for the Beef Rib Bourguignon. Butts starts this dish in traditional French fashion by braising the beef in his demi-glace, but he then adds bourbon and sorghum to finish the bordelaise sauce. The meat is buttery and fork tender. The sauce is rich and silky, with a slight sweetness that enhances not only the rib but also the confit mirepoix, charred broccolini, and enoki mushrooms served with it.

Butts purposely builds his plates by layering proteins, grains, fruit and vegetables, and sauces to create dishes with integrated flavors that stand on their own but work harmoniously, even considering the unexpected ingredients he uses.

At the bottom of the menu, there’s The Sweet Finish, the featured dessert that changes regularly. On my visit, I tried the blueberry corn cake, a hoe cake topped with fruit compote. It was unexpected to see the popular cake on the starter menu repurposed as a dessert, but it was a light and simple way to end my meal.

Good food aside, Auburn Angel is a relative newcomer to the area known as Soul Food Row (near the King Center corridor). Both Fain and Butts agree that the locale is an oasis, but not without its issues. While parking is available along Fort and Old Wheat side streets, with ample street lighting at night, friends who dined with me for brunch and dinner described parking as “sketchy” due to the homeless people who congregate at John Wesley Dobbs Park across from the restaurant. I’ve been several times and never had an incident.

That said, the co-owners are optimistic, working with community organizations to be an active member in the area while providing comfortable, inviting gourmet casual dining. What better way to pay tribute to the legacy of this iconic downtown address than by providing amazing food, firm in its local roots, with a heaping dose of Southern hospitality.