Pastry chef Claudia Martinez to open a dessert and cocktail bar in El Bar space

Martinez, a two-time James Beard Award nominee, previously served as executive pastry chef at Miller Union and Tiny Lou’s. Most recently, she’s worked as a pastry chef consultant for restaurants like Tio Lucho’s, Small Fry and El Malo.

When Thurnher learned that Martinez was looking for a location to open her first concept, she offered her the El Bar space.

Thurnher closed the popular Atlanta nightclub El Bar during the COVID-19 pandemic and transformed it into Tiendita, a retail store selling products from women- and indigenous-owned brands in North, Central and South America. Now, almost five years later, Thurnher said she was looking for a way to bring nightlife back into El Ponce’s lower level.

“That space is very intimate and small, and that’s something I wanted to open. I didn’t want to open something too big as my first project,” Martinez said. “It’s very Atlanta, and it has history, and I want to work with that.”

Martinez and her business partner, who she declined to name, want it to feel like an “upscale cocktail bar,” albeit one that’s more inviting and doesn’t require guests to dress up.

During the day, Bar ANA will feature a coffee residency program and pastries similar to what Martinez offered at her pop-up Cafe Claudia.

At night, the menu will transition to include “more elevated, plated desserts,” she said. Guests can expect a focus on seasonal fruits, “Latin-inspired Southern desserts” like Venezuelan chocolate mousse and the return of her popular dishes like fresh doughnuts with fruit compote and ice cream, and possibly her crepe cake, “since it’s been demanded of me,” she said.

In addition to cheese and charcuterie, she said she may offer savory pastries. In the former El Bar VIP section, Martinez said they want to create a dessert and cocktail tasting menu available through reservations.

She has not announced who will lead the bar program but said the cocktails will be “elevated” yet “approachable.”

“I think this will be something exciting and new, especially for our neighborhood,” Thurnher said.

Bar ANA won’t be a dance club, Martinez said, but they’ll play a variety of music genres like Afrobeat, hip-hop, lo-fi, Latin music and bachata. There will be a mix of two-top tables, banquette seating and some lounge seats.

Right now, Martinez expects the bar to be open Thursday-Monday, so service industry workers can still enjoy the space. Their open hours will be 8 a.m. until midnight during the week and until 2 a.m. on the weekends.

Martinez said Bar ANA should open this summer. In the meantime, Thurnher is looking to move Tiendita into a shipping container on the property, and she will begin hosting coffee pop-ups on Saturdays featuring local vendors.

Bar ANA’s name is in part a tribute to Martinez’s family, since ANA is made up of her mom, dad and sister’s initials, but it’s also dedicated to the found family Martinez has made in Atlanta over the years.

“We want to reflect on that part of it, like family and hospitality and bringing people together,” she said.

While this is Martinez’s first brick-and-mortar business, she and her partner have formed ANA Hospitality Group. Their goal is to create more concepts that can help small businesses in Atlanta “get their foot in the door.”

“We want to build a group where if we expand, we can build with people that have talent, that don’t necessarily have the money to get started,” she said.

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