Parnass Savang and Rod Lassiter of Talat Market will open Thai bar Some Luck in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood next year.
The bar is set to open in the spring or summer of 2025 at 644 N Highland Ave. NE in the basement of Otto’s Apartment Hotel, formerly the Highland Inn, Rough Draft Atlanta first reported. When Lassiter, who has stayed at the hotel many times and loves the space, heard that the ballroom basement area was up for grabs, he and Savang decided to take a chance with it.
They considered opening a noodle shop, but over time the idea morphed into Some Luck, a late-night dive bar that service industry folks can patronize after their shifts.
“We’re just trying to recapture something,” Lassiter said. “(A) Thai dive bar, late night, old school Atlanta vibes.”
They knew Some Luck would have to be lower maintenance than Talat Market, their lauded Summerhill restaurant, for them to take on another project. As a result, the bar’s smaller, more static menu will focus exclusively on Thai flavors rather than the Southern-Thai fusion Talat Market is known for.
The menu is in its early stages, but Savang said it’s inspired by the Thai street food and small restaurants he tried during his travels.
“This type of food is supposed to serve a community, but it’s quick and fast,” he said.
Savang expects to include items like hot and sour soups, boat noodles and fried pork ribs. It will focus mostly on small plates with a few large format dishes including khao mun gai, a chicken and rice dish, and kao kha moo, braised pork leg over rice.
The bar’s emphasis will be on beers, including local and Thai brews, and simple, stirred cocktails with Thai rums and other liquors.
Credit: Courtesy of The Highland Inn & Ballroom's Facebook
Credit: Courtesy of The Highland Inn & Ballroom's Facebook
The 1,700-square-foot bar has about 60 seats inside, most of which are at the bar. There will also be a side room with a quieter lounge seating area and a few covered patio seats. Some Luck will have an “old Atlanta look,” Lassiter said, but with lush, dark green accents and plants to feel a little like a Thai jungle and some of Talat’s signature colors like hot pink, yellow and dark green.
Savang and Lassiter began Talat Market as a pop-up in 2017 and opened their brick-and-mortar in Summerhill in 2020. The pair has amassed plenty of accolades over the years, including a James Beard Award nomination and a spot on Atlanta’s Michelin Guide recommended restaurant list two years in a row.
Lassiter said it’s important that Some Luck feels like a completely different experience from Talat Market.
“The food is going to be uncompromising,” Savang said. “There are certain dishes that I’ve always wanted to do, but I think having these two businesses will allow me to have all that type of food at (Some Luck), and Talat will be its own thing.”
The bar’s name is a nod to both Atlanta and Thailand — it’s a reference to Thai boxer Somluck Kamsing, who won Thailand’s first gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“Rod and I always joke that where we are right now is not entirely based on skill. It’s mostly based on — not all the luck in the world — but some luck,” Savang said. “We’re definitely gonna have some luck in our corner.”
Also set to open at Otto’s Apartment Hotel on the ground floor is Madeira Park, a forthcoming wine bar and restaurant from the Miller Union team. Both restaurants will add to a growing list of food and drink concepts opening in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood, including a second location of Big Softie, Colette Bread and Bakeshop, nonalcoholic bottle shop the Zero Co., Fishmonger, Sweet Auburn BBQ and Tio Lucho’s.
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