Two Atlanta eateries were included on The 2024 New York Times’ Best Restaurants in America list.
Bread & Butterfly, the Inman Park bistro that chef Demetrius Brown took over in 2023, and Nàdair, Kevin Gillespie’s newest Scottish restaurant, were the only two Georgia businesses to make the cut.
New York Times reporters and editors spent a year traveling to each state in search of their “50 favorite places in America right now,” according to the article. The annual list highlights both new restaurants and longtime favorites. Last year’s list featured Erika Council’s Bomb Biscuit (Council was also recently named to Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs list).
Credit: Courtesy of Demetrius Brown
Credit: Courtesy of Demetrius Brown
French restaurant Bread & Butterfly opened in Inman Quarter in 2015 under Billy and Kristin Allin of the now-shuttered Cakes & Ale in Decatur and Proof Bakeshop in Inman Park. Early last year, Brown and his business partner Brandon Blanchard started hosting Afro-Caribbean pop-up Heritage Supper Club at Bread & Butterfly, and in August 2023, they assumed ownership of the restaurant.
They largely kept the breakfast and lunch offerings the same, but Brown added dishes with African and Caribbean influences to the dinner menu, including items from Heritage Supper Club.
Kim Severson from the New York Times writes of Bread & Butterfly:
“After a series of pop-ups, Demetrius Brown quietly took over a much-loved French cafe and transformed dinner into a showcase for French cuisine as interpreted by Caribbean cooks, particularly from Haiti. Cilantro, thyme and epis, the herbaceous spice blend, perfume a delicate interpretation of the classic beef patty.”
Credit: Patrick Heagney
Credit: Patrick Heagney
Atlanta chef and restaurateur Kevin Gillespie opened Nàdair in May in DeKalb County’s Woodland Hills neighborhood as an homage to his Scottish roots.
Nàdair, from the Scots Gaelic “dòigh nàdair” meaning “the way of nature,” offers a Scottish fine dining experience influenced by Southern and continental European cuisine. Diners can choose between a three-course menu for $89 or a six-course tasting menu for $175.
Severson writes of Nàdair:
“With a carpet woven in the colors of his family’s tartan and a pocketful of his Scottish granny’s recipes, you’d think the place would be a stodgy tribute to oats and haggis. It’s anything but. Yes, there is haggis, but it’s a clever vegetarian version in crisp pastry with peated whiskey cream and mushroom velouté.”
Gillespie owns hospitality group Red Beard Restaurants with business partner Marco Shaw, which includes Gunshow in Glenwood Park. The “Top Chef” alum has been nominated for several James Beard Awards, most recently in 2022 as a finalist in the Best Restaurateur catgeory.
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