Ponce City Market

Walking in from street level to Ponce City Market’s Central Food Hall feels like stepping into updated history—only more fun, especially when you’re hungry. As one of Atlanta’s most iconic and important renovated landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this former Sears & Roebuck Co. distribution center is full of corporate offices, retail shops, and random experiences. But it’s the food and drink that keeps folks coming back.

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Biltong Bar

Valentine’s Day Cocktails (Fri., February 14 – Sun., February 16) – Join Biltong Bar – single and not – this Valentine’s weekend for cocktails including the Lone Wolf, a bright and warming combination of Japanese whiskey, lemon, fig, sherry and gingerbread, or the Tainted Love, a contemplative sipper of dark rum, bitter Campari, coffee and almond.

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Have an adult happy meal at Biltong Bar

We love everything Biltong Bar does (have you been to their Tiki Tuesday yet?) and they’ve rolled out a fun happy hour, happy meal that will remind you of your childhood favorites, but like, a million times better. Enjoy items like the BB Burger Junior topped with monterey jack, a fish sandwich with beer battered catfish and arugula, and crispy cauliflower nuggets. For a drink option, go for fun with the “root beer”paired with barrel-aged house amaro or a boozy shake with bourbon, creme de caco and biltong ice cream. Yes, yes, and yes! Happens 5pm-7pm daily and late night Tuesday through Saturday after 11pm, Buckhead location only. 

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Most people don’t expect a place selling South African beef jerky to become a great cocktail hangout, but ask beverage director Sean Gleason to make his favorite drink for you, and you’ll never look at Mai Tais with touristy disdain again. While you’re there, ask him when he’s bringing back the Dark Side — a dark rum, sherry, and imperial stout reduction masterpiece — and he’ll probably say “Soon!” or “In fall, maybe!” or “Tell Mike Jordan to f*ck off!” He’ll know who sent you.

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Biltong Bar #1. Beverage director Sean Gleason creates cocktails relying heavily on rum, scotch, rye whiskey, and bourbon as base spirits accented with French vermouth, amari, and sherry. The drinks complement the meaty menu here, which includes a selection of beef jerky, tandoori chicken wings, and a hot chicken sandwich. Every Tuesday evening, Biltong-Buckhead transforms into a tiki bar featuring food like pork short ribs, banh mi sliders, and crab rangoon paired with Mai Tais and fog cutters.

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A third location of South African restaurant Biltong Bar, known for its beef jerkies and boozy cocktails, opens this spring at Avalon in Alpharetta. The restaurant takes its name from biltong, a type of South African dried, cured meat.

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Beverage director Sean Gleason creates cocktails relying heavily on rum, scotch, rye whiskey, and bourbon as base spirits accented with French vermouth, amari, and sherry. The drinks complement the meaty menu here, which includes a selection of beef jerky, tandoori chicken wings, and a hot chicken sandwich. Every Tuesday evening, Biltong-Buckhead transforms into a tiki bar featuring food like pork short ribs, banh mi sliders, and crab rangoon paired with Mai Tais and fog cutters.

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Pumpkin season lives on at Biltong Bar’s Buckhead location, where beverage director Sean Gleason has crafted an artful play on fall called the Sleepy Hollow. Pumpkin syrup blends with tequila, mezcal, creme de cacao and trakal (a viscous Patagonian spirit made from apples, pears and berries) for a drink that evokes memories of a campfire.

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Beef jerky and booze — what more does one need? This stylish South African watering hole specializes in biltong (thinly sliced, air-dried beef.) The best way to enjoy biltong is shaved over the bar’s popcorn. The butter-soaked popcorn complements the lean meat, and a sprinkle of peri peri salt adds a burst of zest to the dish. Enjoy it with a pineapple daiquiri.

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The Ponce City Market location of Biltong Bar transforms into the Blitzen Room for the holidays. The nostalgia-themed pop-up includes vintage holiday decor and festive cocktails like a Chartreuse-laced hot chocolate and frozen egg nog to pair alongside its beef jerky selections and other South African pub fare. December 2 through December 26 during regular business hours.

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Blitzen Room at Biltong Bar. The Ponce City Market location of South African-inspired bar and restaurant Biltong Bar is celebrating the season with holiday pop-up Blitzen Room. Find vintage Christmas decor and seasonally-themed cocktails including the Chartreuse Hot Chocolate and Frozen Egg Nog. The Blitzen Room at Biltong Bar will be open Dec. 2-26, with hours from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.

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Beverage director Sean Gleason creates cocktails relying heavily on rum, scotch, rye whiskey, and bourbon as base spirits accented with French vermouth, amari, and sherry. The drinks complement the meaty menu here, which includes a selection of beef jerky, tandoori chicken wings, and a hot chicken sandwich. Every Tuesday evening, Biltong-Buckhead transforms into a tiki bar featuring food like pork short ribs, banh mi sliders, and crab rangoon paired with Mai Tais and fog cutters.

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Biltong is South African beef jerky, which is served alongside other South African street food and rotating small and large plates, like shepherd’s pie and smoked trout, at Biltong Bar’s second location at the Shops at Buckhead. The original location at Ponce City Market was named one of the top 21 cocktail bars in the country by Thrillist, and you can expect the same craft beers and cocktails and biodynamic wines at this spot as well.

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The original Biltong Bar occupies a diminutive storefront in Ponce City Market’s food hall. When it opened in 2016 it became the first South African gastropub specializing in street food (or “beef jerky and booze” as staffers like to say), not just in Atlanta but, according to Anthony, in the world. The moody atmosphere, with its dark walls, rich leather seating and oversize Edison bulb light fixtures, became a haven for darn good food and arguably even better cocktails.

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“Beef jerky and booze” is the slogan at Biltong Bar, the South African-inspired restaurant from True Story Brands, the restaurant group behind concepts such as 10 Degrees South and Cape Dutch. And indeed, with a menu built around South African Street fare (including biltong, or beef jerky) and craft cocktails, the establishment remains true to its motto. After opening its flagship location inside Ponce City Market early 2016, Biltong Bar expanded in August 2018 with a second restaurant located in The Shops Buckhead Atlanta.

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After finding success in Ponce City Market, Biltong Bar opened a second, much larger location in Buckhead late last year that includes an expanded and whiskey-heavy bar menu. The cocktails here are meant to pair with the meaty menu and rely heavily on rum, scotch, rye whiskey, and bourbon as base spirits, accented by French vermouth, amari, and sherry.

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South African–inspired beef jerky bar Biltong uses fresh celery juice and toasted celery seeds to get max vegetal flavor for its Celery Sour. The celery mix is shaken with pineapple-infused gin, cucumber bitters and Greek yogurt, which does the emulsive work of egg whites but adds a tangier kick. “It takes a bit of convincing, because people are thrown off when they see all those ingredients in the same sentence,” says bar manager James Cramer. “But they come together in a way that’s bigger than the sum of its parts.”

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The first Biltong Bar “beef jerky and booze” concept opened in Ponce City Market in early 2016, introducing a rare taste of naturally cured, air-dried South African-style beef jerky (biltong) — plus selections of cheese and charcuterie, salads and sandwiches, with international beers, South African wines and signature cocktails. In its newest iteration, Biltong took over the sizable 6,500-square-foot Buckhead Avenue space that was originally occupied by American Food and Beverage.

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We love jerky. And we love cocktails. But outside of a belated wake memorializing the late Randy Savage, we never really thought to pair them together. Sean Gleason, on the other hand, thought about the pairing a lot. Biltong sells the delicious air-dried, charcuterie-ish, South African version of beef jerky, but in realizing that jerky makes you thirsty, Gleason had the good sense to pair it with a truly outstanding bar program.

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Biltong Bar, a South African restaurant, is officially open for business at The Shops Buckhead Atlanta. It’s the restaurant’s second location in Atlanta, with its first opening in early 2016 inside the Central Food Hall at Ponce City Market. The new 6,500-square-foot location is a substantially expanded version of its sibling, featuring a 30-seat bar along with a dining room and lounge area. The concept features South African street food, including gourmet jerky and savory pies, and South African wines and signature cocktails.

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A bar specializing in cocktails and beef jerky is quite frankly a must-stop. Named after South African snack, biltong (it’s basically dried meat), the bar features a nifty selection of house-invented libations along with classic remixes. They also proudly serve biodynamic wines and craft beers. For a unique liquor-free order, try one of the notable and on-trend zero proof elixirs. No one will ever know the difference except you and your non-existent next-day hangover.

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Well, well, well. If it isn’t 2018 creeping into our periphery and offering up even the smallest semblance of hope for a better new year and new beginnings. And though it’s no secret this year has been one hell of a roller coaster, we’ve always been optimists in ATL (c’mon, MARTA!). So it’s in that spirit of cheer that we’ve created a rundown of the best bars in the city… some old, some new, but all great places to bring your cousin Tevin from out of town who, for some unknown reason, still drinks Goldschläger. Ring in the new year at any of these places and ensure your holidays are anything but boring.

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After not having set foot in the US since Nelly had his cheek bandage on, choosing Atlanta as my reintroduction was a great idea! A few things drew me to Georgia – seeing one of my best friends who I hadn’t seen in 17 years, checking Solange and Afropunk Festival off my bucket list for 2017 and being around black people! Seriously, I just wanted to be around my people. If you live in a predominantly white city, you are nodding your head with the quickness right now! Anyways, based on what I ate, where I stayed and what fun things I did, here’s my weekend travel diary of Atlanta!

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We told you in that Ponce City Market roundup that Justin Anthony and his crew, who are well know for 10 Degrees South, Yebo, and Cape Dutch, are going to sling all-natural organic South African biltong (beef jerky) and other meat jerkies from a restaurant counter in the Central Food Hall. It’ll also offer savory hand pies, charcuterie, craft cocktails, and Pinotage wine, and there’ll be a retail shop for you to purchase their cured, air-dried meats on the takeout.

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Sean Gleason, Cape Dutch & Biltong Bar

Beverage Directory Gleason is the brains behind the buzzy beverages at South African concepts Cape Dutch and Biltong Bar. Gleason has created unique bar programs that marry thoughtful sips with the spices of South African Cuisine. We’re particularly grateful for the Old-Fashioned-inspired Luchador ($12) with anejo and reposado tequilas, agave, and angostura bitters at Biltong Bar that pairs brilliantly with the spiced, dry-aged meats.

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If you’re a traveling beer fan, you likely storm every beer town armed with an unmanageable list of brewery, bottle shop, and beer bar stops. But before you blow your entire travel budget on Uber (or find yourself semi-soberly navigating an unfamiliar city’s transportation system), consider the food hall. There, a beer geek can enjoy multiple brewery experiences – and some of the best culinary delights a city has to offer – in one fell swoop. Below are some of the best beer-inspired food halls in the nation, including a few suggestions of what you should drink (and eat) when in any one of these great beer cities in the U.S.

Atlanta’s Sears, Roebuck & Company building reopened as the renovated Ponce City Market in 2014, quickly establishing itself as the city’s culinary headquarters. In addition to housing business offices and shops, the bustling public space is the home to over two dozen restaurants and food vendors, each with a unique identity; many of which bring an A-level game to the craft brewing scene. One can alternate between local and imported Italian craft brews at Bellina Alimentari’s Italian kitchen. Then, sip on a Tropicália IPA from local brewery Creature Comforts while gnawing on meat sticks at Biltong Bar, a South African jerky outpost. But the crown jewel of PCM is the newly opened Tap on Ponce, which features 56 constantly rotating draught beers. Buy a growler or crowler (like a growler, but in can form) to fill up and drink at home.

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If you want a drink, you’re in the right city. We’ve got everything: quiet places where you can confer with knowledgeable mixologists about a still-under-the-radar Italian liqueur; rowdy joints that beg ya to throw back some cold ones with friends; casual neighborhood bars where the cocktails are great. So, where are Atlantans drinking right now? What’s hot and newly opened? Read on to find out.

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Biltong Bar

Must-order: You could (and should) sample some of the stellar cocktails, concocted to pair well with the South African cured meat biltong, but stick to the region and select from one of the tough-to-find South African wines on the menu.

Insider Tip: You can take your drinks to go and wander through Ponce City Market, as long as you don’t enter any of the retail stored with your booze.

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Beef jerky and booze may not sound like much of a concept, but Justin Anthony (10 Degrees South, Cape Dutch) is attracting throngs of enthusiasts at his bar in Ponce City Market. Biltong – a South African snack of cured, air-dried meat – is spectacular and softer than typical gas station jerky. Order a sampler plate to figure out whether you like your beef biltong fat-on or fat-off, or encrusted with chile pepper. Don’t miss the bobotie handpies (above) made with ground beef curry, or the cheesy popcorn.

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A beloved South African treat made of cured, air-dried meat (typically beef, but sometimes ostrich or game), biltong belongs in the same family as jerky, biltong is dried in thick slabs that get sliced thinly against the grain and is frequently served with a mixture of salt, coriander seeds, and black pepper. Connoisseurs want their biltong fat-on or fat-off and sometimes like it seasoned sharply with hot chili pepper. Cape Food & Beverage (2080 Peachtree Industrial Court. 770-395-1255) moved from Sandy Springs to an odd location off Peachtree Industrial several years ago and, as the best South African store in the Atlanta area, offers all sorts of delicious biltongs as well as droewors (dried sausage) and chilli sticks for your snacking pleasure or entertaining needs. A huge selection of frozen savory hand pies, curry powders, hot sauces, cereals, and Brit-style candies is available as well. If you don’t know much about biltong and want a place where you can try it in the proper context, head to Biltong Bar (404-900-7900), an attractive new space in the central food hall of Ponce City Market that is part of the Cape Dutch, 10 Degrees South, and Yebo empire belonging to wine magnate Justin Anthony. The place is open all day, and you can stop by to purchase housemade biltong to go, priced by the ounce and looking a little bit like dog treats in a series of metal bins. You can cop some free samples of perfect fat-on, fat-off, chilli sticks, and droewors if you can get past the mob of people headed to the bar or the small sitting area. There is a popcorn machine behind the counter, and one of the fun things to order is the popcorn tossed with fresh herbs, butter, parmesan, and just enough biltong to satisfy your curiosity. Next time around, have an assortment of iltongs (our favorite is the delicious if odd-looking dried boerswors, a long sausage with a fair amount of sweet fat) paired with cocktails or glasses of well-chosen South African wines such as a Pieter Cruytoff Pinotage. The sausage rolls and savory handpies aren’t nearly as rewarding as biltong, and we, who are usually mad for that sort of thing, were sorely disappointed in Biltong Bar’s dry, tasteless versions of savory baking from blah vegetable curry pies to flat, dried-up sausage rolls.

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After a 2015 excursion to South Africa, restaurateur Justin Anthony, the mind behind the global hot spots Cape Dutch, 10 Degrees South and Yebo, returned with a new meat-laden concept, Biltong Bar. Extending Anthony’s cadre of South African-inspired eats to Ponce City Market, Biltong Bar is an epic foray into the world of biltong, South African beef jerky, and the first concept of its kind in the United States. But this isn’t your typical watering-hole fare. Cuts of certified Angus beef are air-dried in-house for seven to 10 days and are rubbed with aromatic spices to further enhance the flavor. “[Biltong] allows us the opportunity to draw inspiration from traditional South African cuisine, enhancing the ‘grab-and-go’ experience but with a sit-down component,” says Anthony.

The space, designed by Anthony’s wife, Kelly Wolf-Anthony, is full of global charm steeped in dark woods, marble countertops and bowie knife cutting boards. The menu is a bazaar of unique treats like the go-to biltong, which can be enjoyed with or without fat; savory hand pies, like the ground beef curry bobotie and chicken potpie; and even hand crafed salads. Behind the bar is a serious cocktail program highlighting hefty spirits that pair perfectly with hte meat magic Try the rye-heavy Wicker Man with ginger, honey and 1821 Havana & Hide, or let the force awaken with rum and sherry sipper The Dark Side. South African wines also run the show, with a substantial craft beer list playing second string. “I’m hoping to provide the same unique street market experience to our guests,” says Anthony. So whether you take your fresh-sliced biltong to go or sit down for a one-of-a-kind experience, you can definitely meat us at the bar.

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