Holeman & Finch Is Open Again in Atlanta
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In 2020, Gina and Linton Hopkins announced that Holeman & Finch Public House was leaving Buckhead. The lively, barrier-breaking Peachtree Road restaurant and bar — with its sweetbreads, whole-animal cuisine, and brilliant cocktail program — was moving to Midtown, specifically the renovated Colony Square complex.
Today, Holeman & Finch is back — and the reservation books are officially open. If you were around for the original location, which opened in 2008, you’ll have a sense of familiarity from the interior design as well as the food — although there are more than a few new elements that make the 2023 version worth visiting ASAP. Here are five things to know about the newly reopened spot.
1. You know the vibes.
With dimmed lights and custom art throughout the space, the essence of this new Holeman & Finch is an adventurous-yet-low-key social supperhouse, where the attitude of a pub meets an appropriate level of elegance. You’ll find vinyl records framed and hung inside booths, oversized lamp shades emitting golden-orange glow, and an open kitchen where minimalist metal and wood shelving, outlined by salted hams hanging from hooks near the ceiling, allow views into the area where things heat up. You’ll also hear a very eclectic mixture of music, from soulful bossa nova to cuts from The Raconteurs.
2. The aim is elite service, minus the elitism.
Chef Linton Hopkins says he intends to be in Holeman & Finch’s kitchen as much as possible, helping to train, fine-tune, and oversee an experience that meshes the original location’s flair for the omnivorous. At the same time, Hopkins wants to maintain the level of service excellence established at Restaurant Eugene, Holeman & Finch’s neighbor which closed in 2019. Throwing out neither baby nor bathwater, the Hopkins are employing bits of both, with staff members who have worked some of Atlanta’s best restaurants for more than a decade, and a kitchen team that has graduated through the ranks of some of their other restaurants, including Ponce City Market’s H&F Burger and Hop’s Chicken, and C. Ellet’s Steakhouse at The Battery.
3. The bites are stellar.
If you were a fan of the famed charcuterie, cheese samplings and oysters, you’ll be happy to hear that they’ve returned as well. On the raw side, the opening menu features such briny, half-shelled shuckables as Rappahannock oysters from Virginia, and Olde Salts from North Carolina — all of which can be enjoyed from the four-seat raw bar in the rear corner, just as the three sizes of the seafood tower.
The Crunchy Gentleman sandwich, a.k.a. Holeman & Finch’s croque monsieur, is also back, as are standouts from the “Parts” portion of the menu. Yes, the Hopkins fancy for whole animal and whole vegetable cuisine is still quite serious, so those stellar sweetbreads are just as you remember them, if not “sweeter.” The roasted bone marrow with parsley, red onion salad, and baguette is also part of the Parts, as are iron skillet chicken livers in country ham gastrique, and even veal brains if you’re wise enough to trust the chef’s love of challenging your palate.
“Like that old Parliament Funkadelic song said, ‘Free your mind, and your ass will follow,” Hopkins said during an early trial run of the new restaurant. Don’t worry; you’ll be just as proud of yourself for ordering the indulgent carbonara alla chitarra.
4. And they’ve still got great drinks
As the O.G. Holeman & Finch was widely known for teaching a generation of hip young adults of all ages what a proper cocktail was all about (this being the place that taught Atlanta how to enjoy Fernet Branca, mind you), your libations options are just as thoughtful and refreshing.
Take the meal-starting mezcal Winged Rabbit, with grapefruit, grenadine, lemon and oloroso sherry, or the Althea, similarly intended to start the show with a mix of gin, Gentian amaro, lemon, walnut liqueur and demerara sugar. Things get deeper via the Foxy Whiskers (cacao, coffee, vermouth, apple brandy), or Some Pig (toasted pecan orgeat, apricot, vanilla and lemon, ham-fat-washed bourbon). Your options for wine by the glass or bottle, beers by the can, bottle or tapped pint, and even respectable zero-proof cocktails are also robust.
5. It’s gonna be busy.
Not only are old regulars going to be looking to snag a seat, but being that the location is in the heart of Midtown and much easier to access, you’re sure to see reservations surge immediately. That means you’ll want to head over to Holeman & Finch’s Resy profile, like, now, and put your name on a seat, or several. Don’t hesitate to tap that Notify button if everything goes faster than you can get your table; it works more often than you might expect.
And yes, they’ll soon launch breakfast and brunch. Stay tuned…
Book your reservation here.
