Necessary Purveyor Brings a Touch of Miami Finesse to The Old Fourth Ward
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When Tyler Dabestani and Nicholas Kiraly opened the original Necessary Purveyor in Miami Beach, they were chasing a simple but ambitious idea: pair the hospitality standards of fine dining with the ease and energy of a neighborhood cafe and market. By offering good food paired with great service, you’ve got a place diners want to return to. Now, Necessary Purveyor has landed in Atlanta, steadily building a following since opening in Old Fourth Ward, and the ethos is the same.
By day, the space hums with a steady mix of regulars: workers slipping in for coffee, people fresh from the gym sizing up a bagel sandwich, and neighbors looking for a quiet place to settle in with a latte or a quick lunch. The retail section (stocked with wines, specialty goods, and Bigface single origin coffee beans) extends the market vibe. But what many still don’t realize is that the restaurant has also started serving dinner, with a raw bar, cocktails, and a tightly edited menu that makes the space feel like an entirely different experience after dark.
That casual but considered balance feels like a natural fit for the neighborhood. Old Fourth Ward and Ponce City Market have transformed dramatically over the past few years into one of the city’s most walkable dining districts. A hub like Necessary Purveyor makes sense here: it’s a place where you can grab a quick breakfast, linger over a few shared plates at dinner, or slide into the bar solo for a martini while waiting for friends.
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From South Florida to Old Fourth Ward.
Both Dabestani and Kiraly have roots in South Florida, and they carried that background with them when building Necessary Purveyor. They talk about hospitality with the seriousness of people who came up in fine dining but wanted to strip away the formality. Everyone who walks in is treated like a VIP, whether they’re there for a cappuccino at 8 a.m. or steak frites with truffle butter at 8 p.m.
That Miami influence also extends to the cocktail program. Alongside locally inspired drinks like the Beltline Bliss (vodka, fresh lemon, guava, and sparkling rose), Ponce City Passion (tequila, organic agave, fresh lime, passionfruit, and jalapeño), and Fourth Ward Fashioned, there’s a Miami Margarita, a nod to where it all began. And then there’s the aforementioned specialty coffee brand founded by NBA star Jimmy Butler, which Necessary Purveyor has integrated throughout: beans for retail, espresso for lattes, and cold brew shaken into one of the city’s best espresso martinis.
Dinner is anchored by the raw bar.
At night, Necessary Purveyor showcases something you won’t find just anywhere in Atlanta: a raw bar as the centerpiece of the menu. The idea is both theatrical and practical — the entire market space was designed to keep everything visible, so guests can see and feel the energy of shellfish being shucked or seafood platters being assembled. Oysters, ceviches, and rotating seasonal offerings give the dinner service a coastal feel that plays well against some of the more French-leaning entrees like chicken paillard and mussels mariniere.
And then there’s the lobster roll, which is quickly becoming a signature. “Personally, I am a cold knuckle and claw type of guy,” Dabestani says. “We butter a brioche roll, toss Maine knuckle and claw, and the rest is on the plate.” Simple and delicious, he believes it’s the best lobster roll in the city.
The menu overall is deliberately concise, rounded out with charcuterie, a house Caesar, sides, specials, and dessert, including a soft serve program that is playful and unexpected, with constantly rotating flavors — blood orange, creamsicle, matcha, and whatever else the team whips up. It’s a fun counterbalance to the more polished dinner offerings, a reminder not to take things too seriously.
Meanwhile, the bar itself is another draw (designed to be both beautiful and flexible) and the drink list feels carefully balanced: plenty of crowd-pleasers, but also a willingness to experiment. That espresso martini, made with Flecha Azul reposado, J.F. Haden’s espresso liqueur, cold brew, and house-made syrup, is already a standout.
The restaurant is part of a wider movement.
Necessary Purveyor isn’t arriving in a vacuum. Atlanta has recently seen an influx of Miami talent setting up shop: Salty Donut, Rosetta Bakery, Ghee, and even the team behind Michelin Green Star-winning Los Felix is working on a concept here. Each of these projects brings its own spin, but together they signal something bigger: Miami restaurateurs are finding Atlanta’s energy, affordability, and growth too compelling to ignore.
For diners, that means more diversity and more options that wouldn’t have existed a few years ago. Necessary Purveyor stands out within that movement and it’s a model that feels right at home in Atlanta, while still carrying a distinctly Miami spirit.
Dabestani and Kiraly are already talking about collaborating with visiting bartenders and hosting bar takeovers (and, perhaps, even appearances and coffee pop-ups by Jimmy Butler himself). In a city where Miami-based restaurants are planting new roots, Necessary Purveyor looks poised to be not just a place to eat and drink, but a cultural hub connecting Atlanta to another of the country’s most dynamic dining scenes. It’s not hard to imagine a perfect evening in this corner of Old Fourth Ward, with plenty of wine and a taste of everything on the menu.
The raw bar at Necessary Purveyor is open during dinner hours, Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. until close, serving oysters iced, dressed, and fresh.
Happy hour is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and includes $1.50 oysters.
Allison Ramirez is a bicoastal, Atlanta-based freelance journalist. She has over a decade of experience writing for publications like Travel + Leisure, the Daily Beast, Liquor, Thrillist, and others. Her recent work spans art, architecture, travel, and food & beverage stories, focusing on diversity within those spaces in the South and beyond. Follow her on Instagram here. Follow Resy, too.
