The Ultimate Guide to Atlanta Ghost Kitchens
A Ghost Kitchen is a way for talented chefs and operators, who may not have the money to launch a brick and mortar restaurant, to still create a business where customers can try whatever delicious offering they’ve invented. As folks have ordered in more and more over the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghost Kitchens have only risen in number and availability. As we’ve built this list of Ghost Kitchens we’ve tried and taste tested, three clear categories emerged for each Ghost Kitchen. The ones we’ve encountered are either 1) Chef Driven 2) Celebrity Driven 3) An extension of an existing concept. We’ve separated some Ghost Kitchens out into those three categories below, but we know there are many more mouthwatering Atlanta options. Tag or DM us on social to tell us what we should add to this list!
Celebrity Driven Ghost Kitchens
Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen
America loves Guy Fieri and for good reason – the man’s raised millions of dollars for restaurant industry employees, among other laudable acts. But the man got his start in food and while some of his restaurant attempts have been met with slightly snobby disdain, Guy’s Flavortown Kitchen deserves some praise. There’s some fun, creative stuff on the menu like the Jalapeño Pig Poppers – bacon wrapped, fire roasted jalapeños with andouille, pimento cream cheese and smothered in BBQ sauce. They travel well, as does the Bacon Mac and Cheese Burger (although you’ll need a fork).
George Lopez Tacos
Who knew everyone’s favorite Latino stand-up comedian had a taco side business? Luckily Mr. Lopez has good taste – the chef he’s collaborating with knows how to make a terrific taco! Our favorite thing was the family style orders, like La Gran Reunion – all the ingredients to build tacos for the whole family, served with chips and salsa, churro bites and chocolate dipping sauce, and Mexican coke and Jarritos to wash it all down.
Tyga Bites
Rapper Tyga is better known for hit songs like Taste, not necessarily having a palate. But with his venture Tyga Bites, he’s betting he knows what you want to order from a Ghost Kitchen. With three basic menu items, they keep it simple – get chicken bites in a variety of seasonings and sauces, along with Tyga Tots (regular and sweet potatoes), and freshly baked Cookie Bites. That doesn’t give credit to the huge variety of 12 sauce options – everything between Bourbon and Bleu Cheese to Tamarind Chipotle and Carribbean!
Mariah’s Cookies
We all know Mariah Carey makes her income during November and December with the flood of “All I Want for Christmas” streams, but she’s gotta make some money the other 10 months out of the year. Who knew it would be selling cookies? Mariah’s Cookies is a cookie delivery service that brings warm, freshly baked cookies directly to your location. With six options to choose from, including Chocolate Chunk, Triple Chocolate Chunk, Heath Bar, Lemon Cooler, Spiced Oatmeal Raisin and White Chocolate Cranberry, there’s plenty of options for any cookie lover in your life to have One Sweet Day.
Mr. Beast Burger
YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson has created an enormous following with his charitable, high dollar stunts. Of course the YouTube ads pay for a lot of that work, but Donaldson has also been busy with his Mr. Beast Burger ghost kitchen concept. Similar to Five Guys, the Mr. Beast Burger comes delivers to you in a steam foil where the bun, burger and cheese start to mold together into one delicious bite. Lately, he’s been inviting other YouTube stars to collaborate on burger ideas, like Moistcr1tikal!’s Moist Cheese burger, which has chopped ground beef, caramelized onions, melted American, lettuce, tomato and hot sauce. Check out our Mr. Beast Burger taste test here.
Chef Driven Ghost Kitchens
MattChews
Chef Matt Scrugs uses his Vietnamese heritage and bonafide Southern background to make incredible, Asian influenced sandwiches that are some of the best in the A. His best seller is the Bulgogi Cheesesteak – bulgogi ribeye with carrots, peppers and onions, provolone and sriracha sauce on a Cuban hoagie. Don’t sleep on the Spicy Kim Reuben, the Fried Chicken Banh Mi, or the Bang My Buns – fried shrimp on a lobster roll with slaw and scallions. With great vegetarian options, fried rices, and more you could do a lot worse for a Friday lunch at the office – (hopefully paid for by your boss).
Scotch Yard
Chef Scotley Innis is well known around Atlanta after working in places like Ormsby’s, South City Kitchen and 5Church, and well known around the world after starring on Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ramsey. His Scotch Yard is an attempt to bring all of that culinary experience on one menu. With a kitchen open until 2am, you can fill up late on things like Jerk Lobster Rasta Pasta and Oxtail Pimento Cheese Fritters, Jerk Lamb Chops and more.
Chicken Out
When Chef Nick Leahy opened Aix and Tin Tin, he took a well reviewed, elegant approach to classical French fare that was as delicious as it was sophisticated. But when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out across the country and in-person dining became limited, Leahy was forced to think on his feet. He decided to use the restaurant’s kitchen space to create Chicken Out, a chef driven approach to everyone’s favorite protein. Leahy’s smoked chicken dishes are all incredible, including the crispy smoked wings and half chicken, but we really loved the crispy chicken sandwich which is an elevated approach to everyone’s favorite chain chicken order.
Fuku
Chef David Chang is well known for opening some of the most popular restaurants around the country with his Momofuku locations and the Milk Bar spinoffs, along with appearances on a number of television shows and podcasts. His latest attempt to disrupt the food industry is with his Fuku ghost kitchens, which take the classic chicken sandwich and fingers fast food approach, while adding his signature Korean and other Asian flavors to every bite. Like all good Southerners, we know what really matters is that it’s all in the sauce, and Fuku’s sauce delivers – the honey mustard is a nice approximation, but the Fuku Knockout Sauce (creamy, tangy, savory) and Fuku Mayo (creamy, spicy) are the real standouts.
Lamb Shack
Chef Pano Karatassos’ Kyma is known for being one of the country’s best fine dining experiences centered around a Greek menu. Now he’s going with a more casual concept at Lamb Shack. The ghost kitchen operating out of Kyma focuses on terrific pita wraps, made with either beautifully braised lamb or incredibly tender octopus. It’s a five star pita stand that can come right to your door!
Khana Americana/Bantai’s Kitchen/Mama’s Americana
When Star Naidu graduated from Superman college, she wanted to create an Indian American concept for her Ghost Kitchen. Taking her black and Indian heritage, she created Khana Americana which fuses those two culinary traditions together with dishes like Tandoori Chicken Fries, A Bombay Frankie Indian Burrito, and Tandoori Fried Chicken Wings. After seeing some demand for both classic Indian Dishes and American diner favorites, she opened up additional concepts with Bantai’s Kitchen and Mama’s Americana. Naidu is currently taking a break in the kitchen, but follow Kahna Americana on social for more updates.
Bomb Biscuits
The first time we heard about bomb biscuits was during their collaboration with one of Atlanta’s best postmasters, Bryon Furman, at his former B’s Cracklin BBQ space. Now, baker Erika Council has struck off on her own with her Bomb Biscuit Co. They’re only doing deliveries on Thursdays and Fridays, and the fried chicken biscuits are available Friday – Sunday only. That said, they are worth the wait – we love the Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit and big country ham with pimento biscuit, but her sweeter fare is also worth a look. The Cinnamon Bun, Apple Pie Cinnamon Bun, and Chocolate Morning Bun – along with the chocolate chip biscuits – are pure heaven.
Extensions of Existing Concepts
Farm Birds
The folks at Farm Burger have gotten into the chicken sandwich game! With a ghost kitchen operating out of their Farm Burger locations, Farm Birds has three straightforward chicken sandwiches – the Original, the ATL Lemon Pepper Wet and the Nashville Hot. You can also get any of those proteins with a delicious farm salad if you’re trying to cut back on carbs, but either way it’s a must try, especially the Lemon Pepper wet!
Fazoli’s
Fazoli’s is a fast casual Italian chain with brick and mortar locations throughout the country, but they’re bringing their homestyle Italian fare to the Atlanta area via Ghost Kitchens. With a focus on subs, salads and pastas, any classic Italian dish you can think of is on the menu. For lunch, you can’t go wrong with their chicken parm and meatball subs, and for dinner, their baked pastas travel extremely well. Dig through their signature baked pasta dishes on the menu and try options like the chicken broccoli penne, spicy baked ziti with sausage or chicken, and the loaded baked spaghetti.
Taste Bar + kitchen
Taste Bar and Kitchen is a Houston based ghost kitchen that recently expanded to Atlanta. Famous for an all day brunch, they have creative approaches to standard breakfast fare, like Fruity Pebble and Red Velvet Waffles, multiple chicken and waffle dishes with flavors from General Tso to Buffalo, elevated Mac and cheeses like Lobster Smoked and Truffle Smoked Gouda. They’re a welcome addition to Atlanta’s ghost kitchen options!
