Umbrellas are blossoming all over town, Spring must have sprung! As you can imagine, here in Atlanta we have warm Spring weather and one way to truly enjoy the city is to take it all in on a Patio! Especially, this year being outside has been a game changer to the restaurant experience. We thought intently about our favorite spaces, patios, and outdoor dining destinations and came up with a carefully curated list of our top patios. We considered everything from type and range of views, bites, sips, and the little things in between. Are you ready for the patio lifestyle? Who do you want to see on the list?

The second you drive up to Canoe, romance is in the air. The quiet river flows by, the covered patio keeps you cool from the late Spring sun, winding walkways meander around the lawn sending you down hidden paths, can you see it? The popular brunch spot is the perfect place to sit in an Adirondack chair by the Chattahoochee holding your honey’s hand. During our intimate Sunday Brunch, we sipped on a Sparkling Mule, dipped a scone in the homemade preserves, crunched into their smoked salmon starter, relaxed with a glass or wine or Aperol spritz, and even enjoyed a hearty half chicken with silky grits. We swear you can hear Frank Sinatra in the background. Canoe, where have you been all our lives?

On a sunny day in late May, there was a light breeze over the Chattahoochee River and the intermittent clouds cooled down the late afternoon heat. Next to the river sits a beautifully landscaped lawn dotted with large patio umbrellas and a collection of tables, patio furniture, and a serene walkway with purple, red, and pink flowers. Ray’s on the River is the ultimate lawn party that reminds us of an all-day Kentucky Derby soiree with pretty dresses, upscale, sippable cocktails, and on-point tasty bites. They wooed us with their impeccable cocktail menu and service, plus you absolutely can’t. beat. That. View. Being from Atlanta, why hadn’t we visited this wonderful, magical happy place before? Are you ready to go down by the river for a culinary adventure? Make sure to grab your Derby Hat, you’ll need it.

Relevant for today’s times, this start-up app came roaring into the market with over 5k downloads in the first three months of 2020 after an early 2020 launch. They also garnered 300,000+ total deal views every month with 1,000+ restaurant deals featured weekly. People loved it and it quickly became their go-to app! So, going gangbusters would be a good term to describe the success of GettaBite. Then the pandemic hit. But, the founders Evan and Rain of GettaBite didn’t let that stop them from getting deals to it’s rabid fanbase and they pivoted to to-go deals, while offering restaurants free exposure during the tough time. Yes, FREE! GettaBite To-Go was born. Here’s how it worked...

Across from Atlanta’s landmark Lenox Mall in the North Buckhead is Dantanna’s. They’re one-part sports bar and corporate happy hour spot and one-part steak and seafood house. Everything from savory apps, to refreshing cocktails, to staple steakhouse entrée favorites, they have a something for the big game or the corporate dinner. On our patio adventure, we sampled chicken egg rolls, wings, salmon, and a refreshing mojito, while we enjoyed a warm, spring day in the shade of one of their large umbrellas. It’s the patio lifestyle, let’s jump in.

Can be used on any Atlanta Wine Festivals or Atlanta Beer Festivals events through 2022. Gift Cards will go on sale Wednesday, June 3 at 10am. Get tickets to 4 future events for just $119 and the first 250 sold will be just $99! Good for 4 regular advance tickets to future events through Dec. 31, 2022. Tickets valid for Bottomless Drinks, General Admission or Advance Ticket types. For the following events a $35 credit will be applied to the ticket price: Atlanta Bourbon Festival, New Year’s Events, and Early Entry tickets to Atlanta Brunch Festival. Purchaser will be responsible to pay the balance due. (Any new events with an intro price higher than $35 will fall into this category as well.) Tickets must be redeemed online before each event; can not be used at the gate/door. Limit of 2 per person.BONUS: Everyone who buys a Gift Card will be entered into a raffle for a weekend trip for 4 to Charleston that includes 2 rooms for 2 nights at a Hilton property (exact hotel based on availability) and 4 tickets to a Charleston Wine Festivals event. Can be used in 2020 or 2021. Sales tax and ticket fees will be added.

Heading into South Buckhead on Peachtree, we pulled up to a bright, striking blue storefront that’s brimming with bubble-gum whimsy. Enter Yumbii Taco Shop, originally a food truck of food truck royalty status now has a fun store front where you can get your favorite tacos, wings, bowls, and even a margarita or canned wine. That being said, if you know us, we could eat tacos and wings every day of the week without discrimination. With the perfect blend of Asian and Mexican flavors, Yumbii is the haven for that to-go fix. An array of delectably different tacos, mix and match bowls or salads, tasty wings, Asian nachos, and signature sesame fries, it’s one of those places you can’t help but get a little bit of anything and everything. Can someone please get these guys a crown or even a scepter? Cue the parade, we’ve got food truck royalty coming through. Let’s get this to-go adventure rolling.

The restaurant industry has been devastated by COVID-19, causing closures and service industry employees to lose their jobs. Many establishments have turned to takeout and delivery to stay afloat while others remained completely closed. As the stay-at-home order has been lifted by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, restaurants are preparing to reopen, and some are going above and beyond required measures to ensure the safety of staff and guests.

Georgia Music Partners (GMP), the state’s premier music business advocacy group, in partnership with gener8tor, a startup and artist accelerator program, announced today a new initiative supporting Georgia artists and music businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Under the Georgia Emergency Response Program, participants will have access to a free webinar series designed to identify and leverage critical resources in order to weather this ongoing public crisis. As a part of the program, participants will be invited to lunchtime webinars presented by experts who will cover a variety of actionable topics designed to help participants both financially and emotionally, irrespective of one’ career stage. In addition, several Listening Sessions with A&R reps and artists will be available for musicians to get feedback on their music and make connections with industry professionals.

Oliva Restaurants is thrilled to announce the reopening of all four of its Atlanta concepts next Monday, May 18. After closing Aziza, Bellina Alimentari, Falafel Nation, and Rina on March 16, each restaurant will begin offering limited menus featuring many local favorites along with a few surprises for curbside pickup and take-out.

As the world debates a reopening timeline, Murphy’s owner Tom Murphy is taking proactive measures to implement new safety protocols and improve the air quality at his iconic Virginia-Highland restaurant with the installation of Synexis, a biodefense technology to reduce the opportunity for infectious microorganisms. Murphy’s is the first independent casual dining restaurant in Atlanta with this state-of-the-art microbial reduction system. Synexis is the same advanced technology used to continuously reduce bioburden in sectors such as schools and hospitals and is effective against airborne and surface viruses, bacteria and fungi.

The Atlanta Guys Dinner Group (#AGDG) is a group of guys who get together once a month to break bread, socialize, and give back to the Atlanta community. Each month the group would support one nonprofit by donating their time, money, or their services. Monthly gatherings used to take place at a different local restaurant in an effort to support local eateries until the onset of the current pandemic. Due to Covid-19, AGDG has now pivoted their efforts to help support our city’s out-of-work restaurant workers; the workers who have hosted, served, and cooked for the group over the past two years. AGDG is currently delivering bags of food to those restaurant workers who cannot make it to scheduled food donation sites due to lack of transportation. Per donations, the AGDG offers contactless porch and curbside pickup and offers the same for delivery to workers. AGDG is collecting non-perishable items such as the following to help feed Atlanta's food family.

Georgia Organics, a nonprofit that connects organic food from Georgia farms to Georgia families, and the Jamestown Charitable Foundation, a public charity from the Atlanta-based real estate investment and management company behind Ponce City Market, have collaborated to launch Food Fight GA with the goal of “Championing Our Farmers and Feeding Our Restaurant Family.” The new initiative’s pilot phase is providing weekly grocery boxes to approximately 200 unemployed restaurant workers at Atlanta restaurants with long-standing commitments to local sourcing, all while helping to relieve income insecurity for small Georgia farms amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds donated to Food Fight GA by the Jamestown Charitable Foundation, Ponce City Market, the Wilbur & Hilda Glenn Family Foundation and the USDA are used to purchase fresh produce from Georgia farms and ingredients like eggs and Root Baking Co. bread that are assembled into weekly boxes for food service workers to pick up for free at participating restaurants. At this time, the program is open to current and former staff at Bacchanalia, Floataway Cafe, Staplehouse, Star Provisions and Georgia Organics Farmer Champion restaurant partners, including BoccaLupo, The Deer & The Dove and Miller Union.

After swirling rumors and much speculation, the southeast’s biggest and most immersive electronic dance music festival has officially announced that it will yet again be enhancing the fan experience- this time with a move to Bouckaert Farm in the City of Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. Faced with increased limitations with its previous venue, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Imagine decided that it had to explore other options to take the festival into its next chapter and create an experience in line with the original vision of the aquatic fairytale. The site which has played host to such marquee events as The Echo Project, CounterPoint Music Festival, and TomorrowWorld will host the seventh annual Imagine Music Festival September 18 - 20, 2020. A rich history with the electronic music community, the site’s beauty and natural setting was an obvious choice when planning 2020.