11 WAYS TO
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Southern Belle Chicken Co. is the fried chicken counter from Atlanta chef Joey Ward, who owns Southern Belle and Georgia Boy in Poncey-Highland. Both of those restaurants are recognized by the MICHELIN Guide, and Ward was a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast. This is his fast-casual take on that cooking, ordered at the counter. The motto is "Southern Fried. World Traveled." You start by picking a format, sandwich, strips, or salad, and whether you want all white meat, all dark, or mixed. Then you pick a destination. The lineup runs from classic Southern to chili crisp from China, gochujang hot honey from Korea, Mumbai butter chicken, a Mexican torta, Jamaican jerk, Saigon caramel, and lemon garlic from Greece. The chicken comes from Springer Mountain Farms in north Georgia, brined for 24 hours and breaded in a proprietary mix. Sandwiches are built on custom six-inch buns from TGM Bakery. Find the counter inside CTR Food Works at 190 Marietta Street NW in downtown Atlanta. Delivery runs through DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Morelli's has been making ice cream in Atlanta since 2008, when Donald Sargent and his wife Clarissa Morelli opened the original shop on Moreland Avenue in East Atlanta. The counter at CTR Food Works is one of four Morelli's locations in the city, and like the others it works off a flavor list that changes. Salted Caramel is popular enough to have earned its own standing note on the Morelli's site: the texture does not hold up in an ice cream cake, so they turn it into a pie instead. Everything around it rotates. A day at the CTR counter might bring Ube, Pecan Praline, Mocha Almond Fudge, Strawberry Shortcake, Cotton Candy or Vanilla Raspberry Truffle, with non-dairy scoops like Butter Pecan and Mint Chip alongside. The range runs stranger, too: Blueberry Corncake and Coconut Jalapeño are both Morelli's flavors. What is on the board varies by location and by day, so check the day's list before you come. Scoops are not the whole menu. Morelli's also makes milkshakes, sundaes and pints, plus ice cream cakes and pies ordered through the original Ormewood store. Every location is cashless, so bring a card or your phone.

The Sparrow brings Szechuan Chinese cooking to CTR Food Works from the team behind The Sparrow in Midtown, the modern Asian tavern that Atlanta-based Mahjong Inc. opened on West Peachtree Street on September 1, 2024. Downtown, the format is fast casual, with the same bold Szechuan flavors in a quicker setting. The lineup runs to dumplings, wok-fired noodles, stir-fried specialties, rice bowls, and small plates made for sharing. Sesame chicken is one of the dishes served at the stall. The Midtown restaurant describes its cooking as traditional Szechuan technique in a casual, contemporary setting, and the downtown stall comes from that same team. The Sparrow sits alongside MiMi Taqueria, Southern Belle, Flora D'Italia, La Tropical, and the rest of the hall's vendors, so a group that wants different things can still sit down together. The stall is open Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., inside CTR Food Works at 190 Marietta Street NW, the former CNN Center in downtown Atlanta.

La Tropical serves Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Latin cooking, and Chef Minelly Amador is the chef behind the menu. The stall is the brand's second Atlanta location. The menu runs to pressed Cuban sandwiches, bacalaitos, mofongo, carne frita, arroz con pollo, and ropa vieja. If this food is new to you, a few notes. Bacalaitos are salt cod fritters, usually eaten as a starter. Mofongo is green plantain, fried and then mashed with garlic. Ropa vieja is beef braised until it shreds, cooked down with tomato and peppers. Arroz con pollo is the rice and chicken dish that anchors a lot of Puerto Rican home cooking. You will find the stall inside CTR Food Works at 190 Marietta Street NW, in the atrium of the former CNN Center. Order at the counter, then find a seat in the hall. It is a straightforward stop for a downtown lunch, a meal before a game at State Farm Arena or Mercedes-Benz Stadium, or dinner on a weeknight when you want something warm and filling.

Fuzzy's is a seafood raw bar inside CTR Food Works. It works the cold side of the hall: fresh oysters, lobster rolls, and ceviche, with drinks alongside. Atlanta coverage of the hall names those same three items, so start there if you are deciding between counters. It is not the brand's only Atlanta counter. Fuzzy's also runs a stall inside Chattahoochee Food Works at 1235 Chattahoochee Ave NW on the Upper Westside. The downtown stall sits at 190 Marietta St NW, inside the former CNN Center. Oysters and ceviche work as a first stop before you move on to another counter, and a lobster roll holds up as a meal. Order at the counter, then eat anywhere in the hall or pair it with something from a neighboring stall. The stall runs seven days a week and opens at 11 AM daily, staying open into the evening. Closing times vary by day, so check the hall's hours before a late visit. Follow @fuzzysrawbaratl on Instagram for updates from the counter.

Eggflip × SushiFlip runs two menus off one counter: Korean-style egg sandwiches on one side, sushi and poke on the other. The Eggflip side builds its sandwiches on toasted Korean milk bread with fluffy eggs, and an Atlanta reviewer who ate at the stall found that bread thick yet soft, pillowy and toasted just right. The Beef Bulgogi stacks tender bulgogi, cheddar cheese, grilled onions and a house gochujang aioli in with scrambled eggs, finished with chives. Breakfast burritos and bowls come packed with eggs, proteins, sauces and fresh ingredients, and the signature sauces and sides run to gochujang aioli, spicy mayo, tater tots and bacon. Turn to the SushiFlip side for handcrafted sushi rolls and poke, made fresh to order. The counter sums itself up as eggs by day, sushi by night. Eggflip is the work of chef and owner Flip Koumalasy, who opened the first one in Minneapolis, and the brand now lists locations across Minnesota and Georgia. Ordering at this counter is in store only, so step up inside the hall at 190 Marietta St NW and pick your side.

Rivalry Beef puts two iconic sandwiches head to head: the Philly cheesesteak and the Chicago Italian beef. One counter serves both, and you pick a side. The Italian beef follows the Chicago build. It arrives stacked high on a toasted bun with hot giardiniera shipped straight from Chicago for an authentic spicy bite, and you pick your level of au jus. Ask for the Wet Italian Beef by name. Across the counter, the Philly cheesesteak holds up the other end of the argument. You will find Rivalry Beef inside CTR Food Works at 190 Marietta Street NW, in the 14-story atrium of the former CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. It is one of eleven stalls set around the CTR Bar, which is billed as the largest bar in Georgia and sits at the center of a room seating about 500. That makes it an easy stop for a group that cannot agree on lunch: tacos, fried chicken, wood-fired pizza, ice cream, and your sandwich, all under one roof. Come hungry. These are stacked, messy sandwiches, and the mess is the point.

Patty & Frank's is the burger and hot dog stand at CTR Food Works, and the motto, Love In Every Bun, covers the idea. The concept was launched with chef Andrew Zimmern, and the sourcing is specific: the ground beef is Certified Hereford, and the franks use all natural, 100% heritage Piedmontese beef from a recipe Zimmern developed with Pat LaFrieda. The house burger, the P&F Patty, is two beef patties with American cheese, shredded iceberg, red onion, tomato, and Patty Sauce, pickles on the side. The rest of the board works the same format: a Route 66 Patty built on Oklahoma onion patties, a Patty Melt on Texas toast, the NYC Chopped Beef & Cheese, a Kimchi burger with pimiento cheese and crispy potato sticks. Franks run from the Chicago to the New Yorker with sauerkraut and braised onions to a Georgia Peach BBQ with slaw and black bean chili. The chili, gravy, Patty Sauce, lemonade, and iced tea are all made in house. Add fries, tots, onion rings, or chili fries, and you can eat it right on the hall floor at 190 Marietta Street.

MiMi Taqueria is the Mexican street food counter at CTR Food Works, in the atrium at 190 Marietta St NW, next to State Farm Arena. It is a female chef-driven kitchen, and it has been part of the lineup since the hall opened in May 2026. Tacos come on corn or flour tortillas and are built to mix and match: pork carnitas with roasted pineapple and chicharrón, steak asada with sliced avocado and pickled onion, beef barbacoa slow-cooked with chile spices, crispy pollo frito with chipotle mayo, salmon with chipotle cream, or shrimp with jalapeño cream. The veggie taco is grilled peppers and onion with black beans and jalapeño cream. Beef cheese birria comes as a two-pack in a crispy cheese shell with pico on the side, and consommé is available as an add-on. Past the tacos, the board runs to burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos, signature plates, and sides and sweets, churros con cajeta among them. The kitchen counts more than 30 handcrafted dishes in all, and house-made sauces and slow-cooked meats run through the menu.

Flora D'Italia is the Italian counter at CTR Food Works, in suite 264A at 190 Marietta St NW. It comes from chef Steven Ferdinand, who is also behind DessertBox, the pastry and coffee stall in the same food hall. Flora D'Italia has two other kitchens in metro Atlanta: one at Chattahoochee Food Works and one at Vela Park Food Works in Decatur. The cooking is plain Italian done with care: pasta made by hand in house, Neapolitan-style pizza fired over wood, sandwiches, salads, and the two classics you order without thinking, eggplant Parmesan and chicken Parmesan. The menu runs long for a food hall stall. Pizzas include Margherita, Bianca, funghi, soppressata and prosciutto, plus a hot honey version. Pastas include potato gnocchi, rigatoni, linguine verde, penne alla Flora and spaghetti and meatballs, along with chicken Parm and eggplant Parm served over pasta. Sandwiches come with house chips and giardiniera: meatball, tomato caprese, eggplant Parm, chicken Parm. Salads are a Caesar plate and an Italian chopped. Dessert is bombolini or cannoli. It is a straightforward stop, whether you want a quick lunch on a workday downtown or a full plate before an event nearby. See what is coming out of the kitchen on Instagram at @flora_ditalia.

DessertBox is the bakery counter at CTR Food Works, working in the French pastry tradition without making a production of it. It is led by chef Steven Ferdinand, who has run Michelin-starred kitchens and is also behind Flora D'Italia, the Italian pizza and pasta stall in the same hall, and DessertBox at Chattahoochee Food Works on the Upper Westside. The case runs from small handheld sweets to full cakes. Macarons are gluten-free Parisian almond meringue. Croissants come classic, almond, or chocolate. Cupcakes include key lime pie and red velvet, and the cake list runs to a creme brulee cheesecake. There are bonbons in dark chocolate, caramel, and milk chocolate sea salt, mini apple and cherry pies, a lemon bar, banana pudding, and a vegan tartlet filled with date and almond cream. The Chocolate Trilogy layers chocolate cake with dark, milk, and white chocolate mousse. Bavarian pretzels sit on the savory side, and bread is part of the lineup. The menu is built to stay focused while leaving room for seasonal work and special-occasion cakes. Stop in between meetings, before a night out downtown, or on the way out with a box for the table at home.