Stir House Atlanta, the newest restaurant in Downtown Atlanta, celebrated its grand opening on Friday. Located on 61 Broad Street NW, it’s the first vegan and gluten-free stir fry restaurant in the Southeast.
The landscape of vegan food in Atlanta has evolved in the past few years, with the popularity of the lifestyle increasing as more and more vegan eateries open in the city. And the concept of Stir House is new and fresh: a Black-owned business serving up healthy Asian cuisine in the heart of Atlanta.
However, the novelty of the new Broad Street eatery was born out of personal experiences.
Antonio Brown, a former Atlanta city councilman and co-owner of Stir House Atlanta, shared that he’d suffered a near-death experience that pushed him to make lifestyle changes when it came to his diet. However, once Brown realized that there weren’t many vegan and gluten-free options available to aid him in his new health journey, he began to conceptualize the vision of Stir House Atlanta.
Four years later, a crowd packed into the restaurant to see the space and try dishes the owners hope give back to the community through conscious, healthy eating.
“In our Black community, we struggle with access to healthy food, and this is really important, even in this area. This is downtown Atlanta. You have a huge unsheltered population here,” Brown said. “You have a lot of businesses that are struggling right now. There’s a huge call for economic development in this area, and it’s important that we’re bringing Black businesses along this journey.”
That journey is helped along by co-owners Ebony Austin, philanthropist and owner of Nouveau Bar & Grill; Phillandas Thompson, attorney and pharmaceutical executive; and human resources executive Tosin Adesanya.
Austin, whose popular Nouveau eateries have become College Park and Jonesboro staples, said joining the team was a “no-brainer.” Though not vegan herself, she had a front-row seat to the benefits of the lifestyle through her mother and wanted to give the community healthier choices.
“When the idea came of Stir House, we wanted to create something that was really good, but that was very different — that was still healthy. So for us, we wanted to tie all three in: community, healthy eating, and then we also wanted to give people stuff that doesn’t have any GMOs, no bull. We’ve created something that’s unmatched that you can’t really find in most places.”
The team at Stir House is bringing a fast-casual dining experience that features fresh menu items with no gluten, no gum and no bull. One of those items is the A-Town, an ode to the city that features jasmine rice, impossible grounds, garlic, onions, red beans, cabbage, charred corn, sweet peppers and red pepper aioli topped with a fried drumstick. The food is served in colorful stir fry boxes, with the other dishes such as the Cuban, NOLA, and The Khan boxes giving nods to different cultures. The restaurant will also feature a vegan and gluten-free dessert and juice bar.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who served with Brown on the Atlanta city council, attended the grand opening to give remarks and participate in the ribbon cutting.
“Antonio Brown is a visionary. We all know that. And the team of folks that you’re working with, you’re making a partnership come to life on Broad Street in Downtown Atlanta as we are bringing back light to our downtown,” Dickens said. “You’re going to feed the city in a very special way because one thing about Antonio Brown: not only is he going to provide food for our bellies, he’s going to provide food for our souls.”