When we visit Gigi’s Italian Kitchen, we feel like we’ve been whisked away to another time, one that’s light on stress and heavy on delicious creamy pasta primavera with housemade cavatelli. If you snag a seat at the bar, you’ll see chefs in crisp white T-shirts preparing pastas, salads, and beef carpaccio in the open kitchen, where fancy dramatics take a backseat to plain old fantastic cooking. The red-checkered tablecloths, family photos, and always-burning candle could have fallen out of a romance novel.

Checkered-tablecloth nostalgia meets modern technique at Gigi’s, which has recently made the transition to full-time restaurant in the same Candler Park space where, several nights a week since last year, it’s been in a pop-up residency. Two young chefs, Eric Brooks and Jacob Armando, are behind it, offering a tightly curated, seasonally driven Italian menu with dishes like fried polenta cake with creme fraiche and caviar, brassicas cooked over a yakitori grill and seasoned with Calabrian chilis, and artfully plated housemade pastas and classic preparations like chicken Milanese. Replacing Nicholas Stinson’s beloved Gato, Gigi’s promises to be just as integral to the fabric of the neighborhood.

Tables adorned in checkered red and white, walls lined with family photos, and a worn candelabra prominently placed on the bar signal a red-sauce joint in an American Little Italy, but you won’t find lasagna on the menu at this intimate restaurant from chefs Jacob Armando and Eric Brooks. The two chefs met while working at Bacchanalia—the fine dining farm-to-table restaurant where many top city chefs have trained. In search of a project of their own, they decided Atlanta needed better Italian food.

This cozy little spot is tucked away in Candler Park and needs to be on your list for some dang good, homemade Italian cooking. The menu is ever changing but you can expect amazing and fresh flavors from their pastas and their world famous tiramisu. Beef carpaccio is basically much a mainstay on the menu so be sure you order some to enjoy while waiting on your meal.

Speaking of award-winning restaurants, Gigi’s Italian Kitchen in Candler Park turns three this month. To mark the milestone, Gigi’s will host a street market featuring food, drinks, artist stalls, and live music on Aug. 17 from 2-6 p.m. No regular dinner service that night, so plan accordingly.

Sundays through Tuesdays Gigi’s Italian Kitchen takes over the Gato restaurant in Candler Park. Here you can find “New York-style Italian food with a Southern flair” including dishes such as chicken marsala, marinated mussels, fritto misto and buttermilk panna cotta with Georgia peaches.

1660 McLendon Ave NEAtlanta, GA 30307(404) 371-0889 Visit Website See Menu Open in Google Maps. Gigi’s Italian Kitchen & Restaurant in Atlanta is a cozy spot that opened in 2015. Located in Midtown, it’s known for authentic pasta and wood-fired pizza.

From pop-up to permanent, this cozy Italian scene serves a menu of traditional red sauce classics made with in-season produce and fresh-made pastas. (1660 McLendon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA)