Downtown's oldest food hall just gave World Cup visitors four more reasons to wander east. On June 5 — less than a week before the FIFA Fan Festival opened its gates at Centennial Olympic Park — Sweet Auburn Curb Market welcomed four new restaurant vendors, per Rough Draft Atlanta. All four are minority-owned, and they join the more than 30 small businesses already cooking, baking, and butchering inside the 1918 landmark on Edgewood Avenue.
Who just moved in
- Retro Grill Atlanta — burgers, sandwiches, and seafood with roots on Chicago's South Side.
- Dolce Tropical — tropical frozen treats inspired by Mexican street snacks: mangonadas, fresh fruit desserts, smoothies, and sundaes. The dessert spot took top prize at Dessert Fest ATL in 2025.
- A Taste of Secrets (A.T.O.S.) — a Caribbean fusion concept born from two families, one Jamaican and one Puerto Rican, blending Spanish cooking techniques with Jamaican spices. The menu runs from oxtail empanadas to Rican bowls.
- Edgewood Pizza — the Old Fourth Ward pizzeria known for oversized slices and wings, now with a stall on the very avenue it's named for.
Market executive director Jeff Delp told Rough Draft Atlanta the new merchants "represent the energy, diversity and innovation that continue to shape the future of the Market, Sweet Auburn, and greater Atlanta."
A century-old market, one streetcar ride from the party
The Curb Market has anchored the western edge of the Sweet Auburn district since 1918, when it opened as the Municipal Market — a name plenty of longtime Atlantans still use. Today the hall at 209 Edgewood Ave. SE houses produce stands, butchers, and some of the city's favorite counter-service kitchens. It has long been an incubator, too: Grindhouse Killer Burgers flipped its first patties at a Curb Market counter, and Arepa Mia introduced much of Atlanta to Venezuelan arepas from a stall here before expanding. The Atlanta Streetcar stops right out front, linking the market to Centennial Olympic Park and the heart of the Fan Festival footprint.
Why this week matters
The FIFA Fan Festival opens today at Centennial Olympic Park, and downtown is bracing for some of the biggest crowds it has seen since the 1996 Games. For visitors staring down festival food lines, the Curb Market is the local move: a little over a mile east of the park, with a streetcar stop at the door and four brand-new menus to work through. If you're mapping out an eating itinerary, pair it with the new wave of openings in South Downtown — and read up on Day One logistics before you head out.
Source: Rough Draft Atlanta (Rough Draft Staff, June 7, 2026).