Yummy Thursday
Dec. 4 — Big Boi and the Indigo Girls have been named as headliners for Decatur WatchFest, the city’s 34-day series of outdoor watch parties and entertainment on the downtown square for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
☁️ Cloudy and 49° today.
👮 A federal grant is expected to fund overtime pay for Sandy Springs public safety staff who assist with FIFA World Cup security in 2026.
🎞️ The Atlanta Film Critics Circle named Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” as the best film of 2025.
🏫 A state Senate committee has released a report calling for a comprehensive needs-based aid program for college students.
ELSEWHERE
🌎 Following the shooting of two National Guard members, federal authorities announced a pause in the review of all pending applications for green cards, citizenship, or asylum for immigrants from 19 countries.
🪖 A Pentagon watchdog said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated military regulations when he shared classified information on a Signal group chat.
⚖️ A California doctor was sentenced to 30 months in prison for repeatedly supplying ketamine to actor Matthew Perry.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Best New Restaurants 2025
• Celebrating Muscogee art
• Karen Houghton’s debut book
AND
• Quick Bites
✨ Join us for a Marist School Open House on Sun., Dec. 7, at 1 p.m. Explore the campus, meet faculty and students, and learn what it means to be Marist-made. Located in Brookhaven, Marist is an independent Catholic school serving grades 7 through 12. Families with students of all ages are welcome. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Rough Draft Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants of 2025
🥪 Rough Draft’s dining team, Beth McKibben and Sarra Sedghi, spent the last year eating at dozens of new restaurants across Atlanta.
Many meals and debates later, they narrowed a lengthy list of contenders down to just 11 stellar restaurants (and one collaboration) that kept capturing their attention in 2025.
This year’s award winners brought something extra special to the Atlanta dining scene. Restaurants in contention opened between Oct. 1, 2024, and Oct. 1, 2025 and reside within Rough Draft’s coverage zones in the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Tucker, Sandy Springs, and Dunwoody, along with a few from Metro Atlanta.
🇮🇹 Check out the full list here.
Exceptional luxury without the wait
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🏠 Just an hour from Atlanta, this new $4.95 million estate in Ball Ground offers eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms on 2.5± acres in gated Hawks Ridge.
Nearly 12,000± square feet of refined design include a marble-clad chef’s kitchen, a main-level suite, a 500-bottle glass wine room, and a resort-style outdoor retreat with a saltwater pool, spa, cabana, pickleball court, and full guest apartment.
Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty is Metro Atlanta’s No. 1 residential real estate company and No. 1 in luxury home sales above $1 million.
👉🏼 Check out our current listings here.
2. Atlanta’s Carlos Museum presents ‘Continuum,’ a celebration of Muscogee art
VIA SKETCHBOOK, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER ABOUT ART | SUBSCRIBE
🖼️ Atlanta has a bad habit of starting its history around the Civil War.
That’s not an accusation – it’s an observation from Miranda Kyle, curator of Indigenous Arts of the Americas at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum. And it’s the engine behind “Continuum,” the museum’s current exhibition featuring more than 20 works by Muscogee (Creek) Nation artists Johnnie Diacon and Hotvlkuce Harjo.
The show, closing Dec. 7 before traveling to Emory’s Oxford campus for the 2026 calendar year, fills the John Howett Works on Paper Gallery with watercolors, illustrations, jewelry, paintings, and sound.
💎 Sherri Daye Scott has more here.
3. Karen Houghton wrote the book (literally) on nonprofit finance
📖 Karen Houghton, who leads the Atlanta-based and venture-backed FinTech Infinite Giving, is out with a debut book sharing the ins and outs of nonprofit fundraising.
“Funding Your Mission – The Modern Guide to Nonprofit Finance” launched this week.
Houghton has been leading Infinite Giving – the nonprofit finance platform that simplifies cash management, investments, and complex donations – since 2021. She sees the book as a practical resource for nonprofits looking to build financial sustainability and steward assets wisely.
➡ Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.
❄️ Dunwoody is Atlanta’s holiday headquarters! From glowing lanterns to dazzling lights and new snowflakes, enjoy the region’s best holiday shopping, festive holiday markets, and live performances. Explore more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Quick Bites
VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE HERE
🍖 For this week’s Quick Bites, Rough Draft Dining Editor Beth McKibben brings you details on several big openings, including Lewis Barbecue at Ansley Mall, a 24/7 Whataburger in Marietta, and The Westwood neighborhood bar in Westview. She also shares news of two restaurant closures, and the sale of a downtown Atlanta bar. Plus, some dining events to add to your calendar, like Christmas on Cascade and a World Cup draw watch party at Brewhouse Cafe.
➵ Here’s the latest from Beth.
✨ Don’t miss this weekend’s Miracle on Peachtree festivities in and around Buckhead Village District! Enjoy wreath decorating, a hot chocolate crawl and a tree lighting ceremony accompanied by holiday music and photo ops with llamas! Learn more here.
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