By Yvonne Zusel and Olivia Wakim
Nov 30, 2024
Cafe Momentum, a nonprofit restaurant employing justice-involved youth, is set to open its Atlanta location at 200 Peachtree St. NE at the beginning of 2025, and it now has a chef to lead operations.
Josh Lee has been selected to run the Cafe Momentum kitchen. Lee, a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist and co-owner of Soul: Food & Culture in Krog Street Market alongside Todd Richards, has spent the first two weeks in his role working with the first group of interns and developing the eatery’s opening menu.
While Cafe Momentum has locations in Pittsburgh and Dallas, Lee plans to distinguish Atlanta’s outpost with a menu influenced by Southern culture.
“(We’re going) to take some of your grandmother’s favorite dishes, (and) we’re going to come back with more elevated food,” he said. “We’re going to push the boundaries on some things.”
While the menu is still being finalized, it currently features wild game and dry-aged meats, including smoked bison, as well as a deviled egg “experience,” vegan and vegetarian items like a butternut squash risotto with lions mane mushrooms, and elevated vegetables like coal-smoked broccolini.
Lee said part of the challenge in creating the menu is considering how far he can push culinary boundaries while still making it accessible for incoming chefs to learn.
Lee, who has only worked with and trained adults in previous roles, expects the position will be an “impactful challenge”. After observing at the Dallas Cafe Momentum, he said he’s learned that sometimes what the interns need more than anything is compassion and someone who’s willing to listen to them.
“With the first round of youth that are coming in, I want to assure that we leave a stamp (here) of this is our home,” he said. “This is their safe space.”
