Richard Tang’s long-awaited Reynoldstown restaurant Girl Diver finally arrives this fall. The restaurateur, who currently operates Char Korean Bar and Grill in Inman Quarter, Sunday told What Now Atlanta in a telephone interview to expect a mid-October debut for the Asian seafood house. Girl Diver has been in the works publicly since at least 2017.
Situated in Madison Yards, at 905 Memorial Dr. SE, Girl Diver’s kitchen will be helmed by Karl Gorline, the Chef de Cuisine at Watershed since 2018. “I love [Gorline’s] palette and his ability to translate me and my mom’s recipes into Girl Diver’s modern dishes,” Tang said.
Tang, half Chinese and half Vietnamese, created Girl Diver’s menu as a fresh take on the food his mother Tiana Vannga Tang would cook him growing up. Although Chinese and Vietnamese influences will be prominent, Girl Diver’s dishes are really reflective of Southeast Asia as a whole, Tang said. Take for example the cajun Asian crawfish, or “casian” crawfish, as Tang puts it. The dish, pictured below, offers crawfish tossed in the restaurant’s signature Asian hot sauce. The crab legs will get the same treatment. Other notable dishes include a Vietnamese-style Chicken Curry, Shrimp Papaya Salad, and Thit Kho, or Slow-Braised Pork. Click here to download the menu.
Cameron Burke is heading the beverage program which will include “great cocktails with fresh-squeezed juices” but the focus will be on customer service. “Anyone can make a great cocktail,” Tang said. “High-caliber cocktails are the standard. Now it’s about the service which is what we’ll be bringing in addition to craft cocktails.”
Girl Diver could get its Certificate of Occupancy as early as late-September which will determine how quickly Tang gets the doors open in October. “We’re excited to be opening,” Tang said. “It’s been a long path. We’ve had to push through a lot this year but I’m glad to be at the finish line.”
