Palo Santo opens doors on Atlanta’s Westside

Palo Santo will be the flagship restaurant of Botanico Hospitality Group
Palo Santo opens doors Friday on Atlanta's Westside
Photo: Official

Mexican chef Santiago Gomez officially opened Palo Santo: a supper club-style restaurant and rooftop on the Westside, today, September 23. Gomez – alongside partners Eduardo Rivera and Felipe Rivera – makes his debut in the Atlanta restaurant scene after years shaking up Miami’s with his modern Mexican cuisine. Palo Santo will be the flagship restaurant of Botanico Hospitality Group, planting its roots at 955 West Marietta Street, adjacent to the King Plow Arts Center.

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A Mexican menu and thoughtfully appointed space takes you to the streets of Mexico City. The wood-fire kitchen serves modern Mexican creations, while celebrating local-to-Georgia ingredients – think mushroom tetela (corn masa, peach mole, wood-fire pink oyster mushrooms & flor de calabaza), cured hamachi tostada (charred serrano-citric mayo, burnt avocado, dry miso, uni & heirloom corn tostada) & wood-fire ora king salmon al pastor (adobo, pineapple-vanilla sauce, pickled kohlrabi), complemented by an agave mixology bar, serving spirits centered around tequila and mezcal and a wine list curated with natural and skin-contact wines. Four kitchen counter spots will serve an omakase-style version of the menu (on select evenings), while a 10-seat chef’s table will share family style offerings for special occasions.

Custom plaster design walls from Super Delicious fuse rustic with refined, joined by sleek & slim white pendant lighting and luxe black accents, while paintings by Truett Diestz accompany agave fiber chandeliers by Angela Damman. Venture up the grand staircase to take in the rooftop with unobstructed city views & floor-to-ceiling, retractable glass windows, alongside open-air & canopy terrace seating. A spacious bar will serve a separate, Japanese-Mexican fusion-style menu focused on snackable selections like nori tacos and tostadas, plus sake, craft cocktails and hand-selected wines.

Passionate about honoring Mexican heritage and supporting family-owned farms, the restaurant’s corn, beans, chiles and cacao – among other ingredients – will be sourced exclusively from Mexican farmers & producers who work directly with Tamoa, an heirloom corn supplier working against the grain to connect farms and urban areas to support local, sustainable production of traditional crops.

A Mexico City native, Gomez discovered his love for all things culinary as a child – working with his grandfather in avocado crops in Uruapan, Michoacán. He graduated from Centro Culinario Ambrosia – one of Mexico City’s top culinary academies – and now has more than 20 years in the industry with some of its most notable names, including time at NOBU and Daniel by Daniel Boulud. Outside of the kitchen, he founded Recipes for Change: a nonprofit dedicated to using the power of food to impact social change, now part of the Social Gastronomy Movement, a global network of chefs, companies, activists & organizations working toward the same.

Palo Santo will be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. with the rooftop (ages 25 & up) open Tuesday and Wednesday 5 to 11 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

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