Omnivore - Northern China Eatery: the Bourdain Effect

• Brad Kaplan
• Fish hot pot at Northern China Eatery

When Anthony Bourdain eats on TV, millions of mouths follow along. A groaning grin and a few happy expletives from the travelling TV host can apparently bring hordes of new visitors to a restaurant. So it was with equal parts hope and fear that I watched Bourdain’s recent “The Layover” romp through Atlanta’s bars and restaurants - hope that he would show off the best of our town, and fear that he might turn too many people on to hidden gems or already overcrowded mainstays.

For the twenty or so places he mentioned on air, I kept a kind of personal checklist. Most of the bars and restaurants fell into the category of “know and love” - places like Holeman & Finch, Octopus Bar, the Colonnade. Some of these could use a nice boost in traffic, others (any guesses?) are already more crowded than I’d like them to be.

Then there were the head scratchers - places like Fat Matt’s or HD1 - places that I don’t have any beef with, but would never think to include in a survey of our city’s best, most interesting, or most iconic destinations.

And then there was one single place for me personally that was a jolt to the brain, an I-can’t-believe-I-haven’t-been-there moment, and that was Northern China Eatery. I had heard good things about this Buford Highway spot for years, and a friend had even mentioned it recently as having especially tempting dumplings, even better than Chef Liu’s. So, of course, I had to go there as quickly as possible. It was the Bourdain effect in action.