Omnivore - We Suki Suki to launch ‘global grub collaborative’ in EAV

Last week, We Suki Suki owner Quynh Trinh announced her plans to create a small, pan-Asian street-food court inside the Vietnamese takeout shop in East Atlanta Village. The “global grub collaborative” within We Suki Suki will comprise several modest stalls and cooking spaces where new vendors can prepare various ethnic street-food items for $5 or less.

Trinh, who grills all her meats on a George Foreman grill and in a toaster oven, says the expansion will be equally humble. Through the Atlanta Underground Market, she has been working closely with organizer Yohanna Solomon to amass support for the project. She hopes to bring in passionate vendors who are able to work out of We Suki Suki’s modest prep kitchen, and operate simple, street-vendor-style stations within the 450 square foot space - her own “Asian alley,” as Trinh calls it. She already has three vendors lined up who will prepare a mélange of ethnocentric street food, from Indian “Bombay bites” to Korean bibimbap to the classic Mesoamerican tamale.

“I think there’s definitely people out there wishing they could have a food truck or even a little shop, and this would be a great incubator way of getting your feet wet in the food business in a very specialized way,” Trinh says.

While the charm of the Buford Highway scene drives Atlantans to travel down Route 13 to reach the area, Trinh’s key impetus is to bring more of the ethnic cuisine intown. The plan is evident in the name: Buford Highway EAV.

“That’s what I’m looking for - food partners,” she says. “We would co-share the space and be able to bring in this ethnic channel into this little Asian alley and really show how we don’t all need brick-and-mortar places.”

Trinh is actively seeking food partners, and plans to launch Buford Highway EAV: the global grub collaborative, in mid-April.