ATLANTA – Here is the latest restaurant news from around the metro Atlanta area, including events, new menu items and specials, openings and closings and more:

EVENTS

Culver’s is hosting its 10th annual Scoops of Thanks Day on May 2. The fundraiser offers guests a single scoop of Fresh Frozen Custard in exchange for a $1 donation to local FFA chapters and other agricultural education organizations. Plus, for the second consecutive year, Culver’s will be serving its How Now Brown Cow flavor of Fresh Frozen Custard for the event! More Info

The Truist Night Market: Passport Edition is happening May 2 at The Home Depot Backyard at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The night market will feature more than 30 of Atlanta’s top chefs, restaurateurs, and artisans showcasing cuisines and goods from around the world. Beverage partners include Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Live music will be provided by the C.O.T. Band. Additional spirits provided by Tanqueray Gin, Greenwood Whiskey, and Creature Comforts Brewing. Limited tickets for $45 and $80 are available. More Info

Atlanta Zoo’s Beastly Feast returns May 4 featuring sophisticated elegance, a one-of-a-kind locale, signature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dancing, live auctions of travel adventures, jewelry, art and Zoo experiences, and more. Proceeds of the Beastly Feast benefit Zoo Atlanta’s innovative and award-winning education programs and local and global conservation efforts. A pair of tickets is $1,800. More Info

REALTED: Cinco de Mayo celebrations in metro Atlanta | 2024

ATL Burger Week is back May 6 through 12. Multiple restaurants in the metro Atlanta area will offer $12 hamburger specials for the week. May or may not include sides/drinks. A few of the participating restaurants include Bad Daddy’s, The Lost Druid Brewery, Patty & Franks, JenChan’s, Neighbor’s Pub, Grant Park Market, Ormsby’s, George’s Bar & Restaurant, Thinking Man Tavern, Elder Tree Public House, Park Tavern, and Botica. More Info

Celebrating Mother’s Day in metro Atlanta | 2024

Atlanta International Night Market is coming to downtown Chamblee May 17 and 18. Hours are 5 to 10 p.m. May 17 and 2 to 10 p.m. May 18. The night market will represent multiple regions from around the world. The night market will also feature cultural performances. More Info

Piroshky Piroshky, the unique, one-of-a-kind, Eastern European-inspired bakery in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, is coming to Atlanta on May 24 for a special preorder pickup hosted by Round Trip Brewery. Fans can select their favorite pies online before May 24. Orders will be flash frozen and ready for pickup on May 24. The bakery has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” and the Travel Channel’s “Zimmern List.” More Info

MEMORIAL DAY 

Twin Peaks is celebrating Memorial Day by offering veterans first responders a discount of 20% off food ONLY on Memorial Day. One entree per valid ID. Participating locations. More Info

NATIONAL BURGER DAY (MAY 28)

Bad Daddy’s is celebrating National Hamburger Day by offering the limited-time Birria Burger. Also, get a Modelo Pint for just $3. Offer not valid in North Carolina. Valid only May 28. More Info

Del Taco is celebrating National Hamburger Day with a BOGO deal. Buy one Double Del Cheeseburger and get one free. More Info

SPECIALS

NaanStop’s Friends Eat Free promotion for its loyal customers ends May 3. Loyalty members who purchase a combo meal—consisting of an entrée, side, and drink—will receive a complimentary entrée for a friend. To partake in this mouthwatering deal, both diners must be present, either for dine-in or to-go orders, and at least one must be a NaanStop loyalty member. More Info

Gypsy Kitchen in Buckhead Village is celebrating warmer weather with happy hour and food and drink specials from 4 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The happy hour menu boasts a variety of flatbreads, patatas bravas, and croquetas de pollo. Glasses of wine range from $8 to $10. Grey Goose Essence spritzes, in three flavors, are $10, and the seasonal saffron-infused Highclere Castle gin spritz is $11. A portion of each Highclere Castle spritz sold goes to support Camp Twin Lakes. Other events include Wine Down Wednesdays and Third Thursdays featuring a lavish, multi-course dinner exploring the Mediterranean’s best flavors. The first event on April 18 features a five-course chef-curated menu with wine pairings. Fonseca Winery will host this event and feature some of Spain’s top varietals. Gypsy Kitchen is also bringing back its popular Basque in the Sun Sunday series featuring a flamenco guitar on the patio and Mediterranean bites and cocktails along with the regular menu. More Info

Sonny’s BBQ (multiple locations) is offering all nurses a free Pork Big Deal on May 6 and 7 to celebrate National Nurses Week. That’s a pulled or sliced pork sandwich on garlic bread or a bun, along with your choice of a Sidekick and drink. Must have coupon. More Info

Sonny’s BBQ (multiple locations) is celebrating National BBQ Month with a couple of deals. The $6 Pulled Pork Big Deal includes a sandwich with one sidekick and a drink. The $10 Pork & Rib Combo includes pulled or sliced pork and St. Louis ribs served with two sidekicks and bread. More Info

NEW MENU ITEMS

Canoe ATL is offering a new dessert item — Birthday Cake made with blueberry jam, mascarpone, and cake batter ice cream. More Info

Dunkin’ is introducing its new summer menu items: Kiwi Watermelon Dunkin’ Refresher, Blueberry Donut Iced Coffee, Vanilla Frosted Donut Signature Latte, Watermelon Burst Donut, and Green Goddess Wrap. More Info

OPENINGS

Guthrie’s is now open at 2004 Eagle Drive in Woodstock. Guthrie’s first chicken finger-only restaurant was established in Alabama in 1982, and they are considered to be the pioneers of the fried chicken finger-only restaurants. More Info

Rreal Tacos has opened a new location in the former Farm Burger space at 3365 Piedmont Road next to Twin Peaks in Buckhead. The new location features a new bar top design, elegant bathrooms, unique tabletop covers, chairs, bar stools, and a new tile ceiling design.

CLOSINGS

Iron Hill Brewery in Buckhead is closing its Buckhead location on May 2. Their Dunwoody location will remain open. More Info

OTHER

Atlanta BeltLine Tours is offering a food and street art tour every Saturday in May from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The tour will start at Krog Street Market, which was named one of the world’s best food halls by Travel + Leisure. The tour includes 4 restaurants, 6 tastings, locally-made chocolate, street art, hidden gems, and insider secrets and more. Tickets are $79 per adult. More Info

Atlanta BeltLine Tours is offering Doggie Crawl on the BeltLine from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 5 and 19. Your furry foodie will enjoy restaurant meals prepared just for them. You will get small bites and 1 craft beer. The tour will include shopping at paw-some pet boutiques and fun-filled doggie bags from Woofgang Bakery & Grooming and The Clean Dog. There will also be giveaways from local and national pet companies. Cost is $69 for adults with a dog. $39 for a companion (no dog). $39 for additional dogs (up to 2 dogs per person). Restrictions may apply. More Info

Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is celebrating its 40th birthday May 4 with an epic sweepstakes. Beginning at 12 p.m. ET Monday, April 29, through 11:59 p.m. ET Sunday, May 26, participants from select states can enter weekly for their chance to win* a trip to the destination of their choice: Italy or Iceland, including airfare, hotel for two, and more. Each week of the sweepstakes, 10 randomly selected first prize winners will receive Rita’s Italian Ice for a Year. Restrictions apply. More Info

If you would like to submit information for Atlanta Bites, send an email to joyce.lupiani@fox.com. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Police in Ohio are searching for a 19-year-old accused of the murder of an Atlanta man at a Waffle House earlier this week.

WSYX reports that Columbus police officers responded to reports of a shooting at around 2:30 a.m. on Monday outside a Waffle House near Ohio State University.

At the scene, officers found 38-year-old Ronald Diggs shot in the chest. Medics rushed Diggs to a local hospital, where he later died. 

Investigators say the incident started as a fight inside the restaurant that continued out onto the street.

A suspect, identified as 19-year-old Jaquan Curry, is facing a murder charge and remains on the run.

Who was Ronald Diggs?

Ronald Diggs was visiting Columbus to perform at a show in the city’s arts district.

Friend Robbie Rickard told WBNS that Diggs had nothing to do with the fight that led to his death.

“It was simply a matter of being at the wrong place and the wrong time,” Rickard said.

He said that Diggs, who went by the name King Ry’Yon Shugahbear Tajoure, was known for his passion for dancing, which had won him multiple titles at LGBTQ+ pageants.

“He was here just to simply be an entertainer, and to judge that event. Little did we know – that would be his last dance,” Rickard told WBNS.

Police are asking anyone who has information about Diggs’s death or Curry’s whereabouts to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-8477.

Tom Wolfe was a breathtakingly gifted wordsmith whose writings have been adapted with varying success by Hollywood. Wolfe’s 1965 Esquire article about the NASCAR driver Junior Johnson became the terrific 1973 sports drama “The Last American Hero,” starring a young Jeff Bridges. “The Right Stuff,” Wolfe’s sprawling 1979 book about NASA’s Project Mercury program, was turned into one of the best films of the 1980s. Then there’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990), based on the Wolfe novel of the same name, which is such an unmitigated, tone-deaf, cartoonishly garish disaster, it proved that even Tom Hanks can be miscast in a film.

Now comes the six-part Netflix limited series “A Man in Full,” based on Wolfe’s 1998 scathingly satirical novel that touches on race, class, the legal system and politics in Atlanta. With a perfectly cast Jeff Daniels turning in a world-class performance as the powerful and obscenely wealthy but beleaguered real estate tycoon Charlie Croker; a gifted supporting ensemble that includes Diane Lane, Lucy Liu, Bill Camp, William Jackson Harper and Tom Pelphrey, and sharp writing and stylish direction throughout, “A Man in Full” doesn’t quite match the Shakespearean gravitas of “Succession” or the outlandish spectacle of “Billions.” But it’s well-crafted pop entertainment about people who are mostly awful (with a few notable exceptions) but great fun to watch.

As is almost the norm these days, “A Man in Full” opens in Media Res, with a major character in crisis, wondering: “I don’t mean this as a criticism … but when you die, will people notice?” Cut to a title card telling us it’s 10 DAYS EARLIER, and we swoop into Croker’s lavish 60th birthday party, and judging by the giant renditions of Charlie on the cover of Atlanta Magazine, GQ and Forbes, it’s safe to say there’s no small amount of ego involved here.

This is such a swank and exclusive affair that the entertainment is none other than Shania Twain (played by Shania Twain) who sings “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and later does a sultry version of “You’re Still the One” as Charlie dances with his beautiful and ever-supportive second wife, Serena (Sarah Jones). We’ve also caught a glimpse of the gold and gleaming tower for Croker Industries, which appears to be the tallest and most impressive structure in the city, with “CROKER” in letters so large it would give Donald Trump pause (OK, almost). It’s clear Charlie Croker is the king of Atlanta.

Turns out Charlie is also a profligate spender who indulges in every personal luxury imaginable and is deeply in debt, as we learn in an expertly rendered sequence in which Bill Camp’s Harry Zale, who is the head of the Real Estate Asset Management Department for Charlie’s primary bank, sits at the head of an unimaginably long conference table populated by more than a dozen bankers and lawyers, and bluntly tells Charlie the party is over — that unless Charlie starts to make good on outstanding loans, he’s going to lose everything.

“I’m not sure who the hell you think you’re talking to!” bellows Charlie, to which Harry coolly replies, “I’m talking to a man who owes this bank 800 million dollars. A man who owes six other banks another 400 million dollars.”

As Charlie scrambles, plots and schemes to save his empire, — and he’ll resort to just about any means necessary to survive — the “A Man in Full” universe expands to incorporate a number of story threads, all of them connected in one way or another to Charlie’s world. Charlie’s executive assistant, Jill Hensley (Chanté Adams), comes to Charlie for help when her husband Conrad (Steppenwolf Theatre’s Jon Michael Hill) is arrested for assaulting a police officer in a dispute over a traffic violation. Charlie’s ex-wife, Martha (Diane Lane), becomes involved with Tom Pelphrey’s Raymond Peepgrass, a lowly loan officer who has been treated like a bug by Charlie for years and is obsessed with bringing him down. Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper) is facing a stiff challenge from a good ol’ boy who was Charlie’s college football teammate back in the day — and it’s in Charlie’s best interest to persuade his ex’s friend, Joyce Newman (Lucy Liu), to come forward with some potentially campaign-ending information about the mayor’s opponent.

Yes, it’s a lot to unpack. But with the prolific David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “Big Little Lies,” et al.) as showrunner, writer and executive producer, and directing duties split between actor-filmmaker Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) and Thomas Schlamme (“The West Wing,” “The Americans”), each story gets just the right amount of play, and the result is a rich mix of sudsy but spot-on social commentary and satire.