Northern China Eatery

Northern China Eatery does not have a wine list. It has something better: a reputation BYOB destination where Atlanta chefs and sommeliers bring their best bottles to pair with Shanghai soup dumplings, cumin lamb, and lion's head meatballs. The restaurant recently obtained a liquor license, but the BYOB culture persists. Brookhaven Wines runs its BuHi Culinary Field Trip series here, with sommeliers pairing wines like Weiser-Kunstler Riesling Feinherb with the menu's wheat-based specialties. You will probably drink out of a water glass. You will not care.

The wine program at Northern China Eatery is whatever the person at the next table brought. On any given night that could be a natural Beaujolais, an Alsatian Riesling, or a bottle of orange wine someone picked up at Brookhaven Wines ten minutes ago. There is no glassware to speak of and no staff guidance on pairing. The markup is zero. The variety is infinite. This is the soul of Buford Highway's wine culture: world-class food meeting whatever bottle you have the imagination to bring.