MG Road cooks up Atlanta vs. Asheville chef throwdown

Cocktail bar and late-night dining spot MG Road is adding some out-of-town spice to its Monday night, Asian-themed pop-up restaurant, Punk Wok. Owner Meherwan Irani and Chai Pani Creative Director Michael Files have invited Chef Angus Brown of Atlanta’s Octopus Bar to pair up with Punk Wok creator and chef Elliott Moss for Octo Wok, a culinary one-night stand that will take over the Wall Street restaurant on Monday, Jan. 20.

Irani says the event is shaping up to be somewhat of an Asian-food throwdown. “I just got Elliott’s menu plan for the evening,” said Irani in a recent phone interview, “and it sounds like they are both going to execute their take on Angus vs. Elliott, or Atlanta vs. Asheville.”

Octopus Bar is a late-night pop-up eatery that happens six nights a week in East Atlanta’s So Ba Vietnamese pho house. “[Brown’s] place in Atlanta is sort of a service industry/chef hangout,” Irani says. “It doesn’t even open until 10 p.m.”

Brown promises to bring some serious Asian-cooking chops to the table on Monday: Irani confirms media reports that Brown spent this past summer traveling and sharpening his skills in kitchens in the Far East, in countries including Vietnam and Japan.

Files says foodies can look forward to more chef match-ups in the near future at MG Road. The next one, according to Files, is a Feb. 15 Japanese-themed pairing with Allen Suh, chef at Gato Arigato, a late-night pop-up joint that dishes out Japanese izakaya-style snacks and ramen to a mostly restaurant-industry crowd in Atlanta’s Candler Park area.

“This [Moss/Suh match-up] is a match made in heaven,” Files says. More details to come.

MG Road is at 19 Wall St. Octo Wok happens Monday, Jan. 20, 6 p.m. until the food runs out.

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