Midi Opens in Candler Park: Little Tart’s Paris-Inspired All-Day Café Brings Sandwiches, Soft-Serve, and Cocktails to McLendon Avenue
On November 12, 2026, Midi debuted in Candler Park as the first new restaurant concept in seven years from the team behind Little Tart Bakeshop and Big Softie. Located at 1643 McLendon Avenue NE, the all-day café sits beside a new fourth Little Tart Bakeshop (which opened November 11) in the historic retail strip formerly occupied by Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party and Kelly’s Closet.
Midi Opens in Candler Park: What To Know
Across from Candler Park Market and Gigi’s Italian Kitchen, the pair of concepts aims to become a neighborhood hub for breakfast through evening drinks.
Founder Sarah O’Brien, who launched Little Tart as a farmers-market stall in 2010 and grew it into beloved Grant Park, Summerhill, and Krog Street Market locations, describes Midi as “Little Tart’s sexy European cousin.” The idea crystallized during a 2023 Paris trip with business partners Amy Gregg, Emily Stephens, Miranda Bell, and Sofia Garcia. O’Brien recalled a shop “staffed with gorgeous women pulling crispy focaccia from the ovens and making wonderful, deceptively simple sandwiches. We joked that we should open our own ‘hot girl sandwich shop’ someday, and voila!”
The space reflects that Parisian café sensibility while staying rooted in Atlanta. O’Brien designed Midi herself, favoring dusty pink and maroon tones, plaster walls, natural light, and textured furnishings she “would love to have in my home.” “This space is my pride and joy,” she said. The adjacent Little Tart side features the brand’s signature dark green, brass, and marble. The two share a kitchen and restrooms but operate separate menus. A takeout window serves soft-serve.
Kitchen lead Sofia Garcia oversees a menu of right-sized sandwiches on house-baked bread—generous but finishable portions, each paired with a house-brined pickle. Options include egg salad, tuna salad, roasted chicken, meatball, ham and cheese, and a classic turkey club. Vegetarian and vegan choices feature a smashed chickpea sandwich and zucchini fritter, plus kid-friendly grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly. Sides draw from Little Tart After Dark’s small plates: Caesar and Niçoise salads, grain bowls, carrot dip with crackers, big beans, and fries.
Soft-serve (a nod to Big Softie) comes in four flavors with hard-shell coatings and toppings. The drinks list leans classic and approachable: gin slushies, negronis, sazeracs, old-fashioneds, and an espresso “tartini,” plus four wines by the glass and bottles for retail. Counter service runs from 7 a.m. weekdays (8 a.m. weekends) until 9 p.m., inviting everything from a morning coffee and pastry next door to an evening sandwich and cocktail.
O’Brien has long eyed the McLendon strip for its “magical” energy and history of women-owned businesses. “I have a clear recipe of being embedded in neighborhoods near a park and schools where kids will be walking by—places that feel walkable, and where we can hopefully become a hub in the community,” she told Atlanta Magazine. That vision aligns with Little Tart’s track record of local sourcing, thoughtful hospitality, and community ties (including initiatives like the annual Cookie Grab for Planned Parenthood).
For Candler Park and eastside Atlanta regulars who already love Little Tart’s croissants and Big Softie’s soft-serve, Midi offers a new all-day destination that feels both familiar and fresh—a corner of Paris transplanted to a beloved Atlanta neighborhood strip.
Details
- Address: 1643 McLendon Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA
- Website: midi-atl.com
- Opening: November 12, 2026 (Little Tart next door: November 11)
- Hours: 7 a.m.–9 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m.–9 p.m. weekends