Clarkston, GA — Chef Winnie’s Kitchen is reopening on Feb. 13 in Clarkston.

Chef Winnie’s will be located at 980 Rowland Street, suite 4100. The restaurant plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

Woinshet Legesse Emory opened Chef Winnie’s Kitchen in December 2020 to serve Ethiopian food and fill the stomachs, and hearts, of the community in the process. The restaurant was located on East Ponce de Leon Avenue in Clarkston.

Emory closed her restaurant in December 2021 after an issue with a rising water bill, and challenges with the landlord of her building. Two years later, Emory was able to reopen and partner with Send Relief, a ministry center that is committed to serving the surrounding refugee population, the website states.

“My new space, these are my customers who are building the building,” Emory previously said.

She is opening a new 4,000-square-foot space. Chef Winnie’s is the anchor of the development that features 11 businesses. Emory will continue to serve Ethiopian and international food.

“With Ethiopian, I’m cooking with my background that I learned from my mom and I tweaked it a little bit from my educational background as a chef,” Emory said. “I am making a menu that is pretty much touching every culture. I infuse some of the foods with Ethiopian spices.”

The menu will largely be the same as before, with a few additions, like seafood. Customers can also expect to see a slight price change. Her menu will feature tibs, chicken curry, a vegetarian combo, a quesadilla, fish, and an Asian-style calamari.

“I infuse the spices. It’s not like you just only put Ethiopian or just put only American spices, I just infuse them,” Emory previously said. ”[The quesadilla] touches Hispanic, but it’s my own creation, so it’s infusion. I add an Ethiopian touch in there and Ethiopian spices, but it is a quesadilla. But the hot pepper, the jalapeños, that makes it different from the regular.”

The tibs, along with the quesadilla, was one of Emory’s most popular dishes. The Ethiopian dish features meat and vegetables served on injera flatbread, and it’s meant to be eaten with one’s hands.

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