Les Mis Opens + Bourdain's Dumpling Spot

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What's up, neighbors!

Les Misérables opens Friday night at the Byers Theatre in Sandy Springs, and this is not a touring bus-and-truck stop. It's the first local production of the show in more than ten years, and Shuler Hensley is directing it. He won a Tony. He played Javert on Broadway. Now he's staging the barricades a five minute walk from the City Green. We're eyeing the Saturday matinee so we can still make a dinner reservation after.

Saturday morning, 125 juried artists set up on Lake Forrest Drive for the Sandy Springs Arts & Craft Festival, and it costs nothing to walk. Sunday the High Museum opens free for Grandparents Day, and the new I SPY exhibit is included. If your kids ever shoved one of those books at you at bedtime, the actual miniature sets Walter Wick photographed are all in one room now.

One heads-up before you scroll: MARTA parking goes up Monday the 14th, and Doraville and North Springs jump to $10 a day. Details below, along with a Buford Highway dumpling house Anthony Bourdain visited, a Dunwoody market about to turn 40, and a senior Akita named Zoomer whose adoption fee is already paid.

- Andrew

When was the last time you actually looked at your homeowners policy?

For most folks in Atlanta and the Perimeter area, the honest answer is "when we bought the house." Which would be fine, except home values around here are up $150K to $200K+ since 2020. If your policy hasn't kept up, your dwelling limit is probably short of what it would actually cost to rebuild today. That gap won't show up on your bill. It only shows up when you file a claim, which is the worst time to find out.

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Byers Theatre, Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center
1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA
Friday, September 11 through Sunday, September 13, 2026
Fri 8:00 PM, Sat 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM, Sun 2:00 PM
Tickets start at $102
Get Tickets

Here's what makes this different from every other time Les Mis has rolled through Atlanta: it's not a tour. City Springs Theatre Company built this production here, and it's the first locally staged Les Mis in more than a decade.

The director is the reason we're going. Shuler Hensley won a Tony, and he played Javert, the obsessed lawman who hunts Jean Valjean for decades, during the show's original Broadway run. Now he's directing the whole thing in Sandy Springs.

Jacob Keith Watson comes down from New York to play Valjean, and Jonathan Christopher, who tore the roof off as Coalhouse in last year's Ragtime, takes over Javert.

Two practical things. The show runs about three hours and the company recommends it for ages 13 and up, so this is a date night or a big-kid night, not a stroller night. Also, the box office is cashless.

The run goes through September 27, so you technically have options. But shows like this sell from the middle of the theater out, and opening weekend is when the whole building is buzzing. There are discounts for seniors, students, military, and groups, and if you're a student, educator, first responder, or in the industry, $38 rush tickets open at the box office two hours before curtain.

If One Day More does anything to you at all, go now.

This is where we go when the dumpling craving hits and the frozen ones at the grocery store won't cut it. It's a no-frills dining room on Buford Highway across from Asian Square, it's been there since 2008, and there's usually a chef at a table by the register hand-folding that day's dumplings while you order. Anthony Bourdain ate here. The restaurant will tell you about it, and honestly, they've earned the brag.

Order the soup dumplings. The Shanghai xiaolongbao are $14.95 and they're the reason half the room is there. Pork and chive dumplings come 16 to an order for $14.95, steamed or boiled, and the lamb and zucchini version at $15.95 is the sleeper pick.

My wife is partial to the pan-fried pork buns, 8 for $16.95, crispy on the bottom and soupy inside. If you want something off the grill, the charcoal cumin lamb skewers are $21.95, and the Chong Qing spicy chicken at $22.95 doesn't play around on heat.

Two things to know. They're closed Tuesdays, and the room is small, so weekend lunch comes with a wait. Parking out front is tight, but there are more spaces behind the building. And if you fall for the dumplings, they sell them frozen in 60-packs for about $42, which is how they end up in our freezer.

Price: $$
Hours:
Sun 11 AM-10 PM
Mon 11 AM-9 PM
Tue Closed
Wed-Thu 11 AM-9 PM
Fri-Sat 11 AM-10 PM
Website

Three weeks from now, on September 30, E. 48th Street Market on Jett Ferry Road turns 40. Charlie and Anita Augello opened it in 1986 after Charlie left the corporate world, and the origin story is the good kind: two first-generation Italian-American kids who met in grade school in New York, dreamed up a market on a trip to Austria, then actually built it in Dunwoody.

Forty years later it's still the family behind the counter. Their daughter Andrea runs the place day to day, the grandkids pop in, and Charlie still makes the mozzarella in acqua himself. The meatball sub is the most-named favorite, but the Stoffato is right behind it: salami, mortadella, capicola and provolone stacked on a crusty roll they bake in house. Either way, people tend to mention the counter staff knowing their name in the same breath.

Beyond the deli case there's fresh pasta, house-made sausage, cannoli, more than 140 Italian wines, and catering platters they can have ready with as little as two hours notice.

They're closed Sundays, and the reason is posted right on their website: "to enjoy Family Dinner." That tells you most of what you need to know about the place. Go before the anniversary rush and tell them happy early 40th.

Price: $$
Hours:
Mon-Fri 10 AM-7 PM
Sat 10 AM-6 PM
Sun Closed
Website: e48thstreetmarket.com

5 Beds
4.5 Baths
5,166 sq ft

A) $925,000

B) $1,075,000

C) $1,250,000

D) $1,425,000

Starting Monday, September 14, MARTA raises long-term parking by $2 a day and cuts the free parking window from 24 hours down to 14. Doraville and North Springs jump to $10 a day, and Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Medical Center and Lenox go to $7, alongside a handful of stations elsewhere in the system.

This is MARTA's first systemwide parking increase since 2009, and the agency expects it to bring in about $500,000 a year. The free daily-parking lots are not changing, just the long-term rates, but that 14-hour window matters: park for the airport and your "free" day now ends before you land back.

If you ride from any of the six stations above, check the new rates at itsmarta.com before Monday and do the math against the airport ride-share quote. Sometimes the train still wins. Sometimes it doesn't anymore.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta

If your commute felt off last week, it wasn't you. On August 29, GDOT opened two temporary exits, 5A and 5B, on southbound SR 400 and closed the old Exit 5 ramp for the first phase of the multi-billion dollar express lanes project. The new access point for North Springs MARTA sits about 0.6 miles south of the old ramp, and the Abernathy and Hammond access point is about 1.1 miles south.

This pattern is not a weekend detour. It's the shape of the corridor for a while, with crews also working near Spalding Drive and Northridge Road and most lane closures running 9 PM to 5 AM. GDOT's ask is simple: slow down, follow the signage, and give yourself extra time until the new pattern feels normal.

If you want ramp changes in your inbox instead of discovering them at 60 mph, sign up for GDOT's project updates.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta

Dunwoody City Council voted 5-1 on August 24 to rezone about 11 acres on Ashford Dunwoody Road, currently an office building and a very large parking lot, for 122 townhomes from developer Ashwood Grove LLC. In response to resident feedback, 12 of the units will be built elevator-ready for aging in place, and the developer added a traffic study, a rental cap, bike parking and dark-sky lighting along the way.

It wasn't unanimous. Council Member John Heneghan voted no, calling the planned-development zoning for townhomes "a slap in the face to those who follow the rules." City staff noted the applicant kept adjusting the plan and that none of the recent public feedback came back negative.

If you're watching the housing market near Perimeter Center, the timeline to know: first homes could deliver between fall 2027 and early 2028.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta

An August 26 community meeting on the Southern Connector Bridge, a proposed vehicle and multi-use-path bridge over I-85 linking Buford Highway and Chantilly Drive with a single-lane roundabout, turned into a shouting match. LaVista Park residents warned the bridge would pour cut-through traffic into their neighborhood, with one attendee telling officials, "You obviously don't live in our neighborhood, and we don't want this project."

The city's case: the bridge would relieve congestion, speed up emergency response, and add buffered pedestrian walkways on a corridor that badly needs them. The price tag is estimated at $23 million, 80 percent federally funded, and officials admitted it will likely rise since construction wouldn't start until 2030.

Nothing is final. Council Member John Funny said the city will answer the unresolved questions and hold another public meeting in February 2027, and the scoping documents are posted on the city site if you want to read what's actually proposed rather than what the shouting was about.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta

"He aced it." That's the report from Zoomer's recent five day stay in a temporary foster home, where the notes that came back called him easygoing, settled, low-key and sweet, and, in the foster's words, "the perfect guest".

Zoomer is a senior Akita mix at PAWS Atlanta, eight plus years old and a big handsome boy in the 61-to-100 pound range, brown and white with a face that means business right up until the scratches start. The shelter says he LOVES car rides and walks and lives life full speed ahead, and they're looking for an adventure buddy for him, somebody whose weekends involve trails, campsites or road trips with the windows down. Once he knows you, the speed drops. He's all about back and chest scratches, and he'll thank you with little happy grunts.

He's housetrained, sleeps through the night in his own bed, waits patiently to be let out in the morning, and picks up new tricks fast. He does need the right setup: an adult home with no other pets. No kids, no dogs, and cats are an unknown. If your house is on the quiet side and your car has an empty passenger seat, this is your guy.

One more thing. Zoomer is one of PAWS Atlanta's Secret Crush pets, which means an anonymous supporter already covered his adoption fee. Start with the online adoption application, then visit or email to set up a meet. Every senior who goes home frees up a kennel.

PAWS Atlanta
5287 Covington Hwy, Decatur, GA
(770) 593-1155

🐟 X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out - Fernbank Museum of Natural History | 767 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM | $25.95 adults, $24.95 seniors 65 and up, $23.95 ages 3-12, ages 2 and under free | More: fernbankmuseum.org
The Smithsonian traveling exhibit that filled the T. rex gap: 40 giant black-and-white fish X-rays that look like art until you read the labels. Friday is two dollars cheaper per head, and one ticket still covers a Giant Screen film, WildWoods and the forest, with free parking.

🔍 I SPY! Walter Wick's Hidden Wonders - High Museum of Art | 1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM | $23.50 adults, free ages 5 and under | More: high.org
The largest survey of Wick's work ever assembled, including the actual 3-D miniature sets he photographed for the I SPY books, with reading nooks stocked with the originals. Worth knowing: it's included free on Sunday's Second Sunday if you can wait two days.

🧱 LEGO Discovery Center - Phipps Plaza | 3500 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, last entry 3:30 PM | Online flash sale $17.99 through Sept 10, walk-up from $29.99 | More: legodiscoverycenter.com
The 40 percent off online flash sale ends the same day this lands in your inbox, so if you're going this weekend, buy today. One admission covers all the attractions including both rides and the 4D cinema, and adults have to bring a kid 17 or under. House rules.

🎡 Skyline Park at The Roof - Ponce City Market | 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA | 3:00 PM-midnight | $10 ages 13 and up, $6 ages 4-12, 3 and under free, mini golf $12 and $7 | More: poncecityroof.com
Skee-ball, a three-story slide and boardwalk games on a roof where you can see Buckhead, Midtown and Downtown at once. Go at opening and you'll have the games mostly to yourselves.

💾 Mimms Museum of Technology and Art - 5000 Commerce Pkwy, Roswell, GA | 12:00-5:00 PM, last admission 4:15 PM | $22 adults, $16 ages 4-17, family of 4 $66, under 4 free | More: mimmsmuseum.org
New this year: iNSPIRE, a 50-years-of-Apple exhibit, alongside 70-plus supercomputers and an Apollo space room. It sits next to Aurora Cineplex and the mini golf, so the whole afternoon plans itself.

🦉 Chattahoochee Nature Center - 9135 Willeo Rd, Roswell, GA | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM | $20 adults, $16 seniors 65 and up and students 13-18, $14 ages 3-12, 2 and under free | More: chattnaturecenter.org
127 acres on the river with rescued raptors on the Wildlife Walk and the boardwalk trail down to the water. Quiet on Fridays, which is exactly when you want it.

🏛️ Bulloch Hall Guided Tours - 180 Bulloch Ave, Roswell, GA | Tours on the hour, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM | $8 adults, $7 seniors, $6 children, under 6 free | More: bullochhall.org
The 1839 Greek Revival home where Teddy Roosevelt's mother grew up, with docents telling family stories pulled from actual letters and diaries. Eight bucks for a genuine piece of presidential history in Roswell.

🎭 Worlds of Puppetry Museum and Frame by Frame - Center for Puppetry Arts | 1404 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA | 9:00 AM-5:00 PM, last admission 4:30 PM | $18 adults, $16 seniors 55 and up, $14 ages 3-12 | More: puppet.org
No mainstage show until Everybody Loves Pirates opens September 30, so this weekend it's the museum ticket: the Jim Henson Collection with the original Muppets, plus the stop-motion animation exhibition running through November 1.

🎨 Sandy Springs Arts & Craft Festival - Century Springs | 6100 Lake Forrest Dr NW, Sandy Springs, GA | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM | Free admission and free parking | More: sandyspringsartsapalooza.com
Up to 125 juried artists plus a children's play area, interactive art stations and local musicians, two days only. Free to walk, free to park, dangerous for your wallet.

🥕 Sandy Springs Farmers Market - City Green at City Springs | 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA | 8:30 AM-12:00 PM, rain or shine | Free | More: citysprings.com
This week's live music comes from the Dustbowl Dancers and Ben Bostick. Free 2-hour parking in the City Springs deck if you register your plate, and dogs are fine on the plaza but not on the Green.

🍅 DHA Farmers Market - Brook Run Park | 4770 N Peachtree Rd, Dunwoody, GA | 9:00 AM-12:00 PM | Free | More: dunwoodyga.gov
Pesticide-free produce, fresh eggs and ready-to-eat meals, right across from one of the best playgrounds in the area. Shop first, swing set second, whole morning gone.

🌽 Brookhaven Farmers Market - University Baptist Church lot | 1375 Fernwood Cir NE, Brookhaven, GA | 9:00 AM-12:00 PM, rain or shine | Free | More: brookhavenfarmersmarket.com
Sixteenth season, running through October 31, with live music at the market most weeks. The smallest of the Saturday markets and by far the easiest to park at.

🧑‍🌾 Roswell Farmers & Artisans Market - Roswell City Hall | 38 Hill St, Roswell, GA | 8:30 AM-12:00 PM | Free | More: roswellgov.com
The city market on the City Hall lawn runs April through October with live music, mini-workshops and kids' programming, steps from Canton Street. Grab breakfast on Canton after and call it a morning.

🖼️ UPS Second Sunday: Grandparents Day - High Museum of Art | 1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA | 12:00-5:00 PM | Free admission for everyone | More: high.org
Free entry on actual Grandparents Day, with art-making and performances in the early afternoon and the new I SPY exhibit included. The full pitch is in our Free Event of the Week below.

⚾ Braves vs. Phillies - Truist Park | 755 Battery Ave SE, Atlanta, GA | 1:35 PM | Tickets from about $19 | More: batteryatl.com
Sunday afternoon first pitch and a divisional series finale. That's the family sweet spot.

🎨 Sandy Springs Fall Arts & Craft Festival - Century Springs | 6100 Lake Forrest Dr NW, Sandy Springs, GA | 11:00 AM-5:00 PM | Free admission and free parking | More: sandyspringsartsapalooza.com
Same 125 artists as Saturday, later start, and Sunday is the drier day. If the rain runs you off Saturday, come back.

🔬 Fernbank After Dark: Forensics (21+) - Fernbank Museum of Natural History | 767 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA | 7:00-11:00 PM | $23.95 online, $3 more at the door | More: fernbankmuseum.org
The adults-only museum night goes full crime scene this month: blood spatter, ballistics, and a whodunit you work with a drink in hand. Full bars, small plates, and the forest open after dark. The museum recommends rideshare, parking gets tight.

🎙️ Marc Maron: Yammering into the Void Tour - Buckhead Theatre | 3110 Roswell Rd, Atlanta, GA | 7:00 PM | Tickets from about $66 on resale | More: livenation.com
The WTF podcast godfather works out new material in a restored 1930s movie house with full bars in the lobby and the hall. Early 7 PM start, so dinner after is actually on the table.

🎤 LUCKI: The Bad Influence Tour - Coca-Cola Roxy | 800 Battery Ave SE, Atlanta, GA | 8:00 PM | Tickets from about $66 on resale | More: livenation.com
The Chicago rapper hits the Battery's 3,600-cap room, big enough to feel like a show, small enough to see his face. Battery restaurants make the pregame easy.

🎸 Music on the Hill: Nashville Nation - Roswell City Hall lawn | 38 Hill St, Roswell, GA | 7:00-9:00 PM | Free | More: roswell365.com
The finale of Roswell's free second-Friday concert series, with beer, wine and sangria sold on site courtesy of Gate City Brewing. Bring a blanket and a lawn chair. After this one, the hill goes quiet until May.

🖼️ Amy Sherald: American Sublime VIP Night - High Museum of Art | 1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA | 5:00-9:00 PM | $55, members $40 | More: high.org
After-hours access to the Michelle Obama portraitist's blockbuster with smaller crowds and a cash bar. The show closes September 27 after selling out rooms in San Francisco, New York and Baltimore, and Atlanta is the final stop.

⚾ Bats & Bites - Truist Park | 755 Battery Ave SE, Atlanta, GA | 3:00-7:00 PM | $150, A-List members $125 | More: mlb.com
A guided ballpark tour that ends with meeting a former Braves player, food sampling with a signature beer or cocktail, and batting practice viewed from the outfield before the Phillies game. Steep, but it's a bucket-list gift for the Braves lifer in your house.

🏺 Artist Talk with Wendy Werstlein - Spruill Education Center | 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, Dunwoody, GA | 6:00 PM | Free | More: spruillarts.org
The Virginia porcelain artist behind Wrenn Pottery talks through her work, free and open to everyone. She teaches a hands-on two-day workshop at Spruill that weekend if the talk hooks you.

🎤 Malcolm Todd: Do That Again Tour, Night One - Coca-Cola Roxy | 800 Battery Ave SE, Atlanta, GA | 8:00 PM | Tickets from about $165 on resale | More: livenation.com
The bedroom-pop kid got big enough to book the Roxy two nights running, and resale prices say both are close to full. If the number makes you flinch, night two Sunday has been running slightly cheaper.

🎷 Jazz Brunch at C. Ellet's - The Battery Atlanta | 2605 Circle 75 Pkwy, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA | 11:00 AM-3:00 PM | No cover, brunch à la carte | More: batteryatl.com
A live jazz duo plays the steakhouse dining room from 11 to 3 while you work through fried chicken and mimosas. No cover means the music costs you nothing but the tip you'll want to leave.

⚔️ More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era - Atlanta History Center | 130 W Paces Ferry Rd NW, Atlanta, GA | 9:00 AM-4:00 PM | $35 adults on weekends, included with admission | More: atlantahistorycenter.com
One of the largest Civil War exhibitions in the country, opened in July for the History Center's centennial year. The ticket also buys you the Swan House, Smith Farm and 33 acres of gardens, with free parking.

🧺 Peachtree Road Farmers Market - The Cathedral of St. Philip | 2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA | 8:30 AM-12:00 PM | Free | More: peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
One of Georgia's largest producer-only markets, 70-plus vendors and a weekly chef pop-up. Go without the kids, get a coffee, and actually talk to the farmers. That's the grown-up version of this errand.

🎡 Skyline Park After Dark - The Roof at Ponce City Market | 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA | 11:00 AM-midnight | $10 ages 13 and up, mini golf $12 | More: poncecityroof.com
After sunset this turns into one of the better cheap date nights in the city: skee-ball, a beer, and the skyline lit up in three directions. Ten bucks to get up there.

🎹 Toast & Jam Jazz Brunch with Cleveland P. Jones - Studio Theatre, Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center | 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA | Seatings 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM | $30 concert-only to $80 full brunch, all-in pricing | More: sandyspringspac.com
Pianist Joe Alterman hosts a talk-show-style jazz brunch, and this month's guest is Cleveland P. Jones, a Morehouse and Berklee-trained soul singer who once opened for Chaka Khan. Carving station, mimosas, no hidden fees.

💃 Salsa Sunday - Spruill Education Center courtyard | 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, Dunwoody, GA | 6:00-10:00 PM | Free, 18+, BYOB | More: spruillarts.org
PASOfino Dance Studio teaches a free salsa lesson the first hour, then it's open dancing in the courtyard until 10. Free, BYOB, and zero experience required. The best kind of Sunday night decision.

💪 Fit4Mom Body Ignite - City Green at City Springs | 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA | 7:00-8:00 AM | First class free, $85 for the series | More: citysprings.com
Moms-only outdoor strength class on the Green, and the first one costs nothing. Done by 8 AM, smug by 8:05.

High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA
Sunday, September 13, 2026
12:00-5:00 PM

This Sunday is actual, on-the-calendar National Grandparents Day, and the High leans all the way into it. Second Sunday makes admission free for everybody from noon to five, with art-making and performances built around the grandparent theme running through the early afternoon.

The reason to go this particular month is I SPY. The Walter Wick exhibit opened two weeks ago and it's the largest collection of his work ever assembled, including the actual miniature sets he built and photographed for the books. There are reading nooks stocked with the originals, so a kid can find the hidden key on the page and then look up and find it in the real set. Three generations can lose an hour in that room easily, which on Grandparents Day is sort of the whole assignment.

Two notes so nobody's surprised. Guaranteed access to the Amy Sherald retrospective requires its own ticket. And weekend deck parking is a $25 flat rate, so carpool all three generations in one car, or take MARTA to Arts Center station across the street and skip the deck entirely.

🚗 Click here to get directions on Google Maps

Here's a date worth knowing: September 10 is the statistical peak of Atlantic hurricane season, and what's left of those storms regularly rides up into north Georgia as a day or two of hard rain. The gap most homeowners find out about too late is that a standard home policy does not cover flood damage, meaning water that rises from outside and gets in. That protection is a separate flood policy, and most of them take 30 days to kick in, so the week a storm is on the news is already too late to buy one. While you're at it, ask about a water backup endorsement, which covers sewer and drain backups and is usually cheap to add.

📖 Learn more from the Insurance Information Institute

Not sure whether your street actually needs flood coverage, or what a water backup endorsement would run on your policy? That's a five minute call with a Peachy agent. Ask us.