The Story Behind Eastside’s Bar ANA, a Love Letter to Culture, Craft and Community 

Dinner with Chef Claudia Martínez and Artie de los Santos

By Daniela Cintron

Published July 2, 2025

The sky cracked open the moment we pulled up to Tiny Lou’s. Rain fell in sheets, the kind of dramatic Southern storm that demands you pause before making a run for it. We did just that — chef Claudia V. Martínez, Artie De Los Santos, my co-worker Aubree Dumas and me — a bit soaked but excited. If there’s ever been a proper way to start a night about beginnings, that storm felt like it.

Tiny Lou’s, tucked inside the historic Hotel Clermont, is where Martínez made her mark in 2018 as part of the team that helped launch the MICHELIN-recommended French American brasserie. Tonight, though, she returned not as the pastry chef behind the curtain, but as the co-owner of her own space: Bar ANA, just a few doors down on Ponce de Leon Avenue on the Eastside.

Bar ANA is opening late summer, just beneath El Ponce, a Mexican restaurant owned by Rosa Thurnher — a big supporter of women in the industry and underrepresented communities. It will be part daytime café, part late-night cocktail and dessert bar — sophisticated but never stuffy.

Martínez is a well-known, award-winning pastry chef you’ve probably heard about — Atlas, Miller Union, Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets”, James Beard nods. But this is the first time she’ll be crafting desserts on her own terms, her creations rooted in Latin flavors, memories and moods. But she is not doing it alone.

Check out our interview with Chef Claudia Martínez.

Chef Martínez’s business partner in this venture is Artie De Los Santos. He’s the other half of the vision and the one who brings the people together. That guy who, since college, has had a knack for turning any room into a celebration. His career in hospitality began with student events and evolved into years of experience in spirits marketing and restaurant consulting. But owning something? That’s new. 

“My family never owned anything,” he told us. “This is the first thing. And it’s ours.”

Bar ANA is their bar. Martínez and De Los Santos, two kids of immigrants, one Venezuelan and one Dominican, are building from scratch something that feels like them. This is more than a business. It is a letter to both their stories.

The name “ANA” is layered: it comes from the initials of both Martínez’s and De Los Santos’ families, but also nods to “anatomy,” the building blocks of something intentional.

In the morning, through the residency program, Martínez’s pastries will pair with Iván Solis’s Recuerdos Café, serving craft coffee drinks rooted in his Mexican culture. Also a son of immigrants, Solis founded his coffee pop-up to honor the stories of immigrant families through coffee. He is no stranger to Martínez and De Los Santos; in fact, he is the one who made the connection once he realized both had similar dreams. The rest is history.

In the evening, cocktails and Latin-inflected sweets will pair with music at Bar ANA. Good music. The kind that makes you move without meaning to: Afro beats, merengue, salsa, old-school hip-hop. 

Midway through our dinner, phones buzzed nonstop. “The floor guys,” they said, apologetically. At one point, Martínez excused herself to take a call — construction logistics. De Los Santos glanced at his phone and sighed. “Sorry, everything’s happening right now,” he said, smiling like someone who’s juggling 10 things but wouldn’t have it any other way.

There were very special moments during our dinner.. A guest from another table came over bashfully and introduced himself as a chef at MICHELIN-recommended The Alden. “I’m a huge fan of your work,” he told Martínez. She lit up but stayed humble, brushing it off with grace. Then, without missing a beat, she teased De Los Santos about her being the funnier sister. He laughed and promised her mom would one day cook for him if he earned it.

The affection between them is evident. So is the respect. She trusts him with the vibe; he trusts her with the menu. “I’m not touching the desserts,” De Los Santos said. “But I’ll be there for all the tastings.” That’s the kind of partnership this is. Not just co-founders, but co-dreamers doing the work most people never see.

Bar ANA will open in a part of town that feels just right — the Eastside, where grit meets glow, where the Atlanta Beltline hums and old Atlanta charm lingers. It is where Atlanta’s cultural layers have converged — black neighborhoods, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ nightlife and punk rock scenes. During the Civil Rights era and into the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was a battleground of urban change and resistance. 

Soon, this is where their next chapter begins. 

What they’re building isn’t just a bar. It’s a reflection of hustle, of roots, of the kind of community you can feel in your chest when the right song plays, the right dessert lands on your table and the bartender remembers your name.

It’s hard to explain a place before it exists. But when Bar ANA opens, you’ll get it. You’ll taste it in desserts, feel it in the bassline, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll walk out a little more connected than when you walked in.

Bar ANA is set to open late summer 2025 at  939 Ponce De Leon Ave.

Where We Went and What We Ordered: 

Tiny Lou’s

Starters:

• Spring Salad (little gem, blueberry Stilton, asparagus, pickled strawberry, almond, lemon vinaigrette)
• Chips & Caviar (caramelized onion, French onion creme, ostera caviar, housemade chips) 
• Beef Tartare (egg yok jam, crispy capers, pearl onion, brioche) 

Entrees:

• Pan-Seared Chicken (carrot, confit garlic, broccolini) 
• Steak Frites (watercress, maître d’Hôtel Clermont butter, ramp chimichurri, NY Strip, 13 ounce)
• Clermont Smash (double smash burger, American cheese, bacon, pickle, cherry pepper relish) 

Dessert:

• Carrot Cake (carrot sponge cake, hazelnut namelaka, cream cheese, pineapple, toasted hazelnuts)
• Mojito Sorbete 
• Lou’s Sundae (cherrio ice cream, chocolate cake, summer shandy caramel, caramel corn)

Drinks:

• Doux Baiser (C&K vodka, caramel and a bold shot of espresso) 
• Daiquiri (rum) 
• Toretto (cimmaron reposado, ginger, lime, amaretto, mezcal) 
• L’orange Nocturne (diplomatico rum, angostura amaro, lime, ginger, cassis)

Daniela is the content manager and bilingual editor for Discover Atlanta. As an award-winning bilingual journalist, she is passionate about shinning light on untold stories about culture, food and Atlanta.