“Last bite, best bite” has gone from saying to promise at celebrated pastry chef Claudia Martinez’s stylish late-night dessert bar, where plating is sophisticated and cocktails are upscale, but the vibe is industry-edgy, Afro-Latin-Caribbean cool, and accessibly warm. In this cozy courtyard-inspired, intimate space, seasonally inspired sweets (her signature style) are made with indulgent ingredients and presented as modern art.

And therein lies the magic of what Martínez and a team of dreamers and supporters have created at Bar ANA. It’s a sweet, subversive escape in the form of a late-night cocktail and dessert bar, led by a master pastry maker of Venezuelan descent. It’s where Atlanta’s internationality, particularly among its Latin, Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean communities, is celebrated and balanced through deliciousness, defiance and determination.

Drinks and dessert take center stage at critically acclaimed pastry chef Claudia Martinez’s multisensory concept for late-night indulgence. Here, she flexes skills that have only matured since her highly regarded tenure at Miller Union, exploring indulgence through seasonal ingredients and artistic presentation. Together with beverage director Mayim Williams, Martinez is turning everyone’s favorite parts of going out into the main event.

“I swear, I’ve been waiting for a place like Bar ANA all my life. It’s not uncommon for me to want to just go out for a cocktail and cake, and I don’t want to settle for tots when I want a tart. I’m excited that I no longer have to.”

After tenures at Atlanta bastions like Miller Union, pastry chef Claudia Martinez is now taking the driver’s seat with a star-studded crew behind her.

Bar ANA has only just opened—both for the day and for the first time—and it’s already bustling.

Altogether, it’s a tall order: exhibiting modeled excellence from various cultures, backgrounds, and shared idealism, with very long hours meant to accommodate industry nights and daytime patrons alike. The dreams are big, but Martinez is convinced that the community is bigger.

The highly anticipated Bar ANA, a late-night dessert and cocktail bar, is now open in Poncey-Highland. James Beard Award-nominated pastry chef Claudia Martinez and co-owner Artie De Los Santos are behind the venture in the former El Bar space, below El Ponce. By day, the space is a specialty coffee called RECUERDOS, by Ivan Solis. By night, Martinez’s famous desserts take the cake, alongside small savory plates like mushroom tart and charcuterie. Look for apple spice cake, guava-glazed doughnuts, and shortbread tarts with pear sorbet and caramel popcorn, with creative cocktails to match.

Bar ANA, the dessert and cocktail bar backed by award-winning pastry chef Claudia Martinez and Artie De Los Santos, opens tonight. It takes over the former El Bar space beneath El Ponce on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

By day, Ivan Solis will operate RECUERDOS Coffee from the space, opening at 7 a.m. By night, however, it becomes Bar ANA, where Martinez will serve her signature luxe desserts, like a quesillo shortbread tart and Araguani chocolate with passion fruit ganache, pomegranate, and mole crunch. Martinez plans to launch a three-course tasting menu in the next few weeks.

The goal is a speakeasy-like atmosphere that feels as at home in Atlanta as it could in Los Angeles or Tokyo or Mexico City, rooted in community and genuine hospitality. It’s Martinez’s statement: about Latin flavors, about warm hospitality, and about welcoming a new kind of nightlife to the city.

Atlanta pastry chef Claudia Martínez and business partner Artie De Los Santos will open Bar ANA, a late-night dessert and cocktail bar, in the basement of El Ponce on Thursday.

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.

Pastry chef Claudia Martinez, a two-time James Beard Award nominee, is opening a coffee, dessert, and cocktail bar in Poncey-Highland. Named Bar ANA (using the initials of her parents and sister), it will be located in the space formerly home to El Bar. It will feature RECUERDOS Café by Ivan Solis during the day and a full bar led by Mayim Williams in the evenings. Martinez, who brings experience from Tiny Lou’s and Miller Union, as well as her pop-up Café Claudia, will bake pastries and sophisticated desserts.

Martinez is well-known for her elaborately plated, tropical fruit-centric desserts. The chef will offer around five seasonal desserts (think Venezuelan chocolate mousse with passion fruit, doughnuts with fruit compote, and house-made ice cream) and a few savory pastries at the bar.

Atlanta pastry chef Claudia Martinez is set to open a late-night dessert and cocktail bar in the former El Bar space underneath El Ponce.