A Portrait of a Place

Lucian Books & Wine Paints an Experience Beyond the Table

By Taylor Holcombe | Photography by Andrew Thomas Lee

On a cloudy day in November 2018, a married couple walked hand in hand down the streets of London, mesmerized by the sights and enamored with the possibilities. Katie Barringer had just shut the doors to Cover Books—a bookstore in West Atlanta that showcased her passion for lifestyle-based volumes centered on food, wine, travel, art, and design—and Jordan Smelt had recently left Bread & Butterfly and was working as general manager for Rive Gauche Wine Co. It was when they stumbled upon Maison Assouline that their creative and entrepreneurial hearts began to flutter. Despite the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly Circus, once they opened the doors to the small bar that seamlessly combined culture with elegance, style with sophistication, their vision began to clear with the English skies. “We truly looked at each other and just knew this is what we’re doing together,” Barringer told Eater Atlanta.

Combining Barringer’s bookstore experience with Smelt’s wine background, they created Lucian Books and Wine, located in Atlanta’s premier Buckhead neighborhood. Fittingly, Lucian was named after renowned British painter Lucian Freud, a pioneering portraitist and modern expressionist whose neo-figurative work centered on infusing emotion, boldness, and humanity into abstraction. At Lucian Books and Wine, the characteristics of Freud’s work take on a life of their own, not only in the meticulous curation of books, wine, food, and atmosphere, but in the people who come for the experience and inevitably walk away with so much more.

Emotional Distortion

Something Lucian Freud did best was use exaggerated, twisted, and often primitive forms to show raw feeling. Books have that same tendency—to challenge people, to elicit emotion in us all, willing or otherwise. And when you walk into Lucian Books and Wine, you can’t help but be spellbound by its art museum of pages meticulously chosen and placed—some on display, some stacked, but all available to peruse and purchase.

With Barringer’s background in the arts, along with her upbringing as the granddaughter of a librarian, it makes sense that she personally curates Lucian’s collection, which primarily comprises nonfiction and centers on the same topics she was passionate about displaying at Cover Books: art collections on everything from Cézanne to Basquiat, fashion volumes covering Chanel and Marc Jacobs, and even wine anthologies like Château Lafite’s The Almanac chronicling its entire history since 1868. Each title serves as a celebration of culture, style, and life.

This love of art and culture spans back to her college days. “As a student, I couldn’t afford to buy art,” Barringer told Atlanta Magazine. “But I could afford books. So they were my starter collection,” she adds.

It’s this accessibility that is just as important to co-owner and beverage director Jordan Smelt. With more than 450 bottles of wine, patrons could become overwhelmed, but Smelt was intentional with the menu’s approachability. “A lot of places still make wine intimidating in the way the lists are written,” he says in Eater Atlanta. But at Lucian Books and Wine, all wines are organized by grape variety, and by-the-glass or bottle options are listed in a magazine-style menu for ease of discovery.

With hundreds of wines, it’s hard to pick just a few. Still, standout pours include the Union Sacré Edelzwicker (2025), a skin-contact or orange wine produced in California’s Central Coast region. It’s especially palatable, with crisp acidity and a vibrant finish of citrus and wildflowers. Another favorite is the Bodegas Tros Tempranillo (2024), a full-bodied red wine, both balanced and velvety, from Ribera del Duero, Spain, with flavors of dark cherry, ripe blackberry, and vanilla followed by hints of leather, cocoa, and spice.

As though a part of an exhibition, even the bottles of wine at Lucian are on display, ready to be admired and tasted. Just look up, and you’ll see hundreds of bottles lining the ceiling, ready to be explored.

Bold Techniques

Rough brushstrokes, mixed media, and color choices that reject neat, traditional rules are methods Lucian Freud often employed in his work, and you can sense them in Lucian Books and Wine’s decor and atmosphere. For the space, Barringer and Smelt “wanted to balance sophistication with a relaxed quality.” The result is a restaurant that is luxurious and elevated yet approachable.

The walls are drenched in rich plum with cushions to match; guests are seated at marbled tabletops; a bronzed, geometric chandelier hangs overhead; curtains, equally geometric in pattern, help to dim the bright, natural lighting coming through Lucian’s many floor-to-ceiling windows; mid-century bookshelves pair nicely with Lucian’s arched doorways; and the Harlequin floors makes you feel like you’ve waltzed in to a Parisian cafe.

The unconventionality and innovation of Freud’s art can be felt in Lucian Books and Wine’s cuisine, as well. Executive Chef Jason Paolini, a Louisiana native with more than twenty years of experience in Atlanta’s restaurant industry, joined Lucian in January 2022. Since then, Paolini has been blending subtle flavors with moments of intensity.

A particular highlight on their menu is the crisp gem lettuces with delightfully crunchy pole beans, Belper Knolle cheese, and benne seeds. It’s a textural tour de force brought together by an herbaceous vinaigrette so bright and flavorful it seems worthy of drinking on its own.

Another is their viral omelette with caviar and crème fraîche. Apparently, the omelette was on the menu long before Paolini joined Lucian, but, as he shared on the Sky’s The Limit podcast, he’s worked to “continue to perfect it and make it even better.” Prepared in the classical French style, the omelette baveuse has a fluffy texture and a beautifully cloud-like center that offers a subtle explosion of flavor. Nearly juxtaposed in its composition, the buttery comfort of the eggs and the luxurious salinity of the caviar make a formidably sexy pair. To put it simply: this omelette will change you.

Oh, and be sure to ask for the French fries served with a side of tarragon aioli. It’s an unlisted dish on the menu, but it is certainly a worthy addition.

Return to the Figure

Lucian Freud’s art, unlike the greats whose works depict landscapes, still life, or abstraction, focused on humanity, or rather, what it means to be human. Physically, yes, as he often painted the human form—but also meaningfully, as he strove to portray their everyday realities.

As guests sit, drink, observe, and dream, it’s the people at Lucian Books and Wine that truly make the space special. Their interactions with each other and their engagement with the restaurant, Barringer told Eater Atlanta, “has always been the purpose behind Lucian.”

You may find two women on what appears to be a bestie outing seated right next to you, looking through books about wine and bonding over their lack of experience in a place like this, and one of them mid-sip, fawning, “I love every part of this place.” Or there could be a table of friends (or maybe lovers) having conversations ranging from in-depth to lighthearted as they share stories of their tragic love lives and subsequent trips to Barcelona. The stylish couple, well into their seventies, are on what could either be a casual outing or a special occasion—either way, they’re dressed to the nines.

That’s what Lucian offers: the opportunity for experiences both profound and mundane, each exquisite in its own right, and each uniquely human. Barringer and Smelt have now breathed this same life into their newest endeavor, Sargent, located in the Old Fourth Ward near Atlanta’s BeltLine.

Named after American expatriate artist John Singer Sargent, famous for his Impressionist portraits, particularly the Portrait of Madame X, which depicts a woman posing in a black satin dress with jeweled straps. Her demeanor and dress suggest that she has something both to reveal and to hide. Likewise, mystery and intrigue are part of what has made Lucian Books and Wine so captivating, but at three times the size of its predecessor, Sargent is all about making itself known. Patrons can expect a larger bar with a covered patio, more energetic music, and an expansive selection of classic cocktails and spirits.

When it comes to the cuisine, just like the artist himself, Sargent promises to feature American classics with a French influence. “John Sargent was known for technique and craftsmanship in his artwork,” shared Chef Paolini in Atlanta Magazine. “We want to take that to the food.”

Though Sargent will provide a different experience from Lucian, the books aren’t going anywhere; those will continue to be displayed and sold. It was Barringer’s love of books, after all, that brought the dream of Lucian to life. Today those same books line its shelves—books like Eric Wareheim’s Steak House: The People, the Places, the Recipes, a love letter to local restaurants and fan-favorite establishments across the United States; Cig Harvey’s Emerald Drifters, an exploration of the ephemeral told through ruby reds and royal blues; and collections like Carlotta Guerra’s Like We Could Almost Live Forever, a series of photographs and writings that celebrate life’s idiosyncrasies and reflect on its impermanence.

Collectively, the shelves offer more than reading material. They articulate Lucian’s philosophy of finding meaning in the moments that so often slip by unnoticed and of taking time to treat oneself, whether with others or alone. But with the books and stories all around them, whether at Lucian or Sargent, no one is truly alone.

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Visit LucianBooksandWine.com to learn more or book a table.