Photo by Kaylinn Gilstrap
In cities across the region, ethnic groups thread into the community fabric, contributing to the vitality of their adopted hometowns while also showcasing their individual cultures. In New Orleans, you’ll taste a banh mi sandwich every bit as authentic as one you’d order at a food stand in Ho Chi Minh City. Miami’s nightlife pulses with the sounds of Haitian kompa meringue. And in Atlanta’s Gwinnett County, you’ll feel like you’ve spent a day in Seoul after experiencing reflexology at a Korean bath house, stocking up on K-beauty products, and belting out a K-pop song in a private karaoke room. Come along as we explore the world, close to home.
Photo by Kaylinn Gilstrap
K-Wow
Atlanta’s Gwinnett County is a prime destination for all things Korean
South Korea’s influence on global pop culture is undeniable, and the wave—often known as “Hallyu”—has yet to crest. In the United States, South Koreans have dominated bestseller lists, streaming services, playlists, and even the Academy Awards. Ready to experience Korean culture for yourself? There’s perhaps no better place in the South than Atlanta’s Gwinnett County, home to approximately 150,000 Korean Americans.
The influx of Korean immigrants to Atlanta’s northeastern suburbs started in the 1970s but really ramped up in the late ’90s and early 2000s. “After the 1996 Olympics, Atlanta was on everyone’s radar,” explains Korean-born Gwinnett resident Sarah Park, who heads up the popular Seoul of the South food tours, offered five times a year (plan ahead, as they sell out). Now, in some parts of the county—among the five most ethnically diverse in the nation—you’ll see almost as many signs in Korean as in English. But don’t be intimidated. “Koreans are known for their hospitality, just like Southerners,” Park says.
A self-guided food tour is the first way to satisfy your appetite for Korean culture. For a traditional family-style experience, head to Korea Garden for galbi-jjim (braised beef short ribs in savory-sweet soy sauce), bossam (pork belly), and janchi-guksu (noodles served in broth). No matter what you order, an array of side dishes—from pickles to kimchi—will appear on the table. Nearby, Jang Su Jang is a longstanding favorite for bibim guksu (cold noodles), bibimbap (warm rice with beef, a fried egg, and vegetables), and still-bubbling soft tofu soup. Try interactive Korean barbecue at Honey Pig, one of the first restaurants in the area to leverage the ssot-dduk-kung method of cooking tender Durac pork, ribeye, and other proteins right at the table on a bowl-shaped grill.
While you’re exploring the county, don’t miss the opportunity to sample Korean fried chicken, known for its super-crispy exterior, juicy meat, and creative dipping sauces. Pelicana Chicken, Kimchi Red, and 99K Chicken and Pizza each put their own unique spin it. Try Korean snacks and comfort food at Yogi, where menu standouts include tuna-filled kimbap rice and seaweed rolls, tteobokki (bite-sized rice cakes in savory-sweet sauce), and fried shrimp toast. Finish on a sweet note at Cafe Mixx, where bingsu shaved ice comes topped with flavors ranging from persimmon to matcha to strawberry. Want to take a taste of Korea home? Stop at H Mart grocery store, where you can score roasted barley tea, fish-shaped ice cream bars, and chips in flavors ranging from honey-butter to kimchi.
Photo by Kaylinn Gilstrap
A commitment to flawless skin is a well-known Korean obsession; as a result, the Korean beauty industry is already living in 2026—the products coming out of the small-but-mighty Asian nation are known for their innovative formulations, ultra-pure ingredients, and beautiful packaging. Level-up your skincare routine at Aritaum, a pocket-sized boutique selling K-beauty brands including Laneige, Mamonde, and the ultra-luxe Sulwhasoo. At Missy Cosmetic, shop a dizzying array of K-beauty products, from modeling masks that form a second skin to super-charged sunscreen to head off skin damage before it starts.
Photo by Kaylinn Gilstrap
Next, make a beeline to Spa Land & Sauna, a jjimjilbang or bath house. The staggering 65,000-square-foot facility features saunas of nearly every stripe—charcoal for detoxifying, jade to boost metabolism, rock salt to enhance circulation—plus an ice room, purported to jumpstart the immune system. It’s not uncommon to catch spa-goers snoozing in the spa’s standard-issue T-shirt-and-shorts uniforms as they relax. While you’re there, plan to get a foot reflexology or deep-tissue massage, or, better yet, a vigorous body scrub and oil rub, which some say is the secret to staying youthful. Hungry? The on-site food court features favorites from bulgogi to fried veggie dumplings.
Round out your exploration with some K-pop. Fans of the Korean-pop genre will hit the mother lode at Suwanee’s KPop Story, stocked with posters, records, and collectible photo albums from superstars such as Blackpink, BTS, Stray Kids, and Twice. Browse the robust selection of photocards—think small Polaroid-sized trading cards—of Korean music celebrities. At the 901, tuck into a private karaoke room with a group of friends and belt out your favorite songs from thousands of choices (both in English and Korean) while sipping craft cocktails (try one made with soju, a Korean distilled liquor).
Courtesy Greater Miami CVB
Caribbean Flair
Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood buzzes with spicy foods, Vodou-themed art, and live kompa music
Miami’s Little Haiti is the embodiment of Creole—its own unique blend of people, traditions, flavors, and languages. While the South Florida city is better known for its cultural connection to Cuba, it is also home to the country’s largest population of Haitian Americans.
It was during Haiti’s Duvalier dictatorship in the 1970s that some 200,000 Haitians fled the Caribbean island for South Florida, many of them settling in what’s known today as Little Haiti, a section of Miami between 54th and 80th streets. Today, there are more than 300,000 Haitians in South Florida, and Little Haiti is a flourishing community, home to authentic Haitian and Caribbean restaurants and a thriving cultural arts scene.
Formerly a French colony of mostly enslaved Africans, the people of Haiti won their independence after a successful revolt in 1804 and established the world’s first free Black republic. French and African influences are still alive in everything from the Haitian Creole language to the national dish: spicy, sauce-covered crispy fried pork griot (the African word for storytellers, whose high social standing was once associated with this recipe). In Miami, these elements combine with the city’s larger Caribbean and Latin American diaspora, creating a cultural mélange that’s wholly unique. In the last decade, gentrification has also touched Little Haiti as contemporary art galleries have moved in from Wynwood, the city’s nearby arts district, along with an influx of hip eateries in the overlapping neighborhood of Little River.
Courtesy Greater Miami CVB
A smart way to start your exploration is with a visit to the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, arguably the heart and soul of the neighborhood. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you spot the Caribbean Marketplace on the corner, a modern replica of Port-au-Prince’s colorful iron market, where local craftspeople sell jewelry and ceramics during special events. Inside the complex, find an arts center, museum, and theater showcasing Haitian crafts, folk dance, and music. The third Friday of the month, join the Sounds of Little Haiti party, a free, family-friendly celebration where all are welcome to enjoy live kompa (Haitian meringue) music, griot, and Afro-Caribbean folk dancing in the courtyard, often hosted by local rapper and activist Mecca, aka Grimo.
Courtesy Greater Miami CVB
Just around the corner, Libreri Mapou has stood as a pillar of the community since 1986. Here you’ll find a range of rare and new books from Haiti, written in French, Creole, and English, as well as international newspapers from Port-Au-Prince, Paris, and places in between. Be sure to pick up a book by Edwidge Danticat, one of the great literary lights of Miami’s Haitian diaspora. Start with the bestselling author’s 2019 short story collection, Everything Inside, then move on to her novels and other works.
While technically located in the nearby Design District, the Haitian Heritage Museum is also worth a visit. Past exhibits have highlighted important figures, from contemporary abstract artist Charles Jean-Pierre to Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian independence movement (whose memorial statue you can visit in Little Haiti).
Haitian artists are also part of the fabric of Miami’s thriving arts scene. Edouard Duval-Carrié, whose paintings and mixed-media works often blend magical realism with themes of Vodou, mythology, and colonial history, has been an influential figure in Miami for nearly 30 years. Some of his works were recently acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., but his art can also be found in the permanent collection of downtown’s Pérez Art Museum Miami. In Little Haiti, second-generation gallerist Jumaane N’Namdi represents a number of Haitian American artists at his N’Namdi Contemporary gallery, including Stephen Arboite, Francks F. Deceus, and Mark Delmont. And on the streets of Little Haiti—and across Miami—you can discover the works of local Haitian American muralists like Serge Toussaint and Nathan Delinois.
Courtesy of Greater Miami CVB
Of course, one of the best ways to get a taste of Little Haiti’s culture is through its cuisine. Chef Creole, founded by charismatic chef Wilkinson “Ken” Sejour, has been a staple since 1992. He’s grown his casual restaurant into a mini empire with multiple locations across Miami, including the original in Little Haiti. With a focus on seafood, Chef Creole showcases traditional Caribbean flavors in dishes such as seafood criollo stew and platters of fried lobster, shrimp, and fish, as well as fried pork griot served with plantains, rice and beans, and spicy pikliz Scotch bonnet sauce. For more down-home Haitian and Caribbean cooking, there’s the no-frills Chez Le Bebe, a favorite for slow-cooked oxtail. And while fried Cuban empanadas are ever present across Miami, at Little Haiti’s New Florida Bakery (take note of the Toussaint mural on its facade), you can order an unfried Haitian twist on this popular staple that features a puffed pastry outer shell stuffed with beef, chicken, and other delights.
Photo by David Lee Simmons
A Taste of Vietnam
New Orleans is alive with colorful art, vibrant flavors, and plenty of Asian flair
For five decades, New Orleans’s Vietnamese community has played a vital role in a city long known for its immigrant cultures (African, Sicilian, Irish, and Honduran among them). Fleeing their homeland at the end of the Vietnam War, refugees were drawn to the city’s tropical climate, vibrant fishing culture, and Catholic roots. They settled in Village de L’est (also known as Versailles) in New Orleans East and in Gretna on the Westbank, immediately boosting the area’s fishing economy. The 14,000 Vietnamese American residents here—one of the top concentrations of this population in the country—are now an important part of New Orleans’s tapestry.
Courtesy Historic New Orleans Collection
Take Mardi Gras: The season’s most in-demand king cake is created at and shipped from Vietnamese-owned, James Beard Award–winning Dong Phuong Bakery. And the recently formed marching group, Krewe of PhantAsia, celebrates the Asian diaspora during Carnival season and beyond.
Photo by Mick Haupt
In the spring, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and at the French Quarter Fest, Vietnamese food booths are plentiful and popular. The annual winter Tet Festival in Village de L’est has always drawn crowds, but these days, it’s bursting at the seams, with some 30,000 attending over the three days that commemorate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. The festival is hosted by Mary Queen of Vietnam, a Catholic church that serves as the epicenter of the New Orleans East immigrant community.
As former French colonies, both New Orleans and Vietnam share a love of French breads, which inspire their most popular sandwiches, the New Orleans po’ boy and the Vietnamese banh mi. Peter Nguyen was an upstart cook when he converted his father’s convenience store in Metairie, a northwestern suburb, into Banh Mi Boys in 2015. Along with the traditional grilled shrimp banh mi, he offers garlic-butter shrimp banh mi—fried Gulf shrimp sauteed in a housemade Cajun garlic butter. So popular are Nguyen’s fusion and Viet-Cajun offerings, they caught the eye of Marcus Samuelsson, who featured Nguyen on his PBS show, No Passport Required.
“The growth of this business has been amazing, and we’re making progress,” says Nguyen, who now owns two New Orleans locations with others in Texas and South Carolina. “It’s exciting to have this concept—and have the older generation excited about it, too.”
Inside the Orleans Parish boundaries, additional modern-fusion options await at Mid-City’s Cafe Minh, known for its saffron-infused bouillabaisse. For a more traditional lunch, order a bowl of shrimp-dumpling soup at Lilly’s Cafe in the Lower Garden District, or the bun bo hue (beef noodle soup) at Tan Dinh in Gretna. And don’t miss Pho Tau Bay in the Central Business District, part of what was once a large chain of family-owned restaurants that originated in 1960s Saigon.
Photo by Kimberly Ha
Considering the Vietnamese community’s pervasive influence on the city, it’s fitting that New Orleans is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) with not one, but two cultural exhibitions. The Historic New Orleans Collection, located in the French Quarter, launched Making It Home: From Vietnam to New Orleans (through October 5), featuring interviews with Vietnamese elders about their difficult journeys to America. It also displays a recently acquired treasure trove of photos by Louisiana documentarian Mark J. Sindler that capture the first decade of resettlement.
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in the Warehouse Arts District takes a decidedly more contemporary approach with Hoa Tay (Flower Hands): Southern Artists of the Vietnamese Diaspora (through September 20), which showcases both established and emerging Vietnamese American artists. Among them is Kimberly Ha, who collaborated with fellow New Orleanian Nini Nguyen (a noted chef and author) on A Family Affair, which illustrates a game of “bầu cua cá cọp” (or “gourd crab fish tiger”), often played during the Lunar New Year. “For part of my life, there was a disconnect with my Vietnamese culture because my parents wanted me to adapt to American culture,” says 35-year-old Ha. “This was a way for me to pay my respects to my mother and my father. They gave me the resilience to be this person in this difficult field. It’s made me very proud and more connected about being Vietnamese.”
Three More Ethnic Enclaves to Explore
Kurdish
Nashville, Tennessee
Kurdish refugees from countries including Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey began calling Nashville home in the 1970s. Their population has ballooned to more than 15,000—the largest in North America. Head to South Nashville’s Little Kurdistan area and experience the vibrant community, stopping for freshly baked bread at Newroz Market and shawarma and sweet knafeh at Reebar. Don’t miss a meal of Mesopotamian-Mediterranean salads, meze, and kabobs at Edessa, included on the New York Times’ 2024 Best Restaurants list. The city has also unveiled a new historical marker near the Salahadeen Center (the local mosque and community hub), commemorating 50 years of Kurdish immigration to Nashville.
Japanese
Lexington, Kentucky
In 1988, Toyota opened its largest U.S. plant 10 miles north of Lexington, helping Japanese culture take root in the Bluegrass region. Today, enjoy top-notch Japanese restaurants such as Tachibana, Toku Revolving Sushi, Kyira Sushi, Uma Craft Ramen, and Standing Room Only, where patrons indulge in traditional Japanese snacks (think Japanese omelets and scallop carpaccio) while standing around the small open kitchen. Stop for a tasting at the Void, Kentucky’s first sake brewery, and check out Uma no Kokoro, an immersive exhibition at the Kentucky Horse Park exploring the deep cultural connection between Japan and its horses.
Greek
Tarpon Springs, Florida
Known as “the sponge capital of the world,” Tarpon Springs drew Greek sponge divers to its waters starting in 1905. Today, the Gulf coast community northwest of Tampa boasts the nation’s largest Greek population per capita. Discover the fascinating history of sponge diving aboard one of the original vessels with St. Nicholas Boat Tours, and explore a permanent exhibition dedicated to the local Greek community at the Tarpon Springs Heritage Museum. Hungry? Feast on traditional spreads and lamb chops at Hella (open since 1969) and just-off-the-boat Greek seafood at Dimitri’s on the Water, overlooking the Sponge Docks. Finally, say “opa!” as you sample locally made ouzo, an anise-flavored liquor central to Greek gastronomy, at Tarpon Springs Distillery.
This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Southbound.
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Brady Nash
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