Buford Highway, illustrated

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Here in Atlanta, his travels often take him up and down Buford Highway, slurping noodles and sketching empanadas. One of his latest projects is an illustrated print of Buford Highway eats, celebrating how lucky we are to have such an array of seemingly endless choices on one stretch of road. We sat down with Lowery to talk about his hobby turned full-time job, his family, and his favorite Buford Highway eats. He shared his answers not just in words, but also with a few more of his signature illustrations.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a freelance illustrator that primarily works on books for kids. My wife Katrin is also a freelance illustrator, and we work in a shared home studio. It’s one of the reasons we’ve tried so many restaurants here in town, because we pack up our drawing stuff and try and find new places to sit and draw a lot for a change in scenery. We also travel out of the country a lot, partially because her family lives in Germany, but also because it’s really important for both of us to get out and see new places. We both carry sketchbooks when we travel, and we try and set aside at least an hour a day even when we are on vacation to sit and draw or work out ideas for book projects.

No value assignedHow did this particular print come about?

At some point, my wife and I have must have unofficially made it a goal to try every restaurant on Buford Highway. So, we’ve been making our way up and down it for the past few years. My daughter (she’s nine) reluctantly puts up with it. 

Last year when our art space in Candler Park, Paper Ghost Studio, did a show all about Atlanta, I decided to do a print that celebrated one of my favorite things about our little town: Buford Highway. For weeks we ramped up our visits to new spots, and I carried a sketchbook with me to draw different foods, sauces, and other bits about our visits. It was the by far the most I’ve enjoyed the research part of any project I’ve worked on. 

Are the illustrations from actual meals you’ve eaten on Buford Highway?

Yes, though some of the dishes I had to go slightly off Buford Highway to get. And my favorite Indian places are definitely in North Decatur, in the Patel Brothers region of Atlanta. Honestly, I could do another print just on that one little section of town. We live over in that area and the Indian and Pakistani places were a big draw for us.

What are some of your favorite BuHi spots to eat? 

No value assignedThis was tough. It really depends on what we are in the mood for, but here goes:

Scrambled egg bahn mi with extra mayo at Lee’s Bakery. Lee’s is a great place to take friends to try bahn mi or pho for the first time (some die-hards have moved on for this reason), but it’s still one of our go-to spots. Chef Liu’s is known for their soup dumplings, which are fine, but we go for the eggplant with garlic sauce and hot and sour soup. And okay, we get soup dumplings, too. Tortas from La Pastorcita and tacos from El Rey Del Taco or El Taco Veloz.

Shoya Izakaya is a little off of Buford Highway, but I had to list it because we go here a lot. The menu is extensive, ranging from sushi to ramen to okonomiyaki. And, of course, izakaya. Stone Bowl (Woo Nam Jeong) for dolsot bibimbap and banchan. Chong Qing hot pot in the China Town food court makes incredible dan dan noodles, but we have been making our way through their menu and have really liked all of it. Nam Phuong for lemongrass chicken. Pho 24 is a regular spot for us because we have at least one night a week where we wrap up work for the day only to realize it’s 12:30 a.m. and we are starving.

For dessert, Paris Baguette is where we go instead of Sweet Hut. And we get “roll up” ice cream (or whatever it’s called) at I-CE NY. I think this place is newer, and it’s doing the same thing as 8 Fahrenheit, but it’s way less crowded and I like it better. We get the strawberry shortcake.

And when we don’t have the kid, we are suckers for dive bars. So, for something completely different we go to the Rusty Nail, which isn’t really what people think of when they think of Buford Highway. 

What materials did you use for your sketches?

This print was drawn with pencil in a little sketchbook that I carry with me when we go out or travel or whatever. I scanned in those drawings and colored the print in Photoshop.

No value assignedWhat’s going on in your drawing world right now? 

My latest series is sort of a mad libs meets choose your own adventure type of book but where you draw in the book to finish the story. It’s called Doodle Adventures, and the most recent book in the series is about a pirate who has been stealing all of the pizza in town. It’s a work of fiction, in case you were concerned. I’m also finishing up a book of random illustrated facts with the clever title: Random Illustrated Facts.

Mike Lowery’s print is available at Paper Ghost Studio at 1393 McLendon Ave. N.E. or online here for $25. www.paperghoststudio.com.