Welcome to The Regulars, where we explore what it means to be a frequent restaurant patron. In this series, we’ll introduce you to everyday Atlantans and colorful local characters who have found a sense of belonging and community at restaurants and bars around town and what keeps these regulars coming back for more week after week.
Four shots of espresso.
That’s Atlanta author Gil Frank’s go-to coffee order at Le Bon Nosh in Buckhead. He’s been a near-daily customer at the French-style bistro and wine bar since it opened on Irby Avenue in 2021.
A native of France and retired nonprofit executive who also co-founded Historic Westside Gardens, Frank turned to writing to process losing his wife to breast cancer in 2020. After attending a virtual writing workshop with grief expert David Kessler just a few months after his wife’s death, Frank realized he had an actual story to tell.
It became Frank’s first book, a 200-plus page semi-biographical memoir about he and his wife that he began writing in his 70s. Frank published “Yocheved: The Friend of My Mind” in 2023.
The book is told in two parts. The first half chronicles Yocheved’s childhood in Jamaica, adolescence in Europe, marriage to Frank, and illness, including excerpts from her cancer journal and personal poems and letters. The second part of Frank’s book explores the ups and downs of the couple’s two-decade relationship, immigration to Atlanta from Israel, and his experiences with caregiving, grief, and loss.
While working for three to six hours at a time from his usual small corner table in the light-filled Buckhead bistro, Frank slowly drafted the words, always with pen and paper before transferring them to his laptop. He wrote the book in English, but it’s also available in French.
Frank even met his editor, former barista Sika Noxolo, at Le Bon Nosh.
“English is my third language, and I write in a way that is different from many people,” explained Frank about his lyrical narrative style, influenced by his philosophy studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, classic French literature, and American authors Toni Morrison and Philip Roth.
“We just connected, and Sika was very receptive to my ideas,” he said of his working relationship with Noxolo, a first-time editor and full-time social media and marketing strategist. Frank often shared snippets of his work with other Le Bon Nosh staff members, including head barista Alacey Monoconduit.
“I first met Gil soon after we opened our doors at Le Bon Nosh in November 2021,” she recalled. “He was one of our first regulars. He was always warm and friendly.”
She first noticed the French-born Frank because of his daily uniform – all-black clothing with a black beret.
“His order struck me as very European since Americans rarely order espresso straight up,” she said of his usual coffee order, sometimes accompanied by a pastry to celebrate completing a chapter or round of edits. His favorite pastries? A financier and a traditional French croissant.
Frank might never have stumbled into Le Bon Nosh if it weren’t for a chance encounter with fellow community organizer and owner Forough Vakili’s husband, Ramtin. They bumped into each other in the Whole Foods parking lot just around the corner from Le Bon Nosh.
“He said they were working on opening a cafe and restaurant, and I decided to check it out one day after my shopping,” he recalled.
Frank immediately fell in love with the restaurant’s high ceilings, friendly baristas, and excellent coffee and started coming on weekday mornings to write. Last July, he held his book launch at Le Bon Nosh, with 10% of book proceeds benefitting the annual Thanksgiving meal he organizes with activist Precious Mohammed for neighbors in the Vine City and English Avenue communities – all in memory of his late wife.
Frank says Le Bon Nosh provided him with a much-needed sense of community and companionship following her death.
“In 2022, I went to Israel and France for two months, and when I returned, people [at the restaurant] asked me where I had been and said they were worried and missed me,” he said. “It’s a place that invites people to communicate and be open with each other.”
Le Bon Nosh owner and chef Forough Vakili says she intended to create a community around the restaurant. It’s open all day for pastries and coffee and French-influenced dishes like jambon beurre, beef tartare, and confit duck leg.
“To walk in here and see all of these regulars like Gil and have conversations with them, it gives you that extended sense of family that is often missing in our lives,” Vakili said.
Currently writing his second book – this time a novel – Frank shares Vakili’s sentiments about the restaurant in the forward to “Yocheved: The Friend of My Mind”:
“The Café that welcomed me – Le Bon Nosh, where Alacey, Amber, Cullen, Pope, Johanna, and Forough Vakili and all her staff watched me write and with whom conversations allowed me to pause and recharge.”
Want to nominate a restaurant regular for an upcoming story? Send your nomination with a brief description to beth@roughdraftatlanta.com.
