Restaurants offer tastings to the crowd at the “Food That Rocks” festival on June 8 at City Springs.

The fourth annual “Food That Rocks” festival drew a crowd to City Springs to taste food from over 20 local restaurants June 8.

The festival benefited three charity organizations: the Community Assistant Center, which works to prevent homelessness and hunger in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody; Ian’s Friends Foundation, which funds pediatric brain tumor research; and Second Helpings Atlanta, which rescues extra food to deliver to those in need and reduce food waste.

Participating restaurants included il Giallo, Breadwinner Café, Henri’s Bakery, Bishoku, Battle & Brew and Hearth Pizza Tavern, among several others. Flower Child and The Select, which both recently opened in City Springs, also participated.

This was the festival’s second year at City Springs, the new civic and arts complex that opened in 2018.

Photos by Phil Mosier.

Bishoku owner and chef Jackie Fukuya Merkel makes sushi rolls by hand to give out at the festival.
Community Assistance Center Executive Director Tamara Carrera, right, tastes a sample at Food That Rocks with her husband Carlos Diaz, left. Part of the festival proceeds benefited the CAC.
Morgan Billman, right, and Zach Selman, left, of Flower Child, one of the restaurants in City Springs, serve vegetarian food.
Rashema Guthrie, left, and Suong Nguyen, right, play a jumbling tower game after volunteering to help set up the festival earlier in the day.
“The Biffs” provide musical entertainment on stage at the festival.