How Truth Be Told Is Bringing Refined Dining and Adventurous Cocktails to Roswell
On Canton Street, Jonathan Yu and chef Matt Marcus take farm-to-table dining and cocktails to a new level
At first glance, the century-old home that houses Truth Be Told looks quintessentially Roswell: charming, historic, and Southern. Inside, however, the mood shifts. Backlit arches glow behind the bar, sculptural seating and modern artwork punctuate the dining room, and a mural stretches across the lounge’s black walls. It’s a setting befitting co-owner Jonathan Yu and chef Matt Marcus, whose restaurant stands apart from Roswell’s usual rustic institutions with a style that feels polished but approachable.
Yu, who grew up in Roswell, discovered a passion for wine while studying abroad in Italy during college. A career in wine and spirits distribution followed, exposing him to ambitious cocktail bars around the country and inspiring him to bring that energy back home. “I wanted to push the envelope,” he says. Alongside his father, Albert, Yu purchased the former Rice Thai Cuisine space and transformed it with the help of design firm Linen & Flax Co. and with artwork from his brother, Cameron.
He wanted to give Roswell a taste of those cocktails he grew to love. At Truth Be Told, Yu works with beverage manager Jable Alley to concoct drinks like the Infinite Lies, which reimagines a Last Word with Boomsma liqueur, maraschino liqueur, and rotating seasonal spirits. He’s also eager to spotlight lesser-known bottles, including Chinese baijiu, a liquor made from sorghum, and Filipino gins. “I’ve told my distributors to bring me the strangest things they can find,” says Yu.
Marcus initially joined the project as a consultant before stepping in as executive chef. He agreed on one condition: The restaurant had to meet his standards for sourcing. “One of the discussions I had with Jonathan right off the rip was utilizing a farm we have in Buchanan and creating a closed-circle kitchen,” says Marcus. In practice, that means building close relationships with farmers and suppliers rather than relying on large distributors.
The menu follows the lead of the farm and its purveyors. Produce appears everywhere, from the cocktails to the daily house-baked bread—even the soaps and air fresheners in the bathrooms are made with the farm’s botanicals. Guests who order the tasting menu receive whimsical bites like crudités made with freshly harvested miniature vegetables or an edible “egg” with a shell crafted from mannitol and filled with blueberry ganache.
Still, some of the restaurant’s biggest hits riff on familiar comforts. The off-menu Ripper in a Tux takes a fried hot dog and tops it with house-made Cheez Whiz, sautéed onions, truffles, and caviar. “It creates this incredible elevated version of the classic hot dog, which I absolutely love,” says Yu.
That balance of nostalgia and elevation is what Marcus hopes guests take away from their experience at Truth Be Told. “At some point, someone has a memory or a Ratatouille moment,” he says. “Where they’re either crying or clapping, or it’s just an emotional response at the table.” tbtlounge.com