On the Menu

Long recognized for traditional Southern cooking and comfort food, Atlanta is also becoming known for the wide variety of fine restaurants, neighborhood joints and ethnic eateries located throughout the city. For oh-so-Southern dishes like deep fried chicken and sweet fried corn, try Mary Mac's Tea Room, where you'll share the dining room with locals who've been eating there since 1945. The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead or Bacchanalia's four-course meals offer dining that is truly world-class. For a romantic evening, book dinner in The Abbey, a restored 1915 church; Anthony's, a 1797 antebellum plantation set in the city confines; or Canoe, situated on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.

To view the city skyline while savoring a meal, enjoy roof-top dining at the Sun Dial at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, Nikolai's Roof at the Atlanta Hilton or the Hyatt Regency's Polaris Room. If it's foreign fare you're after, sample Moroccan food at Imperial Fez; upscale Italian at the long-established La Grotta, located in the bottom of a Buckhead apartment building; or Tamarind for Thai cuisine. Fogo de Chao is the city's first Brazilian churrascaria; Kyma offers up the flavors of Greece; and a chanteuse sings with your supper at South of France.

To spot local celebrities, try the Buckhead Diner, but to see Hollywood stars you'll have to shell out the bucks at BluePointe. For a little out-of-the-ordinary ambience, check out 57th Fighter Group, a WWI-style restaurant next to Peachtree-DeKalb Airport; Café Tu Tu Tango, set in an artist's loft; or Agatha's A Taste of Mystery, where diners take part in a murder mystery during dinner.

Whether you're in the mood for an exquisite dinner or a dose of local culture, you can find your flavor in Atlanta's culinary scene. But those who know the city best direct visitors to The Varsity, the world's largest drive-in and, since 1928, the place with the best chilidogs and onion rings around.

The following brief list includes addresses and phone numbers for the restaurants we've mentioned as well as some of Atlanta's other well-known eating establishments. Be sure to call ahead to check times, make reservations where needed and confirm prices.

57th Fighter Group

Watch the planes take off as you dine in this nostalgic WWI setting next to Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.

3829 Clairmont Rd. (Decatur)
770/457-7277

The Abbey

The “monks” serve dinner in this restored 1915 church, and there's harp music, too.

163 Ponce de Leon Ave.
404/876-8532