See all Best of Atlanta 2019 winners
Photograph by Andrew Thomas Lee
Best New Restaurant: Lazy Betty
Chef Ron Hsu’s duality is what makes him and his food so dazzling. His technically precise style—perfected at New York’s three-Michelin-star Le Bernardin—and his witty distillation of his heritage, as the kid who grew up in his mother’s modest Chinese restaurant, have won over skeptics who couldn’t imagine fine-dining in funky Candler Park. With each dish that rotates through Lazy Betty’s two tasting menus (three if you count the vegetarian one), the presentations are exquisite (one dish looks like a miniature garden complete with layers of soil) and the flavors playfully sophisticated (see Hsu’s elevated take on steak and eggs, the latter represented by a yolk tucked inside a package of collard greens). Not since Staplehouse has Atlanta seen a restaurant that reaches this level of ambition coupled with casual panache. From the clever cocktails to the trompe l’oeil desserts—crafted in the shape of, say, a giant glistening cherry—every component glitters at Lazy Betty. That the restaurant is named for Hsu’s very un-lazy mother, who died several months after the restaurant opened, makes it even more special. This treasure is as much a fitting ode to her as it is a gift to Atlanta. 1530 DeKalb Avenue, 404-975-3692
Best New OTP Restaurant: The Select
From the outside, the Select might be mistaken for belonging to that breed of run-of-the-mill, upscale restaurants endemic to big-box suburbia. But the Select will quickly disabuse you of your preconceptions once you step inside. The space is impressively glamorous, with velvet drapery, bentwood chairs, globe-light chandeliers, and towering bookshelves flanking a marble statue. And lest you think that all this style overshadows the kitchen’s substance, we’ll have you know that the food tastes as good as the dining room looks. Yes, the menu feels like ones you’ve encountered elsewhere—golden beet salad with goat cheese, crab cake with grapefruit-yuzu butter, miso sea bass with bok choy and shiitake—but each dish gets a boost from the quality of both the presentation and the technique. If this is the new suburbia, sign us up. 6405 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs, 770-637-2240
Photograph by Alex Martinez
Best New Chef: Maricela Vega of 8Arm
A darling of Atlanta’s daring pop-up restaurant scene, Maricela Vega exited the underground for an executive chef gig in early 2019. Well, she sort of left the underground: She was tapped to lead the kitchen at 8Arm, which, in its three years of existence, has remained unconcerned with the rules most other restaurants follow. It’s no easy feat to reimagine an already nonconformist restaurant, but Vega—master of masa, crusader of food justice, and champion of the most micro of urban farms—created something both entirely new at 8Arm and something that still feels entirely 8Arm. Her food is free-form and joyful, mostly plant-based and riotously colorful, and mindful of her Mexican ancestry without being beholden to it. Each of the dozen or so plates on her ever-changing menu feels simultaneously ancient (given the timelessness of the flavors) and modern (in how uniquely cool it is). Vega is unorthodoxy at its best. 710 Ponce de Leon Avenue, 470-875-5856
Photograph by Matthew Palmerlee
Best Restaurant that Keeps Getting Better: Root Baking Co.
Husband and wife Chris Wilkins and Nicole Lewis-Wilkins relocated their star bakery from Charleston to Atlanta in 2018, and, by this point, you’ve probably seen their bread name-dropped on restaurant menus around town. But if you haven’t eaten at Root itself, on the delightfully quiet second floor of Ponce City Market, you are denying yourself one of the simplest yet most profoundly delicious meals in all of Atlanta. The lunch and dinner menu (Root also serves a superb breakfast) is little more than, say, a hummus plate, two salads, three sandwiches, and maybe a soup, but all of it is freakishly good. A sandwich of shaved, raw acorn squash, green olive and pumpkin-seed tapenade, pickled peppers, herbs, and cucumber-yogurt sauce on Root’s grit bread puts all other sandwiches in town to shame. On Fridays, Root fires up beatific pizzas such as one topped with ricotta, fromage blanc, English peas, asparagus, ramps, and pickled green garlic. 675 Ponce de Leon Avenue, 470-639-8046
Best All-Day Restaurant: Little Rey
The most recent addition to the Ford Fry empire is the most casual of his many restaurants—and the most useful. The well-oiled, Tex-Mex, counter-service joint opens at 8 a.m. every day to sling the city’s best breakfast tacos on homemade flour tortillas and perfect stacks of hotcakes. And it stays open through lunch and dinner, when you’ll find the house specialty: pollo al carbon, stuffed into tacos, mixed with rice, or served on a platter, chopped into glistening hunks and served with smoked onions and jalapeños, cilantro rice, and ranch beans. Not only is the former tattoo shop on the corner of Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge a stylish yet approachable addition to the neighborhood—it’s also a fun place to hang out over a grapefruit margarita or churro soft-serve. Or both. 1878 Piedmont Ave, 770-796-0207
Best Trip Back in Time: LLoyd’s
Ian Jones, the mastermind behind Victory Sandwich Bar, Little Trouble, and S.O.S. Tiki Bar, indulges his fantasy of an early-’80s dive bar at his newest venture. LLoyd’s (yes, both L’s are capitalized) serves all-you-can-eat mashed potatoes, steak and chicken dinners, and cheap cocktails in an offbeat, over-the-top retro space. The knotty pine–clad dining room and the Scene-O-Rama lighted-motion beer signs need a bit more aging, but grandpa and hipster alike will feel right at home with the food and the vibe. 900 DeKalb Avenue, 404-228-7227
Photograph by Martha Williams
Best Restaurant to Call Your Second Home: Redbird
The synergy between the infinitely hospitable restaurateur Ross Jones—who, along with the Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers, founded Watershed in 1998—and Zeb Stevenson, the chef who’d worked for Jones for four years when she and Saliers sold the restaurant in 2018, was undeniable. The question was: Could their synergy be replicated outside that iconic Southern restaurant? The answer, as proven by their new venture, Redbird, is a resounding yes. Jones and Stevenson have set up their new shop in a space unrecognizable as the former fine-dining beacon Bacchanalia, and here, the chef is freed from the constraints of Watershed’s legacy. The mood at Redbird is relaxed, the menu is in love with vegetables and simple ingredients, and the food is creative in the best seasonal way. It’s also the rare restaurant (see also: Miller Union) where the wine list matches the food in terms of originality and excellence. The only problem with the place is that you’ll never want to leave. 1198 Howell Mill Road, 404-900-5172
Best Neighborhood Experiment: Gato Nights
After years of turning over his Candler Park breakfast-and-lunch restaurant most nights to a variety of talented pop-up chefs making a name for themselves, Gato owner Nicholas Stinson has taken ownership of his own dinner service. Stinson’s Gato Nights explores the depth of Mesoamerican and regional Mexican cuisine four evenings a week, during which you’ll find in-house mole, freshly pressed tortillas, rare mezcal cocktails, and ravishing soups the likes of which you’ve never experienced before. It’s hard for Gato’s longtime clientele of Candler Park neighbors to share with outsiders a place that feels like home to them, but word has gotten out about Stinson’s passion and quirky hospitality. 1660 McLendon Avenue, 404-371-0889
Best Double Resurrection: B’s Cracklin’ at the New Kroger on Ponce
Since pitmaster extraordinaire Bryan Furman lost his acclaimed Riverside restaurant, B’s Cracklin’, to a fire earlier this year, his massive legion of fans has been eagerly awaiting news of his next act. That news came in September, when Furman announced on Instagram that he’d be setting up shop the following month in the new, BeltLine-adjacent Kroger on Ponce de Leon Avenue—the one taking the place of the demolished store formerly known as “Murder Kroger.” (Soon to be known as “Barbecue Kroger”?) Furman, who still plans to open a stand-alone shop near the old B’s in Riverside, smokes all meats on site, and you can eat at a small seating area or take food to go. B’s also offers refrigerated grab-and-go items if you want to reheat a meal at home. Yep, you can add the city’s best brisket to your grocery list. 725 Ponce de Leon Avenue, no phone
Best New Food Hall: Marietta Square Market
The idyllic Marietta Square gained an entire dining scene in one fell swoop when an 18,500-square-foot, 18-eatery, Krog Street Market–style food hall arrived in March 2019. Now, under one roof, you’ll find Cousins Maine Lobster rolls and Just Loaf’N po’boys, Grand Champion BBQ pulled pork and Momoiro Ramen tonkatsu, both a cold-pressed juice bar and a bubble-tea bar, as well as Indian, Thai, Cuban, and Mediterranean grub. Forno Vero, one of the food hall’s two flagship restaurants, is a Neapolitan-style pizzeria that slings perfectly charred pies. The other flagship, Street Taco, has a splendid patio at the base of a steep hill—atop which a freight train occasionally and charmingly lumbers. (The renowned restaurant Spring is just on the other side of the tracks.) Marietta Square Market’s handsome brick compound feels like a natural extension of the historic downtown it flanks—and its offerings usher in a new era for the ever-diversifying suburban city. 68 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta
Photograph by Darnell Wilburn
Best Viral Food Phenomenon: Slutty Vegan
The Westview brick-and-mortar outpost of Pinky Cole’s viral-sensation food truck serves cheekily named vegan burgers—hello, One Night Stand and Fussy Hussy—that have drawn hour-long lines and orgasmic reviews from celebrities like Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg. Most of the 10 burger and sandwich options on Slutty Vegan’s menu have an Impossible patty as their base, and they come with toppings such as vegan bacon, vegan cheese, vegan shrimp, and caramelized onions. (The $19 Ménage à Trois incorporates all of those.) Gloriously sloppy and convincingly meaty, Cole’s more straightforward offerings are nearly indistinguishable from the classic burgers you find at the best walk-up joints. And you’ll soon be able to get one of her burgers at Slutty Vegan’s second and third locations in Jonesboro and Old Fourth Ward (just don’t expect the lines to be any shorter). 1542 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, 678-732-3525
Best Intown Sichuan: Urban Wu
Up until recently, the metro area’s best Sichuan restaurants have been outside (or just barely inside) the Perimeter. But in the span of a year, two top-notch Sichuan restaurants have opened in town—and Urban Wu, in Buckhead’s Disco Kroger shopping center, gets the slight edge. Urban Wu’s chef trained under the influential and enigmatic Peter Chang, and Wu’s food is notable for the chef’s restrained yet masterful approach. The dry-fried eggplant is light and less oily than most, and the fish in red-hot chili oil is a showstopper, the broth teeming with cilantro, dried chilies, and Napa cabbage. If it’s heat you’re after, you’ll find it here—but the fieriness is more pleasant than punishing. 3330 Piedmont Road, 404-816-8008
Best Falafel stand: Falafel Nation
Located next door to its big-sister restaurant, the more ambitious Aziza, this minuscule outpost of Israeli cuisine is brilliantly focused. The limited, to-go–only, all-vegetarian menu offers just two sandwiches, two bowls, fries with harissa aioli, and a tahini chocolate-chip cookie. All of which serve as proof that offering just a few things done exceedingly well can be a winning formula. Tender, freshly baked pita cradles flawless falafel of an appetizing green hue or roasted eggplant, along with well-seasoned hummus, Israeli salad, and spot-on Middle Eastern condiments such as amba, harissa, tahini, and schug. The only thing wrong with Falafel Nation is that there’s just one of them; every neighborhood deserves falafel this good. 1170 Howell Mill Road, 470-355-9951
Photograph by Martha Williams
Best Soft-Serve: Big Softie
Vegans are apt to weep over Sarah O’Brien’s oat-milk soft-serve with a hard chocolate shell. And those who have no problem with dairy no doubt will swoon over the fresh, creamy, actual-milk variety—it’s better than any ice cream we’ve been able to find. Simple flavors range from chocolate, coffee, and vanilla to seasonal ones such as green tea and peach. The housemade waffle cones, the must-order strawberry hard shell (it actually tastes like fresh strawberries), and the buffet of unlimited toppings are pretty splendid, too, and the place—next door to and associated with Little Tart bakery—brings even more cool magic to Summerhill. 66 Georgia Avenue, no phone
Best New Vietnamese: Vietvana
One of the biggest surprises of 2019 was this modern-looking Vietnamese joint in Avondale Estates that offers unusually delicate pho swimming with housemade noodles and inexpensive banh mi with an impressive range of pork charcuterie—on housemade bread. The bright, comfortable, breezy dining room is a welcoming place to graze on papaya salad with pork, handmade tapioca noodle and seafood soup, and a rarely seen preparation of beef tendons with tomato. Bonus: The Vietnamese iced coffee isn’t too sweet, and the cocktail list includes a spicy sochu slushie. 2831 East College Avenue, Avondale Estates, 404-963-2757
Best Homestyle Persian: Taaj Kabob & Grill
This small Peachtree Corners restaurant with its own grocery store might not be as fancy as other Persian places, but that doesn’t make it inferior. Here, you’ll find the most luscious minced beef koobideh bedded on basmati-saffron rice, the tangiest smoked eggplant dip, and the most perfect sangak, a traditional, leavened flatbread with a rippled texture that’s hard to find around these parts. The sangak alone warrants a trip (just ask the shoppers at the restaurant’s adjacent market, many of whom made a special trip to buy it). Of course, you’ll be persuaded to stick around for kabobs spiced with sumac or slow-cooked herbal stews. 6835 Spalding Drive, Peachtree Corners, 770-559-8799
Photograph by Iain Bagwell
Best New Pizza: Nina & Rafi
We never thought we’d say it, but we’re totally fine with Anthony Spina’s decision not to bring his beloved grandma pie back to Atlanta. If he had, we might have overlooked his even-better Detroit-style pizza, which has rightly hogged the spotlight at Nina & Rafi from the moment the glam pizzeria opened in late 2018. Spina’s grandma pie gained a cult following at O4W Pizza, which had operated a mere block from where Nina & Rafi now sits and which Spina relocated to Duluth back in 2016. Grandma enthusiasts were wrecked about it. But then came the salvation: Thick as deep-dish but light as a cloud, with a raised lip of burnt cheese along the perimeter, the Detroit pie made everything okay. Spina, don’t you dare think about taking this pizza away from us. Unless, of course, you have yet another miracle pie up your sleeve. 661 Auburn Avenue, 404-549-8997
Best New Eritrean/Ethiopian: Feedel Bistro
The biggest difference between this newish Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurant and most of its older competition (including Desta right across the street) is the modern, attractive decor and the attentive service. The convivial atmosphere reinforces the extraordinary quality of the food. The owners relocated from Washington D.C., which is home to arguably the best cluster of Ethiopian restaurants in the nation. Their eye for refined presentation shows in dishes such as kitfo (Ethiopian steak tartare with homemade crumbled cottage cheese), Mom’s Special Gomen (collard greens and cubed lamb), and the occasional doro wet (chicken and egg stewed in hot sauce). As for Feedel’s distinctive injera, the spongy, pancake-like bread used for scooping up the food, it’s made almost entirely with teff, an ancient, ultrafine grain with a more assertive, sour flavor and a darker, more appetizing color. 3125 Briarcliff Road, 404-963-2905
Best Afghan Rice Dishes: Ariana
The rugged qualities of Afghan cuisine—dominated by meat, rice, and bread—are deliciously evident at this simple, hospitable kabob house in far suburbia. The thoughtful staff makes sure you understand their beloved foodways, but you’ll need little convincing. The raisin-flecked rice pilaf is beautifully seasoned, the charred kabobs are fragrant with smoke, and the bone-in lamb shank and tandoori chicken are hulking. And you’ll have to fight the urge to smuggle out some of the large rounds of naan-like bread. 2870 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Duluth, 470-292-3774
Photograph courtesy of Pancake Social
Best Pancakes: Pancake Social
The brainchild of a supergroup of food-world stars that includes Anne Quatrano (Bacchanalia), Tony Riffel (Octane), Dan Jacobson (Chick-fil-A), and Steven Chan (Tin Drum), Pancake Social slings bougie brunch not just on the weekends but every day—and until 9 p.m. on Saturdays. And it treats pancakes with the panache and reverence they’ve long deserved. The menu features six types of them, crafted from, say, buckwheat or gluten-free ancient grain. The buttermilk pancakes are as good as they must be for a place that has “pancake” in its name; they’re fluffy and just sweet enough to keep from being cloying once dressed with syrup. The kitchen keeps said syrup hot in an electric warmer on the pass, ready to be poured into a ramekin. It’s a nice touch. 675 Ponce de Leon Avenue, 678-609-8696
Best Bagels: B-Side Cafe
This adorable spot from Terry Koval and George Frangos—right next door to their ambitious if a bit uneven new restaurant, the Deer and the Dove—is the best under-the-radar bagel spot to open in years. The bagels are baked in a wood oven and have the perfect amount of chew and tug, comparing favorably to New York– or Montreal-style bagels. Go full-on classic with plain cream cheese or all out with either smoked salmon or a smoked trout schmear, and go early—B-Side has been known to sell out of bagels, especially on the weekend. 155 Sycamore Street, Decatur, 404-748-4617
Best Dim Sum: Royal China
It used to be that you had to drive to Royal China in Chamblee for some of the best dim sum in town. The bad news (if you’re an intowner): You now have to drive to Duluth, where Royal China relocated. The good news: The dazzling new digs and better-than-ever dishes make this the very best dim sum in the metro area, hands down. Under soaring ceilings where chandeliers in the shape of giant flowers twinkle, the shrimp dumplings are more plump, the clams in black bean sauce more luxurious, the congee more comforting. Get here early on the weekends; the wait can reach upward to an hour. 3960 Venture Drive, Duluth, 770-216-9933
Photograph by Martha Williams
Best New ’Cue: Wood’s Chapel BBQ
At Wood’s Chapel, chef Todd Ginsberg does for the barbecue restaurant what he did at the General Muir for the Jewish deli: reinvents and expands the genre while paying proper homage to it. From the wood-smoked meats to the creative sides to the homemade pies, each all-American detail is smartly updated without losing sight of the beauty of the original. And as the centerpiece restaurant in the redevelopment of Summerhill’s historic Georgia Avenue, Wood’s Chapel is helping reinvent and expand its neighborhood, too. 85 Georgia Avenue, 404-522-3000
Best New Japanese: Chirori
Takashi Otsuka, the owner of Wagaya in Midtown and Emory Village, took over the former Better Half space on 14th Street and has turned it into an elegant, Tokyo-style restaurant specializing in robata, a traditional and minimalist Japanese style of cooking in which high-quality proteins (typically seafood) and vegetables are cooked over a charcoal grill. There is much more to the menu than robata, however, including one of the city’s most impressive sake offerings, listed alongside the dishes that each sake best accompanies. The robata section of the menu includes an oversized, meticulously sliced, teriyaki-glazed squid and a live lobster coated in shiso chimichurri; elsewhere, you’ll find a scallop risotto dish in which the whole, live bivalve is presented alongside rice, butter, soy sauce, Parmesan, and a quail egg. Some of the dishes are presented in round bamboo baskets to be simply cooked to order on a miniature charcoal grill delivered on a platter. This is a simply beautiful way to eat (and drink). 349 14th Street, 470-427-3171
Photograph by Cori Carter
Best Intown Mexican: El Tesoro
In a dusty gravel lot in Edgewood, across from a members-only biker bar and behind Rudy’s Auto & Collision, you’ll find a homey, cinder-block structure whose kitchen slings outrageously delicious tacos, burritos, and tamales, among a few other dishes (including breakfast ones) from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. “El Tesoro” means “the treasure,” and partners Alan Raines, of the late Iris and Cantina La Casita in East Atlanta Village, and Darryl Howard have found one in Cristina Lugo Soto, a home cook from the Mexican coastal state of Guerrero who helms the kitchen with her daughter, Mayra. Fortunately for the patrons standing in a line that extends out the door, the tiny restaurant is growing and now offers covered outdoor seating; beer, Bloody Marys, and margaritas; and, soon (but not soon enough), dinner hours. We’ll be the first in line. 1374 Arkwright Place, 470-440-5502
Best Reboot: Gu’s Kitchen
In 2015, chef Yiquan Gu decided to downsize. He shut down his beloved Buford Highway Sichuan restaurant and opened a small dumpling house in Krog Street Market. But Gu missed cooking a wide array of traditional Sichuan food. He and his family returned to BuHi in late 2018 and brought back classic versions of his sorely missed, spicy dishes in a sleek, Instagrammable space. The balance of new and the old (not to mention the tea-smoked duck and smoked pork tongue) has delighted both his longtime clientele and his new fans. Gu’s now-growing empire includes a second dumpling spot in Forsyth County’s new Halcyon Center. Downsizing be damned. 4897 Buford Highway, Chamblee, 470-299-2388
Best New Cocktails: Aziza
Although one could wax poetic about Aziza’s braised lamb shank with pomegranate, its prawns over falafel toast, and its homemade breads (both a Jerusalem bagel and a kubaneh, a pull-apart yeast roll), it’s the cocktails that, for us, sealed the deal. Consider the Levant Cooler drink, a mix of vodka, Amaro CioCiaro, tamarind, sumac, lemon, pink peppercorn, and anisette that delivers tingling little waves of tang, bitterness, and sweetness. Or the Fields of Flora—boozy with pisco and brandy; puckery with lemon, lime, and orange; fragrant with orange flower and rose; and silky-smooth with yogurt (yes, yogurt). The restaurant’s bar may be small, but it’s backed by a picture window that gives the illusion of space and is bathed in romantic, dappled light from the ceramic pendants hanging above. These cocktails are a necessary prelude to a meal in the dining room or a night out in the surrounding Westside Provisions compound. 1170 Howell Mill Road, 404-968-9437
Photograph by Cori Carter
Best Secret Bar: Cardinal
With a bodega-style grocery in front and an entrance that feels like a mysterious corridor to another (gentler and kinder) dimension, Holli Medley and Kathryn DiMenichi’s one-of-a-kind Grant Park bar is a free-spirited place. Low-ABV cocktails, sherry and vermouth bottle service, and a drink boosted with CBD oil are perfectly suited to the intimate space, romantically illuminated by vintage fixtures the owners have collected. Before your visit, be sure to cast aside preconceived notions of what a bar should be—and be sure to consult your lunar calendar. The bar is closed when there’s a full moon. 1039 Grant Street, no phone
Best pop-ups
Ębí Chop
Former Lazy Betty chef de partie Cleophus “Chef Ophus” Hethington has launched an ambitious pop-up within the fine-dining, prix-fixe spot where he once worked. Hethington’s three-year-old Ębí Chop Bar, which he hosted in Miami before moving to Atlanta in 2019, skillfully interprets the cuisine of the African diaspora and of Hethington’s Senegalese and Cameroonian heritage. You’ll find dishes such as a Ghanaian king crab with turmeric sabayon, tamarind, and plantain; Trinidadian doubles (with chickpeas, coconut, and green mango); and Southern-style duck ham and cornbread with pickled green apples, sorrel, celery, and Robiola cheese.
Photograph by Wedig + Laxton
Kamayan ATL
Through her wildly successful pop-up, chef Mia Orino has brought Filipino food to the masses with a huge smile and abundant warmth. Orino serves a traditional, obsessively homemade (down to the coconut milk), and kaleidoscopic Kamayan feast, presented on banana leaves and meant to be eaten by hand. And she’s chosen increasingly cool venues to host her events, such as a historic and abandoned Pratt-Pullman Yard building and the Hotel Clermont’s roof. Orino also has her sights on a brick-and-mortar restaurant, which means you’ll be able to get her crunchy lechon, pancit noodles, and whole fried fish on the regular.
Readers’ Choice
Best restaurant
Gunshow
Best new restaurant
Lazy Betty
Best OTP restaurant
Rumi’s Kitchen
Best affordable restaurant
Taqueria del Sol
Best restaurant for a splurge
Staplehouse
Best brunch spot
Home Grown
Best chef
Kevin Gillespie
Best bar
Ticonderoga Club
Best bartender
Mercedes O’Brien
Best cocktails
Kimball House
Best local brewery
Monday Night Brewing
Best locally brewed beer
Tropicália – Creature Comforts
Best wine shop
Hop City Craft Beer & Wine
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