The diversity of Atlanta restaurants reflects its many cultures and neighborhood vibes. Downtown Atlanta’s well-known favorites that serve up Southern-style cooking include Sylvia’s, the famous New York restaurant whose only other establishment is here in Atlanta. You also can stop by the Busy Bee Café, which serves up “beelicious” fried chicken smothered in rich gravy alongside fresh veggies like broccoli-cheese casserole and baby lima beans.
Paschal’s restaurant started off being known as a favorite for students of Atlanta’s historically black colleges and universities. The first Paschal’s location was not far from campus and was later sold to Clark Atlanta University and is now the Paschal Student Center. Currently, there is one location at the airport and a new downtown restaurant where breakfasts are the real deal — salmon croquettes, pork chops and fried chicken accompany sausage, pancakes and grits.
For neo-soul food try Justin’s.
This Atlanta restaurant, owned by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, has barbecue dishes like fork-tender ribs and Grandma Jesse’s chicken wings and house specialty martinis that are so good that a whole day is dedicated to them — Martini Mondays.
Gladys Knight and Ron Winans’ Chicken and Waffles is found in Midtown on Peachtree Street. Crisp, iron-baked waffles are served as a side with most main dishes on a musically themed menu that features fried-green tomatoes and sweet potato sticks, jumbo chicken wings, yams, chicken sausage and rice with homemade gravy, and desserts like sweet potato cheesecake and peach cobbler.
Live music is a mainstay at several Atlanta restaurants with live nightly jazz shows, including Dailey’s Restaurant & Bar downtown, where you can hear smooth sounds resonating from Dailey’s Downstairs — a full-service cigar and martini bar. Dessert here is legendary — guests are asked to peruse the dessert bar, where humongous portions of chocolate cakes, pecan pies and fruit tortes tempt you down the line. At Sambuca Jazz Café in Buckhead, top local and national acts perform everything from jazz art — on-stage painting inspired by music — to traditional, swing, modern, vocal and even Latin jazz. The audience dines at dimly lit tables on unique dishes like zebra pasta — pan-seared shrimp and scallops in a lobster cream sauce served inside a large pasta pita.
Take a peek into Moroccan life at the Imperial Fez, also found in Buckhead, where diners sit in a sea of deep, soothing pillows as they take in an atmosphere that includes belly dancers and the aroma of fragrant spices. The five-course, price-fixed dinner includes Moroccan soups and salads and a Cornish hen and red pepper appetizer, followed by lamb, beef, chicken and vegetarian entrees, dessert pastries and authentic mint tea.
Two new Atlanta Restaurants are creating a buzz around town. Twist Restaurant & Tapas Bar opened just days before the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta and instantly was held as the place to be for hosting celebrity parties thrown by the likes of Janet Jackson and Denzel Washington. The venue is the perfect place to grab a drink and nosh on the varied tapas such as tuna pizza and the “Super Models Three-Course Meal” — smoked salmon, saga blue cheese and a single chocolate truffle. The lunch and dinner menu includes a range of wraps and sandwiches as well as fresh sushi.
At Commune, housed on Midtown’s west side, a table for more than 20 people serves as the master centerpiece and is surrounded by smaller tables made from dark woods and lit with warm tones from overhead lamps. The point of the restaurant is to share with others, with the American fare including dishes like lamb sandwiches and chocolate bread pudding.
