Fast Facts

• More than 80 restaurants opened in Atlanta in 2015, the State of Georgia is home to 17,242 eating and drinking establishments and Atlanta is the 5 metropolitan area with the highest employment level in restaurant industry.

• In the past five years, Atlanta chefs have garnered 56 semifinalist nominations for James Beard Awards.

• James Beard Award semifinalists for 2016 include: Robert Alexander and Sarah O'Brien for Outstanding Baker; Kimiko Nishimura for Outstanding Pastry Chef, Ford Fry for Outstanding Restaurateur; Jarrett Stieber for Rising Star Chef; Billy Allin, Kevin Gillespie, Steven Satterfield and Ryan Smith for Best Chef Southeast.

• Lusca and Spice to Table were named among the “25 Most Outstanding Restaurants of 2015” by GQ Magazine.

• Atlanta hosts more than 20 food festivals annually including the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, Taste of Atlanta, Cabbagetown Chomp and Stomp and Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival, among many others.

Atlanta's Dining Scene Brings High-End Down-Home

Dining is one of the most popular pastimes for visitors to Atlanta. And it's no wonder why. Atlanta boasts nearly 500 Zagat-rated restaurants from upscale gourmet cuisine to progressive variations of Southern staples. In the past five years, 49 Atlanta chefs have been nominated as semifinalists for the James Beard Awards.

But Atlanta's dining story isn't just one of sheer numbers. What makes Atlanta's dining scene special is its accessibility. Atlanta restaurants aren't hoity-toity. Eateries opening in Atlanta cater to the neighborhood, providing a warm welcome and inviting ambiance to invoke the feeling of dining at a friend's house, rather than a restaurant. Even our most high-end restaurants dish out a down-home feel.

Atlanta's chefs incorporate fresh, local ingredients to serve up the best in New South cuisine with creative twists on grandma's traditional Southern meals. The pioneer of this trend, Jay Swift, works with nearby micro-farms and regional food purveyors for the menu at 4th & Swift. Dig into some chow chow at Empire State South, take a bite of the pickled vegetables at Miller Union and sample deviled eggs with country ham at JCT. Kitchen & Bar. USA Today voted South City Kitchen's fried chicken among the South's very best, though versions at the Shed at Glenwood and Watershed on Peachtree also rank highly among locals.

Epicurean Markets Incubate Local Talent

Atlanta's epicurean markets have a history of launching careers of local restauranteurs. Sweet Auburn Curb Market, Atlanta's oldest public market, gave a home to businesses like Grindhouse Killer Burgers and Bell Street Burritos before they grew to occupy their own storefronts. Today, new epicurean markets serve as a gathering place for locals and visitors, as an incubator for new purveyors and entrepreneurs, and as a showcase for established local chefs.

Prominently located along the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, Ponce City Market is a culinary mecca located between Atlanta's most popular in-town neighborhoods. The Central Food Hall includes stalls from some of Atlanta's popular James Beard Award-winning chefs, including Anne Quatrano and Linton Hopkins. Krog Street Market is housed in a 1920s warehouse in Inman Park with stalls that sell fresh meats, produce and prepared food alongside Southern-grown restaurants and retailers. Across the street, Irwin Street Market is a community of artisan food-based businesses under one roof.

Atlanta's Ale Trail

The entrepreneurial spirit of Atlantans has led to a recent surge in craft breweries. Atlanta's craft beer history dates back to 1993 when Atlanta Brewing Company (now Red Brick Brewing Co.) opened its doors. In 1997, Freddy Bensch and Kevin McNerny opened a West Coast-style brewery, SweetWater Brewing Company, Atlanta's largest craft brewery. Craft beers in Atlanta took off from there. 2014 was a record year for microbreweries with almost a dozen newcomers.

Atlanta's breweries form an unofficial “craft beer trail” starting on the Westside at Red Brick Brewing Co. Head south to Monday Night Brewing, born from a Monday night Bible study turned weeknight brewing club. Head east to SweetWater Brewing Company for a taste of the signature SweetWater 420, an Atlanta staple. The trail continues to new kid on the block, Orpheus Brewing, located near Piedmont Park in Midtown. Venture 12 minutes to Little Five Points to visit Wrecking Bar Brewpub, owned by a couple who gave up the corporate grind to pursue their dream of brewing. Heading further east on DeKalb Avenue, nearby Decatur is also home to Three Taverns Brewery, BlueTarp Brewing Co., and Wild Heaven Craft Brew.

Cocktails and (Friendly) Competition

Our local watering holes provide more than just a place to wet your whistle. Increasingly, establishments are popping up around Atlanta offering games like bowling, bocce ball, arcade games – and even ping pong. Test your bocce ball, backgammon, darts, pool and shuffleboard skills in the basement of Ormsby's, located on the Westside. Play board games with friends or “classic” video games and pinball machines at Joystick Gamebar on Edgewood Avenue. Down the street from Joystick, Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong (known simply by locals as “Church”) showcases the faux-religious pop art of Grant Henry and has quickly become a favorite stop for celebrities in town for filming. Stop by for ping pong, or don a choir robe for Church Organ karaoke. For a high-tech, modern game-bar experience, visit Game-X located in downtown Atlanta's Centennial Park District.

Old-School Southern Favorites

Guests to Atlanta often ask where to go for the best traditional down-home Southern cuisine. Established favorites among tourists and locals include institutions like Mary Mac's Tea Room, serving “classic Southern food in the heart of Atlanta” since 1945; and Pitty Pat's Porch, a downtown landmark named after Aunt Pittypat Hamilton from “Gone with the Wind.” For upscale Southern fare, venture to Paschal's and try the Paschal brothers' secret fried chicken recipe. The Varsity, the world's largest drive-in, offering “naked dogs walking," will forever remain an Atlanta staple.