Oral Pleasures

There will come a day when what’s trendy now will be thought of as timeless. Timeless plasma-screen TVs. Timeless minimalist, throbbing music. Timeless stick-thin waitresses in teeny-tiny uniforms that wouldn’t pass dress code at most high schools.

OK, perhaps some of what’s trendy now will just one day become passé. But you can bet Atlanta’s restaurant scene will have moved on, and in the blink of an eye whatever is trendy in the future will be exactly what the city’s eateries are offering up.

Atlanta is a city of history and a city obsessed with trends. While Atlanta’s restaurants strive to become ever more modern and to-the-moment, they’re also embracing their Southern roots. And beyond barbecue and soul food, we’re a city with restaurants that embody the classic dining experience, from outstanding service to perfectionism in the kitchen.

In this year’s Oral Pleasures, we look at the trendy and the timeless and celebrate both. And for once, we celebrate where they meet in the middle — check out this year’s Best Trend winner to see a perfect example of the past and present colliding in the most pleasing fashion.

As always, we are exceedingly proud to live in a city with such a varied and exuberant dining scene. So whether you’re a trendsetter or a classicist, there’s plenty here to tempt your palate.

— Besha Rodell