Best New Restaurant

In a recently restored, periwinkle-painted edifice on Memorial Drive in Cabbagetown sits PETIT CHOU, a French-meets-Southern café that backs up its cozy ambiance with a serious commitment to local sourcing and a deeply felt mutual respect between management, staff and customers. Chef Diana Presson Eller has called it her “little idealistic, egalitarian-dream, feminist anarcafé” and serves up an array of sandwiches, salads and house-made craft sodas with ingredients like hyssop and cardamom. At breakfast, there are hearty grit bowls, avocado toast and Croque Monsieurs, and the chicken liver mousse — available any time of day and served with house preserves, toast and seasonal produce — is a must-order. Currently open only for breakfast and lunch, Petit Chou will eventually expand to dinner hours with a full bar program. 662 Memorial Drive S.E. 470-270-8996. www.petitchouatl.com less...

In burgeoning Chamblee, HOPSTIX brewer and owner Andy Tan has blessed us with a concept both inventive and unprecedented. His Asian fusion brewpub, with its wood-laced, rustic chic interior, boasts a tap list of Georgia craft breweries alongside an array of consistently solid IPAs, wheat beers, porters and pilsners that Tan brews onsite. But it’s the food that separates Hopstix from the rest of Atlanta’s many breweries, thanks to executive chef Dony Raymond. An exposed kitchen showcases professionally garbed cooks filleting five-foot-long cuts of tuna, robata-grilling numerous satay variations, plating fried rice topped with Alaskan king crab and rolling fresh sushi to pair with the brewpub’s impressive array of suds. 3404 Pierce Drive N.E., Chamblee. 678-888-2306. www.hopstixbrewing.com.

photo by: Joeff Davis

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Few restaurants have wooed Atlanta diners as swiftly as Inman Park’s BREAD & BUTTERFLY. The French-inspired eatery from Billy and Kristin Allin has infused the neighborhood with a lovely bit of Parisian charm. The restaurant serves everything from breakfast to lunch to snacks to dinner. Seemingly simple dishes such as pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and butter and a French-style omelet served with a vinegary simple salad are transformed into mouthwatering, soul-satisfying treats. A towering burger layered with caramelized onion, Swiss cheese, mayo, and grain mustard on a buttery brioche bun is gooey, tender, and tangy in all the right ways. And don’t miss the drool-worthy display of croissants, cookies, cakes, bread, and more from sister bakery Proof Bakeshop that bedeck the restaurant’s pastry case. A short but strong wine list curated by Cakes & Ale veteran Jordan Smelt and a classic, well-executed cocktail program round out Bread & Butterfly’s impressive offerings.  less...

When we heard that the folks from West Egg and Bocado’s then-chef Todd Ginsberg were teaming up to open the General Muir, a tribute to a classic New York deli, we knew to expect some serious pastrami and matzoh ball soup. But no one anticipated such exotic dishes as the breakfast laffa (Israeli flat bread) stuffed with stewed lentils, charred eggplant, and a thick spread of spicy harissa. Or that the cortados would be so damn bold. Or that the poutine would turn out to be the best combination of fried potato, pastrami, gooey cheese, and meaty gravy this city has ever seen. This newcomer is still evolving, but there’s a long list of things it does as well as - or better than - anyone in town, including the burgers, espresso, cheesecake, bagels, lox, sticky buns ... Shall we go on? Because we certainly can. less...

We were slightly aghast when we learned that Cakes & Ale was moving from its original storefront location on West Ponce de Leon Avenue in downtown Decatur to a newly renovated spot on the square. But as it turns out, the new, airier space has actually made one of our favorite restaurants even more welcoming. In fact, the addition of a bakery next door, plus the brilliant move of bringing former Dynamic Dish owner David Sweeney on as master of lunch, has heightened C&A’s offerings significantly. Remember those brilliant Dynamic Dish sandwiches and quinoa salads? They’re baaack. In the dining room, chef Billy Allin continues his legacy of melding simplicity and creativity. A recent playful take on tuna salad was a study in textural contrasts, pairing meaty cured tuna with soft potatoes, waxy pole beans and the snap of cooling cucumber. Cocktails come in the coolest vintage glassware around, and the wine list is both ambitious and affordable, with many selections available by the glass, carafe and bottle. Cakes & Ale 2.0 lives up to and surpasses its predecessor, much to our relief and delight. 155 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-377-7994. cakesandalerestaurant.com. less...

Which restaurant has changed the face of Atlanta dining the most since opening in the past year? The restaurant that finally brought us world-class pizza. ANTICO PIZZA NAPOLETANA had more of an impact on the deliciousness of our city than all the New Southern, farm-to-table places combined. There’s no one thing that explains why Antico is so great, but there are plenty of things worth mentioning: the ovens and flour and tomatoes and workers imported from Italy; the blaring opera music; the convivial seating arrangements, where you might have to eat beside strangers at a metal table in the kitchen. But oh, when those pizzas arrive with their hot, crusty, thin, perfectly balanced crusts, and their tangy, sweet tomato sauce, that’s when Antico becomes akin to a religious experience. It’s the church of pizza. Consider us converted. 1093 Hemphill Ave. 404-724-2333. www.anticopizza.it. less...

Nothing in Atlanta restaurants has come along in the past year that’s made us as excited as chef Bruce Logue’s cooking at LA PIETRA CUCINA. From the dreamy pillows of house-made ricotta that accompany the Procuitto de Parma and pineapple mostarda to the outrageous black spaghetti with hot caladrese sausage and rock shrimp to perfect wood-roasted fish, Logue’s bold vision of Italian is as thrilling as any genre of food happening in any restaurant in the city. 1545 Peachtree St. 404-888-8709. www.lapietracucina.com. less...