This is the first year we've named a Restaurant of the Year. HOLEMAN AND FINCH prompted us to add the category. The Buckhead gastropub represents a new way of dining, where passion and fun collide, where the old-fashioned mode of dining (appetizer, entree, dessert) is obsolete, where bartenders and chefs make the rules, and the customers gleefully follow along. And because it was such an obvious choice for so many of our Best of Atlanta picks, we decided to roll Holeman and Finch into this umbrella award. We'd certainly have picked it for Best New Restaurant. It also takes the award for Best Burger – the off-menu burger served after 10 p.m. is a masterful example of how to do an American classic right – no gourmet bells and whistles, just sloppy deliciousness. And Greg Best absolutely deserves the award for Best Mixologist, bringing his chemistry-geek mind to the task of getting us liquored up, with winning results. Holeman and Finch represents what's great about dining in Atlanta in 2008. less...

The flagship restaurant of Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison still delivers like nowhere else in town. BACCHANALIA serves pristine ingredients, many of them from Quatrano's and Harrison's own farm, cooked with a precision that's breathtaking. Vegetables are coaxed to a platonic ideal of texture and flavor. Meats and fish are coddled and fussed over. A crab cake in citrus broth is so light and fluffy it almost floats off the plate, but is grounded by the high, pure notes of orange and lime. Service is crisp, confident and totally flawless. All of this comes together in one of the most understatedly elegant rooms in the city – who knew there was such a thing as industrial opulence? Bacchanalia is the shining star in the night sky of Atlanta's dining scene. less...

The best place in the city for a fine upscale meal is THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ-CARLTON BUCKHEAD. From the flawless service to chef Arnaud Berthelier’s inspired menu, which successfully blends luxury ingredients with modern technique, the restaurant has found a formula that makes for the meal of a lifetime. Apart from the world-class cooking, highlights include the best cheese cart in town and a fabulous wine list that is 600 bottles strong. There’s only one restaurant in Atlanta that could compete head-to-head with the best establishments in New York and Paris, and this is it. less...

3434 Peachtree Road 404-240-7035 http://www.ritzcarlton.com The best place in the city for a fine upscale meal is THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ-CARLTON BUCKHEAD. From the flawless service to chef Arnaud Berthelier's inspired menu, which successfully blends luxury ingredients with modern technique, the restaurant has found a formula that makes for the meal of a lifetime. Apart from the world-class cooking, highlights include the best cheese cart in town and a fabulous wine list that is 600 bottles strong. There's only one restaurant in Atlanta that could compete head-to-head with the best establishments in New York and Paris, and this is it. less...

BACCHANALIA continues to bedazzle as the consummate Atlanta fine dining destination. This town digs a little industrial grit with its foie gras terrine, so we love that Bacchanalia’s regal setting has its roots in a meatpacking plant. A savvy window separates the subtly elegant room from the bustling kitchen, allowing us to satisfy our voyeuristic urges without shattering our eardrums. But it’s Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano’s accessibly seasonal food that really makes us yearn for a special occasion to celebrate. Sure, you can choose superlative signatures (blue crab fritter, poached chicken with summer truffles) from the oft-changing prix-fixe menu, but choose a dish like sweetbreads or celery-anchovy salad to sample the kitchen’s daring versatility. less...

My, how time flies. It now seems eons ago that BACCHANALIA was housed in the squat cottage in Buckhead. But the daring move to the west side almost five years ago only increased its popularity - and deservedly so. Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano's restaurant evokes the best of modern American fine dining: the East Coast's pioneering spirit, the West Coast's culinary sense of time and place, and the South's innate gift of hospitality. The four-course prix-fixe menu is always comprised of both house favorites and new twists, so you can orchestrate your own gastronomic adventure. We don't recommend you "ever" skip the cheese course, though. "1198 Howell Mill Road. 404-365-0410. www.starprovisions.com/bacc" less...

BACCHANALIA, the understated, treasured jewel of Atlanta's restaurant landscape, has a simple mission: Seek the finest seasonal ingredients and prepare them in a way that lets their delicious, lyrical essence shine without ostentation. Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano, who won a James Beard award (the culinary equivalent of an Oscar) this year, volley nimbly between familiar and unusual flavor combinations on their four-course, prix-fixe dinner menu. Choices change constantly, though the jumbo lump blue crab fritter and a fruit-of-the-moment brown butter tart can typically be relied upon. But really, this isn't a place to play it safe and order favorites time and time again. It's a place to settle in for meal of sublime pleasure and trust capable, passionate chefs to just do their thing. "1198 Howell Mill Road, 404-365-0410. www.starprovisions.com/bacc" less...

BACCHANALIA, the understated, treasured jewel of Atlanta's restaurant landscape, has a simple mission: Seek the finest seasonal ingredients and prepare them in a way that lets their delicious, lyrical essence shine without ostentation. Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano, who won a James Beard award (the culinary equivalent of an Oscar) this year, volley nimbly between familiar and unusual flavor combinations on their four-course, prix-fixe dinner menu. Choices change constantly, though the jumbo lump blue crab fritter and a fruit-of-the-moment brown butter tart can typically be relied upon. But really, this isn't a place to play it safe and order favorites time and time again. It's a place to settle in for meal of sublime pleasure and trust capable, passionate chefs to just do their thing. "1198 Howell Mill Road, 404-365-0410. www.starprovisions.com/bacc" less...

Still setting the pace for fine dining in Atlanta is BACCHANALIA. Chefs/owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison unearth the freshest ingredients for the prix-fixe menu, which, though ever evolving, typically includes their voluptuous crab fritter to start and an ethereal, seasonal souffle to finish. Take home a rare cheese or a well-priced wine from adjoining Star Provisions market afterward. (P.S. We're thrilled that the restaurant is reopening for lunch Wednesday through Saturday starting Oct. 23.) "1198 Howell Mill Road. 404-365-0410. www.starprovisions.com." less...

111 W. Paces Ferry Road 404-846-9779 http://www.seegers.com We sweat this category every year, since there are things we actually like more about Bacchanalia, like its more romantic ambience. But it's impossible to deny the utter genius of Guenter Seeger's cuisine. Where else in our city - or the world - are you going to find sauteed foie gras on lavender-marinated kiwi or black grouper poached in duck fat with bok choy and garlic confit? There's also a brilliant vegetarian menu, flawless service and a classic dining room that would have been a perfect rendezvous spot for Coco Chanel. less...

If Atlanta's mascot is really the Phoenix, Bacchanalia (1198 Howell Mill Road, 404-365-0410) may be the city's quintessential restaurant, both for its superb cooking, impeccable service and recently demonstrated flair for reinvention. Chef/owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison made the drastic step of relocating. Bacchanalia from a cozy house on Piedmont to a renovated meat-packing facility near the water works on Atlanta's west side. The move has meant a significant change in neighborhood and ambiance, with Bacchanalia trading homey comfort for industrial chic with an exhibition kitchen (though no increase in seating), but the excellence of its "New American Cuisine" has scarcely flagged. The building boasts a roughly inviting courtyard and a gourmet boutique, Star Provisions — as if you could buy things and recreate Bacchanalia's heavenly experience in your own home. Perhaps Bacchanalia's closest rival is Seeger's (111 W. Paces Ferry Road, 404-846-9779), the sleek Buckhead bungalow run by Guenter Seeger. Seeger's culinary creations, which can change daily, are served in a spare, minimally decorated dining room, the better for you to focus your senses on the dishes themselves. With portions of an unobtrusive scale, Seeger's can seem a place not so much for "eating" as for "tasting," but the European-accented dishes offer tastes that cannot be exceeded in Atlanta, if anywhere. That Seeger's qualifies as one of the city's most luxurious destinations, without having an especially luxuriant environment, testifies as to how much it pampers the taste buds.The word "bistro" may be overused by modern restaurants, but Brasserie Le Coze (3393 Peachtree Road, 404-266-1440) imbues the label with the fullest measure of Parisian elegance and authentic French cooking. Plus, the atmosphere manages to be classy and impressive without being snooty or forbidding (especially striking considering its location at Lenox Square.) Intimidated Americans may want to savor the familiarity of the roast leg of lamb sandwich, but be aware that your life is less than complete without sampling chef Jon Schwenk's skate with brown butter, which sets a standard for fish dishes. Keep an eye out for such special evenings as the Bastille Day Dinner or the Beaujolais Nouveau Release Party if you're looking for an excuse to visit. Few Atlanta eateries offer such a garden of earthly delights as The Flying Biscuit Cafe (1655 McLendon Ave., 404-687-8888), Chef April Moon's marvelous, always-crowded McClendon Avenue cafe, with the blooming, wrap-around murals contributing to a warm and congenial atmosphere. The menu is filled with delicious, playfully-dubbed items such as Pudge, Love Cakes, Stoup of the Day, Angel Burgers and Devil Burgers. Any item on the non-stop breakfast list can be expected to please, and the dinner menu offers a confident selection of pastas, salads and other entrees, which are far more affordable than the offerings of the restaurants above. less...