Omnivore - Where would your ‘Farewell Food Tour of Atlanta’ take you?

You’re not leaving Atlanta - but, hey, what if you did?

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One of my best friends is following in my footsteps and, unfortunately, those footsteps lead away from Atlanta. After seven lovely years in this equally lovely city, she’s departing to a cooler climate for a hot job opportunity (she’s swallowing fire in the Russian circus — JK). Anyway, she came up with a really great idea for making sure she doesn’t feel deprived of her favorite foods once they’re no longer readily available: a Farewell Food Tour of Atlanta.

I touched on this idea in the self-indulgent, boo-hoo-I’m-leaving-Atlanta editorial I wrote in June, insofar as I said I sure wished I’d had the opportunity to eat at Bacchanalia one last time (alas, the certificate for a complimentary meal never arrived in the mail), but her approach is much more comprehensive and even includes visits to places she’s meant to visit, but hadn’t gotten around to until now.

The list of places she’ll visit on her farewell tour (which includes favorites of her’s like Morelli’s, Soul Vegetarian, Sublime Donuts, Ria’s Bluebird, and Sun in my Belly, and places she’s wanted to try like the Optimist Oyster Bar, Gutenfleischer’s Vegan Meats) made me think about the places I’d have visited on my tour had I the foresight to plan one. Incidentally, we ate out together a lot, so Ria’s (for the Brisket Breakfast), Sun In My Belly (I love their nicoise salad A LOT), and Soul Vegetarian (I could and would drink their salad dressing) would have made the cut.

Additions to my tour: Carver’s for squash casserole and collard greens, Mary Mac’s (I don’t care what anyone says) for fried pork chops, a last Monster Slice with fresh tomatoes and garlic at Cameli’s (budget) and a last Gigiotto pie at Antico (splurge), and definitely a final visit to Peter Chang’s in Sandy Springs for anything hot and numbing. And I really liked the burgers at Bocado, but that was actually a thing I managed to have before I left. God, their pickles.

So, whatever. Maybe you’ll never leave Atlanta to join the circus. But in the interest of exercises in food fun, what spots would be included on your Farewell Tour of Atlanta? And don’t be shy. I said Mary Mac’s.