Plus, receive 10% off at the Local Palate Marketplace
Shop Small! Click to the Local Palate Marketplace for a curated Southern-made selection of gifts and specialty items for your home.
This page is for Cookbook Club members only.
If you are a member, please sign in and try again.
If you are not a member, click the button below to sign up.
These five women are behind the concepts pushing the Big Easy forward
Despite more than 300 years of hospitality, New Orleans is a tough town to succeed in as a restaurant. Buildings crumble and molder while the ground settles and shifts. Parking sucks. Break-ins are frequent. Utility bills vary wildly for no apparent reason. Insurance is astronomical. Summers are sweltering and everyone leaves. We haven’t even murmured the word hurricane.
Who in their right mind would open a restaurant in New Orleans? Women.
The new face of New Orleans is female. The Big Easy is not easy at all, and it is women who are gutsy enough—or maybe stubborn enough—to serve guests in ever-inspiring ways.
From cocktails to bagels, breakfast to fine dining to seafood, these five women in food and beverage in New Orleans are showing up with grit in a place known for its well-connected, male-run restaurant groups. These women are steering where we will eat and drink in spaces we will long remember.
Alma
Alma Café, owned by chef Melissa Araujo, offers chef-driven cuisine for breakfast and lunch in a town known for late-night revelry. The Honduran café sits on a prominent corner in the Historic Bywater neighborhood, a postcard of technicolor Creole cottages peopled with discriminating diners.
The original restaurant was a pandemic baby, and Araujo took advantage of the quiet opening. She hired immigrant women who could cook; some were looking for a path to
citizenship, while others wanted to break into the restaurant world. Araujo is an exacting chef, and only those who could handle the learning curve would stay. But it’s those people, a well-paid staff offered benefits, who make her concept a success, Araujo says: She is in the restaurant every day but knows the kitchen can replicate every dish without her.
Word spread quickly about the Honduran cuisine utilizing locally grown ingredients. Alma is decidedly not Tex-Mex, nor is there a whiff of Cajun seasoning. Coffee is single origin and double strength, and a second cup costs the same as the first. There’s a fried whole bass with escabeche and tostones, and citrus ricotta pancakes that will never leave the menu. Plates are garnished with herbs from the chef’s urban farm a few miles away.
“Quality above all else. Quality ingredients, quality people,” says the chef, who opened a second location in Mid-City New Orleans in February. “I know what it takes to succeed here. Once you disappoint New Orleans, they don’t come back. PR can’t make up for that. You have to be authentic. You have to know who you are and who to hire to represent your food.”
Dakar NOLA
At Dakar NOLA in the Garden District, chef Serigne Mbaye has been heralded for connecting the foodways of Senegal to coastal Louisiana. A 40-person dining room offers an intimate experience with a pescatarian tasting menu. And the service is warm and inviting in no small part to Mbaye’s business partner, restaurateur Effie Richardson. Richardson’s ancestors also originate from West Africa, and Dakar NOLA conveys her vision in a modern dining setting: Eating together creates connection.
Richardson was an early advocate of Mbaye’s pop-ups and knew it would take an investor to advance the concept to a restaurant. Richardson decided it could be her next chapter as well. She sold her pediatric dentistry practice to help make Dakar NOLA a reality, and this past year, the dentist stood beside the chef wearing her own James Beard Award medal for Best New Restaurant on stage.
Dinner begins with handwashing followed by tea service. A series of courses moves diners from historical journey to technical acuity. Jollof rice arrives in a kettle, while head-on Gulf shrimp with tamarind wows in complexity. Richardson’s grace and guidance at the front of house forms a collective experience.
“People are not used to seeing non-European food plated in an artistic way. West African food has always been complex and sophisticated but not presented at the table as fine dining,” she says. “Food is culture in New Orleans; there’s music, there’s dance, there’s art, and there’s food. There was no other food space for us to express our shared identity but New Orleans.”
Porgy’s Seafood Market
Part fish market, part lunch counter, part neighborhood bar, Porgy’s is the brainchild of Caitlin Carney and Marcus Jacobs. The duo is known for past concepts like Marjie’s Grill and Seafood Sally’s, but Porgy’s succeeds as a Mid-City corner store that can cook—and was recognized as a Best New Restaurant semifinalist in the 2025 James Beard lineup.
Carney is Porgy’s ladymonger, a term she gave herself, and her commitment to the enterprise is clear. The market sells what’s hyper fresh and in season. Each species at Porgy’s is housed individually since oysters, shrimp, fish, and crab need different climate schemas to remain optimal. Fish arrives whole, often delivered by the person who caught it. Carney is emphatic about what’s not available, too: seafood from anywhere other than the Louisiana coast. There is no Alaskan salmon or redfish from Texas.
The menu utilizes every morsel of what’s not sold. A BBQ fish plate is the ladymonger’s choice of parts and pieces, grilled upon order by Jacobs and basted with a sauce that expertly straddles marinade and glaze. Served with slaw, house pickles, and sliced bread, it’s hard to imagine a more satisfying New Orleans lunch.
“The city is about soul. It has a creative feminine side that’s apparent,” Carney says. “I came to New Orleans and decided I’m never leaving. Is it so crazy that I have a girly fish
market? This is my place, and I will give back to what’s given me so much.”
Compère Lapin
The bar at chef Nina Compton’s restaurant, Compère Lapin, is an essential stop. It sits in the heart of the Warehouse District, New Orleans’ second-oldest neighborhood. Centuries of shipping trade left its mark, and the beverage program, led by Erika Flowers, is unmistakenly Caribbean.
Flowers has pushed the cocktail menu toward the spirits, fruited flavors, and baking spice of the West Indies. Her parents immigrated from Belize, and she spent summers there with her grandmother. Flowers considers herself a Caribbean Black woman and is less familiar with the Black American experience, she says. And though she studied music, art, and design, it is with drink that she feels able to share her upbringing with a wide audience.
Flowers’ drinks are crafted with intention: beautiful in a glass, composed, and sustainably made. The Mai Carib-bean Queen utilizes an avocado pit orgeat, which imparts a mild nuttiness to the rum cocktail. The idea for it stemmed from the quantity of avocado arriving at the kitchen for tuna ceviche. Flowers says there are unique ways to add flavor to a cocktail, if you’re paying attention to what’s at hand.
“The power of the tongue is something that I’ve always honored,” Flowers says. “I use my voice to interact with guests, to advocate with people that look like me, and to tell the stories of the cocktails. The menu right now is a reflection of where chef Nina and I come from, the flavors we’re most familiar with.”
Flour Moon Bagels
A line past the Lafitte Greenway means there’s a 40-minute wait to the counter at Flour Moon Bagels. Breanne Kostyk admits she and her co-owner, husband Jeff Hinson, sell a lot of frozen Aperol cocktails on warm weekends at their bakery café in Upper Treme.
Kostyk’s resumé reads like a who’s who of fine-dining pastry chefs in the deep South. She dabbled with bagels while cheffing at the ACE Hotel, sometimes adding them to the brunch menu. She even joked about opening a little bagel shop one day. A year later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and as she finished chemo, Covid landed.
She recalls selling her first 18 bagels from her front porch, bald, during the shutdown. It was the maximum number she could produce from her home kitchen, and they were gone in a flash. What started as a series of pop-ups led to the couple opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Today, they’ve expanded the footprint to include a dedicated production kitchen.
The bagels at Flour Moon are hand-rolled; a hybrid of yeast and sourdough adds a depth of flavor that enthusiasts consider essential. They are crafted by a devoted staff who can produce up to 80 dozen a day. The finished texture is fluffy with a significant crust. It’s helped along with the addition of Louisianna cane syrup instead of barley malt. Flour Moon bagels also enjoy a long, cold, slow fermentation overnight before boiling and baking. Sometimes Kostyk lets them go even longer, giving her craft the time it needs to be truly excellent.
“Jeff and I are really big on fate,” she says, “on things aligning. It’s why we named our business what we did. We started our business under the Flower Moon, signed our lease a year later. If I had tried to do this in another city, would it have been the same level of success? It’s here that it works. New Orleans is the place.”
Female chefs, though often under-appreciated, are the backbone of Southern cooking and bring more to the table than just good food.
12 new and exciting restaurants in Louisiana bring even more thriving personality to the Pelican State. Come explore the dynamic flavors.
From thought-provoking authors to pioneering chefs to impactful organizers, we’ve gathered some of our most loved female-focused stories.
A Brazilian Heart Beats in This Italian Kitchen
Since opening in 2015, Juniper has consistently remained one of Austin’s top restaurants. Now, one decade in, the upscale Italian concept is getting a refresh with the arrival of acclaimed chef Junior Borges, who brings with him a unique blend of Brazilian heritage, culinary precision, and creative ambition. After meeting chef Nic Yanes, when the two worked at Uchi together over a decade ago, the 2023 James Beard Awards semifinalist has joined him at Excelsior Hospitality Group as a chef-partner and is stepping into the role of executive chef at Juniper, the group’s flagship restaurant in East Austin.
Borges, best known for leading the award-winning Meridian in Dallas, will now help shape Excelsior’s culinary direction across its portfolio while playing a key role in expanding operations into cities outside Texas. But here in Austin, his presence is already felt through a complete culinary refresh at Juniper. Under Borges’ leadership, Juniper’s menu is returning to its roots with a refined focus on northern Italian cuisine—but now approached with the chef’s signature blend of global technique and Brazilian soul.
“Brazilian cuisine has many flavors from different cultures that have become part of its overall identity,” says Junior Borges. “Growing up, the African-based cuisine of Bahia was a huge part of my childhood and memories. Additionally, the cultural diversity in Brazil played a significant role. Brazil has the second-largest population of Italians outside of Italy, along with influences from many other cultures—European cuisine as a whole, Lebanese cuisine, and the Indigenous and slavery-era practices that have influenced Brazilian food. All of these factors have shaped my approach to cooking, along with the experiences I’ve had throughout my life.”
The reimagined five-course tasting menu features standouts like seared scallops with toasted fregola, oyster cream, and seaweed oil, and Sakura pork collar with porchetta rub, cippolini onions, grilled mustard greens, and marsala. Borges has also introduced new à la carte selections which weave elements of his Brazilian background into the kitchen’s DNA, such as eggplant milanese with diavolo sauce, burrata, and basil, and crispy polenta with braised fennel, pepperonata, and Parmigiano.
“A big part of this has been a refocus on refined simplicity, which, to me, is a key element in the intersection of my heritage, experiences, and the approach at Juniper,” says Junior Borges. “I started incorporating new cheeses for sauces and pasta, as well as more aromatic peppers that complement seafood preparations and so on. I approach [cooking] with a fundamental knowledge of food and what I believe the guest will enjoy, as well as what I’d like to eat.”
While Dallas (where Borges has spent the last decade) offered a more polished, cosmopolitan restaurant scene, the chef sees Austin as a canvas for creativity, with a more hip edge. “What we are trying to do is focus on creating a great restaurant focused on hospitality, making people happy, supporting the community, and delivering great food and experiences—something that’s important no matter where it’s located,” says Borges.
That same philosophy informs Excelsior Hospitality’s other new projects outside of Texas. Elisabetta, modern Italian-American served in a vibrant atmosphere, opened in Oklahoma City in early 2025, and Nic & Junior’s is set to launch in Chicago’s River North in the spring. The latter collaboration between longtime friends Yanes and Borges will feature a cocktail and wine program curated by Austin’s Travis Tober (Nickel City, Murray’s Tavern), a lively bar and an intimate 30-seat prix fixe dining room where Brazilian and Italian cuisine will play together as both à la carte dishes and through an imaginative prix fixe experience.
For now, though, Borges is focused on shaping the next chapter at Juniper. With its renewed menu, deepened culinary identity, and commitment to warm hospitality, the East Austin staple is poised to capture a whole new audience while honoring the roots that made it special in the first place.
Austin City Limits will leave you with full hearts and bellies as you listen to your favorite artists and indulge in delicious festival foods.
“Keep Austin weird,” they say. And while it is delicious, savory, modern, and unique, we love that it’s also a little weird.
Chef Bob Somsith brings the many tropical flavors of Southeast Asia to East Austin with the opening of Lao’d Bar.
How Houston’s celebrated bar pro Alba Huerta keeps her 10-year-old cocktail program moving forward
I was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and we moved to Houston when I was young, around 4. We were raised in a predominantly Latino community and there were a lot of family gatherings, a lot of festivities around the holidays, and always delicious food. I feel like, as a child, your community shapes you, wherever you land, right? We were a Latino family in a city that was very welcoming to new immigrants and where we could find other people who spoke the same language. And so that community shaped me.
My dad worked in a restaurant as a busboy for a time and I found that those are very intriguing places of work for many Latinos. Today, you open the back door to a kitchen and it’s full of brown people and so it’s a place where a lot of us start. And for me, kitchens and restaurants have always been busy places, like a good busy. I’ve always loved the energy of working in a place that was constantly moving. And I was also attracted to the fact that we were kind of throwing a party every day. Restaurants and bars are full of people having fun. That, plus we’re always celebrating something. I’ve always thought it was super cool that I get to be present for all these life celebrations.
It’s been 10 years since I opened Julep, and of course, that anniversary was its own party. Running this business, I realized, has really made us part of a community. We’re on year eight of our oyster shucking contest and we have other tenured events. They become so important for people. We’re building those traditions for everyone else.
[My heritage] has become a lot more prominent at Julep in the past 10 years. I’m making these [cocktails] because that’s just who I am. These are the flavors that I know, and that I think are good. And there’s also an openness of everyone else who works at the bar. They’re all creating things that pull from their experiences, from their neighborhoods. It’s very heartfelt, how we put flavors together.
Cocktails are changing, and I think we try to have this mix of both classic cocktails and cocktails that are using modern techniques like clarification, sous vide, and various methods of flavor extraction. To me, that’s a well-rounded bar program, but it’s also about making delicious drinks.
Many cocktails on our menu came from exploration—so, the Snake-Bit Sprout started as a different drink that was looking at the rural elements of the South. Traditionally chamomile was used for snake bites here in Texas, and it’s also a tribute to that layered beer cocktail, the Snake Bite. I’m also really into incorporating dry infusions or tea infusions. The tequila toddy incorporates cinnamon tea. As kids, my grandmother would always give us cinnamon tea to end a meal or before bed. And one of the things I’ve always grappled with for toddies is the hot water content. It’s such a big percentage of the drink so why not add another flavor component? This one really binds the flavors together.
That exploration is what I really love about making drinks and about continuing to push our cocktails.
Nashville bar pro Hayley Teague reaches new heights to reinvigorate the aviation in three new spring cocktail recipes.
Try these three unique takes on negroni cocktails from beverage director José Medina Camacho of Adiõs in Birmingham, Alabama.
Amanda Britton shares her most-loved obscure classic cocktails packed with flavors grapefruit and chai, blending a taste of summer and fall.
What’s “So Mobile?” So Mobile is an elevated feeling encompassing the convergence of a certain coastal culture. Where cuisine, art and history arise from the birthplace of Mardi Gras in a city that’s flown under six flags. Mobile is nearly 325 years old, so you know it has some stories to tell, and what better way to dish, than over delectable plates?
In Mobile, the catch of the day may be fish, shrimp, crabs or oysters, and you can guarantee its Gulf-to-table fresh. Local chefs are celebrated for their eclectic takes on cuisine, whether it’s old-school, Southern contemporary or the family-secret BBQ recipe.
Going on a food tour is not only a great way to discover the local culture, but also an entertaining way to meet new people who share a passion for food and travel. Mobile’s Bienville Bites Food Tour just can’t stop collecting national accolades from USA TODAY, Tripadvisor and more. Visit locally owned restaurants and sample hand-selected specialties while learning historical tidbits about Mobile’s rich and diverse food scene.
You had us at “brunch served daily,” but we’re staying for the cuisine, inspired by a combination of Mobile’s French colonial history and the Gulf region’s culinary traditions. Bistro St. Emanuel serves as the restaurant and kitchen for downtown’s Fort Conde Inn, a bed and breakfast property consisting of multiple expertly restored historical buildings. Revel in dishes that include fresh lump crabmeat alongside Conecuh sausage, a local staple. The bistro was originally built in 1850 and operated by a Corsican immigrant and today, the tradition continues.
Fried, stewed or nude is how they serve them at Wintzell’s in downtown Mobile–oysters, that is. With locations across the Gulf Coast, this itinerary-worthy landmark on Dauphin Street began as a six-stool oyster bar opened by J. Oliver Wintzell. Wintzell’s also serves two specialties distinctive of and native to the Mobile area, West Indies Salad—a cold salad consisting of lump crabmeat and onions marinated in an oil and vinegar dressing—and fried crab claws, traditionally served with their signature cocktail sauce. If you’re feeling especially drawn to the nude or raw oysters, Wintzell’s oyster eating championship title remains perpetually open for the taking.
Once you have lived the So Mobile experience, you will likely look at things from a different perspective—just like a true Mobilian.
Add to the celebration and plan your trip to Mobile at Mobile.org.
Incredible dishes and fine libations are the hallmarks of a travel experience, and Mobile offers just that. The culinary scene is what keeps people coming back!
Read about the five must-visit culinary destinations in Mobile, Alabama. These places use fresh ingredients while showcasing the city’s 300-year-old history.
With its 300-plus years of history on the western banks of Mobile Bay on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, Mobile has many tales to tell.
Chef Clay Conley has a tremendous gift for taking simple, fresh ingredients and bringing them together to create a memorable culinary experience. He opened Buccan in 2011, and the restaurant helped pave the way for a more culturally diverse dining scene in Palm Beach, Florida. Since then, Conley has launched Imoto, a Japanese/Asian concept; Grato, a neighborhood restaurant featuring seasonal dishes; and Buccan Sandwich Shop, a fast-casual sandwich concept. In addition to his expanding culinary influences, Conley continues to support both community and national efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity. It’s not surprising he has received accolades from local and national media as well as seven James Beard nominations.
Hogfish Bar & Grill, Key West/Stock Island
This is always our first and last stop while visiting Key West. Love the chill vibe and the namesake sandwich.
I love the high-quality ingredients and such attention to detail in a cookie.
In a city with a lot of very good Asian offerings, Tori Tori still stands out, with its charcoal grilled meats and casual vibes.
Mon Delice French Bakery, New Smyrna Beach
The sandwiches are very simple, but it’s all about the homemade bread and a heavy dousing of an addictive French vinaigrette.
I love the bright bold flavors of the Peruvian Japanese-inspired food here.
Grape & Grain Exchange, Jacksonville
Ashley Demonte-Howard started in the hospitality industry while bartending through culinary school. She quickly realized making craft cocktails was the perfect outlet to channel her passion for pairing ingredients to create unique flavor profiles. Her innovative approach to mixology is evident in her roles as beverage director at reservation-only Mayport Garden Club and as an operating partner with her husband, Miles, at Grape & Grain Exchange in Jacksonville. She’s always happy to share her knowledge via classes, consulting, special events, and fundraisers to help other professionals succeed and to build a strong community in the hospitality industry.
Neighborhood rum bar with the BEST rum drinks and the BEST Cuban food.
Their menu is always rotating but the pasta is always fresh. Get anything with mushrooms.
Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Co., Miami Beach
They have one of the largest spirits collections in the country. The staff is very knowledgeable and absolute machines to watch sling at such a high volume.
Restaurant Doro, Neptune Beach
My go-to celebratory dining spot, with a simple and intimate ambiance. Sitting at the bar and watching the chefs work is my favorite.
Amazing staff, pool, darts, karaoke, outdoor seating, not to mention a very eclectic crowd that makes for good people watching.
Best New Restaurant: Coro Restaurant, Orlando
Coro’s inviting ambiance with floor-to-ceiling windows, light wood, and green accents sets the stage for a luxurious dining experience. Chef Tim Lovero puts the spotlight on seasonal and local ingredients in a show of culinary artistry. An ever-evolving menu features American-style small plates with big flavor and a selection of natural wines.
Best Tried and True Restaurant: Kool Beanz Café, Tallahassee
Open since 1996, Kool Beanz Café has built a loyal following by consistently serving innovative dishes for lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch (don’t sleep on the chicken and waffles). The eclectic menu changes daily and desserts are a must-try. Sit at the bar for a view of the culinary action in the open kitchen.
Hottest Cocktail: Lamp & Shade Craft Kitchen and Cocktails, Orlando
Tiki-inspired craft cocktails offer plenty of unique options and pair perfectly with the menu items. Grab a spot at the bar or get comfortable on sofa seating. Try signature cocktails Miso Pretty (shochu, rum, miso orgeat, lime) or Meet Me at the Mobil (Novo Fogo cachaça, aloe, calamansi, lime).
Best Bakery: Born & Bread Bakehouse, Lakeland
Launched in 2015 at the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market, Born & Bread Bakehouse is now a brick-and-mortar bakery open Wednesday to Saturday. It’s best to preorder from a wide array of pastries, breads, and sandwiches, including croissants, muffins, cookies, and their signature item, the cruffin (filled croissants in a muffin shape).
Best Airport Dining: Hangar One Bistro, St. Augustine
No boarding pass is needed to dine at Hangar One Bistro, located in the Northeast Florida Regional Airport in St. Augustine. Linger over a gourmet meal with fine wines and seasonal cocktails while enjoying the view through large picture windows.
Best Brewery for Furbabies: Unrefined Brewing, Tarpon Springs
With a public dog park less than a mile away, the covered patio in front of Unrefined Brewing is the perfect spot to unwind with your dog while sipping one of their 20 selections on tap. Stout, porter, IPA, sour, and other styles are produced in their small-batch system.
Best Barbecue: Shiver’s Bar-B-Q, Homestead
Family-owned and operated since 1950, Shiver’s specializes in hickory-smoked barbecue. Long picnic tables add a homey feeling to the casual and rustic setting. Meals come with your choice of standard sides along with cheesy hashbrown casserole, cornbread soufflé, jalapeño cheese grits, and seasonal favorite pumpkin soufflé.
Best Waterfront Dining: Seaside Café at the Mansion on the Sea, Key West
Located right on the water next to the southernmost point in the US, the views and food at Seaside Café are spectacular. Known for their lobster pizza and honey-butter lobster biscuits, the restaurant’s other standout dishes include Duval Street corn pizza, garlic aïoli fries, and piña colada key lime pie.
From Miami to Orlando, Florida has a wide range of cuisines and high-end restaurants […]
From ivy-covered wine pubs to rooftop Mexican cantinas, these 10 restaurants sit at the […]
Check out these 10 recently opened and soon-to-open restaurants from Miami to Louisville, with […]
This page is for Cookbook Club members only.
If you are a member, please sign in and try again.
If you are not a member, click the button below to sign up.
Brian So is still riding a high several months after his Marietta, Georgia restaurant, Spring, earned a Michelin star. It’s not slowing down either. So opened Spring with his business partner, Daniel Crawford, in 2016 and was quickly revered for his minimalist approach to seasonal ingredients paired with an excellent wine list. It’s hard not to order the entire tight menu, but definitely don’t skip the chicken liver and foie gras parfait. So’s upcoming second restaurant, Spring 2nd Branch, slated for an opening in May, will bring his twist on Korean food to Marietta Square.
I like to order the pork jowl when they have it on the menu.
Jang Su Jang, Duluth
It has a broad Korean menu and I’ve been going there since I was a kid.
They do an incredible job whether you go for pastries in the morning or a special occasion dinner
The Wing Cafe & Tap House, Marietta
I like to meet up with my friends here, drink cheap beer, and eat a bunch of chicken wings.
I grew up eating Lao food, so Molli [Voraotsady]’s food always brings back good memories.
When Ally Smith describes her approach to cocktails at Puma Yu’s, a lively Thai restaurant in Athens, she says they’re sustainably focused—and she makes drinks that she wants to drink. Smith owns Puma Yu’s with her partner in business and life, chef Pete Amadhanirundr, and knows how to craft an alluring cocktail with bold, bright flavors. She often incorporates cordials and infusions made with ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away, like the As You Wish, with reposado tequila, fennelcello, and orange liqueur. “My inspiration changes often, but my drinks are always strong,” says Smith.
Hidden Gem, Athens
It has a perfect late-night vibe, an incredible spirits selection, and good cocktails. @hiddengemglobalhq
I go here when I need to find inspiration. Everything (owner) Miles Macquarrie does is innovative and interesting.
The cocktails here are Japanese-forward with super out-of-the-box flavor combinations.
When I want to go out for a nice drink, I end up here.
Pete and I find ourselves here a lot when we want a glass of wine, and they have good snacks.
Best New Restaurant: Nàdair, Atlanta
Kevin Gillespie’s most personal venture yet, Nàdair brings Scottish-meets-Southern fare to Atlanta’s Woodland Hills. With views of a nature preserve, the green-and-tartan-clad dining room sets the backdrop for dishes like spice-lacquered pork shoulder and vegetarian haggis pie stuffed with mushrooms.
Best Tried & True: Miller Union, Atlanta
Miller Union recently celebrated its 15th anniversary thanks in large part to James Beard winner Steven Satterfield’s beautiful use of locally sourced produce. Seasonally driven dishes shine in the dining room set in a former warehouse—you can’t go wrong with the ever rotating vegetable plate.
Best Brisket: Socks’ Love Barbecue, Cumming
Steven Hartsock turned a barbecue passion into a full-time career and now slings the state’s best brisket out of his restaurant in Cumming. It’s smoky and tender and pairs perfectly with a side of his macaroni and cheese. sockslovebrands.com
Best Unexpected Cocktails: Oldknow Bev. Co., Clayton
Founded by Mary Catherine Matheny and Ryan Warner Wood, Oldknow sells canned spirited seltzers made with their own gin and vodka, but it also has a sweet lounge in downtown Clayton. There, in a vintage-industrial setting, they whip up interesting, seasonally inspired cocktails like an old fashioned made with fig-infused vodka.
Best Over-the-Top Breakfast: Hen Mother Cookhouse, Johns Creek, Alpharetta
Guests may wait an hour or more to delight in chef-owner Soraya Khoury’s breakfast at Hen Mother Cookhouse. Standout dishes include the extra-thick pancakes, a biscuit sandwich with crispy fried chicken and pimento cheese, and French toast topped with silky whipped custard—don’t forget a cinnamon roll (weekends only).
Best Neighborhood Wine Bar: Late Air Wine, Savannah
Plan on lingering a bit when you visit Late Air Wine in Savannah’s Starland District. The intimate, plant-filled wine bar channels European charm and features a stellar list of natural wines served alongside clever small plates.
Best Viral Birthday Cake: Dottie’s Market, Savannah
When former Vice President Kamala Harris visited Dottie’s Market in Savannah, she ordered a slice of the chocolate salted caramel birthday cake—and it’s continued to sell out ever since. They make the dessert comprising thick chocolate cake layered with salted caramel buttercream twice a day for lunch and dinner—but if you want a slice, plan to get there early.
Best Transportive Experience: Avize, Atlanta
Dining at Avize is like dining in the Alps without leaving Atlanta. Dark green and wood accents set a cozy tone, while a stately (very real) taxidermic mountain goat brings home the Alpine feel. So does chef-owner Karl Gorline’s menu with dishes like flammkuchen (a creamy, cheesy flatbread) and schlutzkrapfen (half-moon shaped pasta) in a brown butter sauce.
From Asian-American fusion to a classic Southern steakhouse, these 10 new restaurants bring a […]
Just 20 minutes from Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, North Carolina is full of activities, sites […]
Walk through a step-by-step itinerary of award-winning food and beverage spots in the quintessential […]
Two spins on a pre-Prohibition era cocktail in Louisville
During the 1910s in Detroit, Michigan, bartenders began pouring a gin cocktail with green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. Called the Last Word, the drink regained popularity across the country in the 2000s, with the exact origin of the name unknown. At Decade cocktail bar in Louisville, Kentucky, beverage director Kelsee Bryant whips up two riffs on this pre-Prohibition era classic.
Bryant’s first take is the Supersonic. “The herbal notes from the génépy go well with the gin and bring out the honeydew,” says Bryant. “It’s bright, refreshing, and herbaceous—perfect for the spring.” She says it’s a good example of Decade’s beverage program: “Seasonally appropriate, well-structured, balanced, and not overcomplicated.” As for the How Lucky, Braynt says it’s a tiki version of a Last Word. “The funkiness of the rum goes well with the heavy citrus fruits in the drink,” she says, while the meletti “brings some depth.”
Bryant says mixing these at home is a balancing act. “If you add sweetness, you should also add acidity. But don’t overthink it.”
Bryant uses COS finishing olive oil “to round out the mouthfeel and add some vegetal notes.”
Bryant’s favorite brand of shaker/strainer is Koriko from Cocktail Kingdom, known for durability and sealing well.
“I recommend a dry gin to balance the sweetness of the [Supersonic] cocktail.”
The Sazerac Sour, a cousin of the Old fashioned, is a whiskey heavy drink with slight sugary and herbal notes from bitters and honey.
The Boulevardier is the bourbon lover’s answer to the gin-based Negroni. Try your hand at one of these variations on the classic for an elevated experience.
The blend of Rye and Amaro Peach with a depth from Prohibition Bitters creates a cocktail that’s rich in flavor and intriguing in every sip.
