When you think about Southern food in the United States, staples like fried chicken, biscuits and collard greens often come to mind. But in cities like Atlanta, star chefs and independent restaurateurs alike are expanding the city’s food scene—bringing options from locally sourced French fare to upscale takes on Vietnamese cooking—and offering world-class wine programs to match. Here are 11 Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning destinations for superior wine and food, served with a side of Southern hospitality.
To check out more wine-and-food destinations around the world, see Wine Spectator’s more than 3,700 Restaurant Award winners, including the 94 Grand Award recipients worldwide that hold our highest honor.
Atlas
88 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W.
Telephone (404) 600-6471
Website atlasrestaurant.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
Atlas offers a singular dining experience in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood, where chef Freddy Money’s luxurious and ever-evolving tasting menus are served against the backdrop of owner Joe Lewis’ art collection, with works by Picasso, Soutine, Chagal, Foujita and more surrounding the main dining room. The star of the show is the chef’s tasting menu, which includes eight dishes, such as quail with roasted foie, preserved lemon and wasabi; white asparagus with miso and citrus; and striped bass with morel mushrooms and vin jaune sauce. Vegetarian and vegan tasting menus are available, as well as three tiers of wine pairings. (Each pairing consists of eight wines.) Wine director Mcswell Pereira’s 900-selection list includes verticals from wineries like Salon, E. Guigal and Opus One. He offers 75 wines by the glass, plus regular wine dinners with producers. (The most recent was with John Raytek, founder and winemaker at Ceritas). Money, who trained under Alain Ducasse in Europe, also serves as the culinary director at Award of Excellence winner Nami, in Orlando, Florida.
Bones
3130 Piedmont Road, N.E.
Telephone (404) 237-2663
Website bonesrestaurant.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
A fixture among Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Award winners in Atlanta since 1990, Bones is situated in the popular Buckhead dining and shopping area in the northern part of the city. One of the city’s most prominent steak and chop houses, the restaurant is known for cuts such as a 24-ounce porterhouse, double-cut pork chops and a rack of lamb sourced from Elysian Fields. Do not skip chef Brian Hatfield’s selection of seafood and side dishes, including broiled lobster with a briny preserved lemon stuffing, crab cakes accented with ginger vinaigrette, a classic gooey corn pudding and truffle butter mashed potatoes. Wine director Martin Donovan curates a list of over 700 selections, primarily from across California, France and Italy. Featured producers include Château Cheval Blanc, Paul Jaboulet Aîné and Hundred Acre. Bones, like many Atlanta steak houses, observes a dress code, encouraging guests to wear business casual attire.
Canoe
4199 Paces Ferry Road S.E.
Telephone (770) 432-2663
Website canoeatl.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
For more than 30 years, the aptly named Canoe has offered waterfront dining along a shady bend of the Chattahoochee River in the Vinings community of northwest Atlanta. Chef Matthew Basford, who has been at the restaurant since 2005, oversees a seasonal menu featuring notably inventive combinations of ingredients. Dishes include smoked salmon with crispy potatoes and goat cheese, roasted venison with walnut-shiitake bread pudding, maple-marinated duck breast and, in a nod to Basford’s Aussie heritage, peppercorn-crusted kangaroo served with black garlic, olive, parmesan and croutons. A Best of Award of Excellence winner since 2016, the 370-bottle list overseen by wine director Kevin Cornish shows particular strength in France and California, with wines from producers like Olivier Leflaive and Trimbach from the former and Aperture and Daou from the latter. Diners can enjoy those wines in their choice of settings: the restaurant’s warmly lit interior featuring exposed brick and an open kitchen, the glass-enclosed patio area looking out to the lush gardens along the water or the seating areas right on the banks of the Chattahoochee.
Le Bilboquet
3027 Bolling Way N.E.
Telephone (404) 869-9944
Website lebilboquetatlanta.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
Right in the center of luxury shopping area Buckhead Village, Best of Award of Excellence winner Le Bilboquet delivers classic French bistro dining alongside a stacked wine cellar of more than 2,000 bottles. With an extensive patio decorated with lush planters, white linens and charming rattan seating, Le Bilboquet is ready for dining in the Georgia sun. The 365-selection list is maintained by wine director Daniel Navarro, who focuses on French regions, including Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux. The ample by-the-glass list of over two dozen selections is telling of the quality of the overall list, with pours from the likes of Nicolas Feuillatte, Pescal & Maireille Renaud and Château Reysson (as well as a small vertical of Sauternes from Château de Fargues for an after-dinner treat). On executive chef Cyrille Holota’s menu, expect a wide variety of French-accented salads and hors d’oeuvres like le salad de lentilles (a lentil salad with a soft-poached egg and mustard dressing), classic escargots de Bourgnogne and a selection of beef, salmon and tuna tartares. Among the dinner mains, bistro standbys like steak frites, moules marinières and duck confit are served alongside more global options like a poulet rôti encrusted in Cajun seasoning and a curry with Australian lamb shoulder. Not in Atlanta? Le Bilboquet has locations across the United States, including Award of Excellence winners in Dallas and Denver.
Le Bon Nosh
65 Irby Ave., Suite 103
Telephone (404) 835-2007
Website lebonnosh.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
Best of Award of Excellence winner Le Bon Nosh is the creation of chef and owner Forough Vakili, a former chemical engineer. Vakili trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 2011; in 2021, she opened Le Bon Nosh in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, hoping for it to become a “culinary destination.” Today, it is a café and market in the mornings and a Parisian-style wine bar at night. On the menu, Vakili spotlights local, sustainably farmed meat and produce, like Riverview Farms beef and Hickory Hill farm greens. Current dishes include grilled red snapper with roasted fennel, a classic ratatouille and lamb meatballs with scalloped potatoes and Swiss chard. With over 500 wine selections, Le Bon Nosh offers an exclusively French program with an emphasis on biodynamic and organic wines. Burgundy, Beaujolais, Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley dominate the list, with star bottles from the likes of Château Cheval Blanc, Armand Rousseau and Domaine Faiveley. Keep an eye on Le Bon Nosh’s calendar for wine dinners from leading wineries and sommeliers, as well as cooking classes.
Marcel
1170 Howell Mill Road
Telephone (404) 665-4555
Website marcelatl.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
From renowned restaurateur Ford Fry, Marcel transports diners to a French-American blend of the Roaring Twenties with its dimly lit dining room, red leather banquettes, white tablecloths, brass accents and classic cocktails. Steaks are the star of chef Tye Carpenter’s menu, with eight cuts on offer, from filets to porterhouses. Beef Wellington, which must be ordered 24 hours in advance, is also available. For dessert, save room for the Ten Layer Chocolate Cake or the flashy tableside-flambéed baked Alaska, which is recommended with Inniskillin’s Cabernet Franc ice wine. Wine director Clarke Anderson’s 465-selection list features predominantly French and Californian wines, though Italian and Spanish offerings are available as well. Burgundy lovers can look to producers like Michel Lafarge, Hubert Lignier and Armand Rousseau, while fans of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon can choose from among Cain, Dunn, Diamond Creek and other wineries for pairings with the restaurant’s charred, hearty steaks.
Ray’s in the City
240 Peachtree St. N.W.
Telephone (404) 524-9224
Website raysrestaurants.com/
Best of Award of Excellence
In the central Peachtree neighborhood, within walking distance of the woods of Centennial Olympic Park, Ray’s in the City—a follow-up to Ray’s on the River, located right on the Chattahoochee River—has been a Best of Award of Excellence winner since 2022. In 2024, owner Ray Schoenbaum passed his restaurants to father-and-son-operated TEI Hospitality Group, but the spirit of the spots has stayed the same, along with the massive display cellars with over 2,000 bottles. The menu, prepared by chef Chris Berbessi, offers classic surf-and-turf options, from lobster carbonara to a peppercorn-encrusted New York strip. Wine director Ashley Kientzle curates the list, focusing on the wines of California, with selections from Schramsberg, Frank Family and Groth. Toward the back of the wine list is the “Cellar Reserve” section, which features powerhouse bottles like Harlan Estate 2014 and Dalla Valle “Maya” 2015.
White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails
270 Peachtree St. N.E.
Telephone (404) 524-7200
Website whiteoakkitchen.com
Best of Award of Excellence
With a recently completed million-dollar renovation, White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails brings a refreshed and sleek dining space to Downtown Atlanta. The restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows offer up-close views of the cityscape while allowing ample natural light to pour in over the polished wood tabletops. The four-sided “Barrel Bar” offers a slightly more casual experience with an impressive collection of more than 100 whiskeys. Executive chef Nicholas Tarnate—an alum of The French Laundry—has constructed a menu that blends components of French, Italian and Southern American cuisine. Popular dishes include King Salmon with lentils, kale and smoked roe; a fragrant bouillabaisse; and cassoulet with duck confit and garlic sausage. The 450-label wine list features notable selections from Burgundy, Piedmont and Bordeaux, while also showcasing several domestic producers. Verticals are available for multiple wines, including Château Talbot, Marchesi di Gresy Barbaresco, and Bryant Family’s DB4 Cabernet Sauvignon. The list is curated by wine director Cindy LeBlanc; the bottles are stored in a two-story glass wine cellar that adjoins the dining room. Regular wine dinners—recently featuring wines from Vignobles Lorgeril—are another highlight of this eight-time Best of Award of Excellence winner.
Capolinea
159 Northside Drive N.W.
Telephone (404) 223-4414
Website https://capolineaatlanta.com/
Award of Excellence
Located on the fourth floor of the Signia By Hilton in Downtown Atlanta is the refined Award of Excellence–winning Capolinea. The restaurant’s large windows look directly out to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, and its white tablecloths, polished glassware, distinctive light fixtures and elegantly potted plants bring to mind a White House gala. Chef Christopher Li’s menu is classically Italian, with dishes like beef carpaccio, margherita pizza, a selection of traditional pastas and secondi such as seared halibut, whole roasted branzino and vitello milanese. The 175-selection list is fittingly Italian-centric, spanning well-known bottlings of Sangiovese and Nebbiolo to more esoteric varietals like Carricante and Friulano. Heavy hitters from Barolo include Paolo Scavino, Pio Cesare and Giacomo Fenocchio, while Tuscan offerings encompass Biondi-Santi, Ornellaia, Tignanello and others. Beyond Italy, several Champagnes are offered (think Krug, Ruinart and Pol Roger) as well as other French, Spanish and domestic reds and whites. Martinis—prepared tableside—are also a specialty.
Kyma
3085 Piedmont Road N.E.
Telephone (404) 262-0702
Website kymaatlanta.com
Award of Excellence
For a trip to Greece without the transcontinental flight, look to Award of Excellence–winning Kyma. Specializing in whole fish and a wide array of meze, Kyma evokes a sun-drenched Greek island, with whitewashed walls, sky-blue accents and fresh Mediterranean cuisine. While there are meat options like braised lambshank and beef tenderloin, seafood is the focus of chef I. Pano Karatassos’ menu. Fish like arctic char, royal dorade and European seabass are roasted whole and come with a side of vegetables. Complete the meal with the addition of any of the 30 or so spreads, mezes and sides like wood-grilled octopus, spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves and white bean stew. The 155-selection wine list, curated by wine director Garrett Geiler, emphasizes Greek producers like Alpha Estate, Domaine Gerovassiliou and Domaine Costa Lazaridi and covers indigenous varieties from Agiorgitiko to Xinomavro. Beyond Greece, there are a few French offerings from producers like Château d'Esclans (Whispering Angel rosé) and Burgundy’s Michelot, while U.S. options include bottlings from Forge Cellars, Merry Edwards, Dumol and others. For an all-in-one experience, guests can opt for one of Kyma’s combos for two or more people, such as the Santorini platter of lobster, octopus, clams and scallops, which comes with two appetizers, Greek salad, spreads and sides and pairs naturally with a chilled glass of Assyrtiko.
Le Colonial
3035 Peachtree Road N.E. Ste. A201
Telephone (404) 341-0500
Website lecolonial.com/atlanta
Award of Excellence
Washed in gold tones and decorated with paper lanterns, extravagant large-scale paintings and swaying palms, Award of Excellence winner Le Colonial is one of many stellar options for wine in Buckhead, but the only one specializing in Vietnamese cuisine. The first Le Colonial, which harkens back to the splendor of Saigon in the 1920s, opened in New York City in 1993, and the restaurant has since expanded to several Restaurant Award–winning locations across the United States. The Atlanta location stands out in a nieghborhood filled with French bistros and upscale Southern fare. Chef Shuma Kuwamoto’s menu includes small and large plates made for sharing, including takes on traditional Vietnamese dishes such as lotus root salad, suan nuong (glazed Heritage pork ribs with lemongrass and toasted peanuts) and cari tom (a green shrimp curry with bamboo shoots and lime leaf). Le Colonial’s wine list of 155 selections, overseen by wine director Declan Nye, is rooted in France and California, with big names—such as Duckhorn, Château Cos-d’Estournel and Williams Selyem—to pair with the menu’s big flavors.
Edited by Julia Larson, Greg Warner and Kenny Martin
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