New to Atlanta?

Click for Video: Margit's Spring Top 5 Restaurant Countdown

New to Atlanta? Well, so is our food writer, Margit Bisztray. She introduces her first Top Five Pick as a “survey of Atlanta dining,” encompassing all the major neighborhoods and dining districts, with suggestions on what not to miss. You know when you’re sitting somewhere that could only be the place you are, eating something entirely local to the area? This is the kind of place Margit looks for in her travels, especially when visiting a new place: true, regional dining. What else, she asks, is the point of going anywhere?

In Atlanta, she found charms in everything from the classic, all-American Buckhead Diner (the homemade potato chips with Maytag Blue cheese are to die for, and mid-afternoon with a cold beer? Forget trying to improve on THAT. Another Buckhead classic has nothing to do with potato chips: it serves coastal, Greek cuisine. At Kyma, Margit raves about calamari, and vows to return for more.

On the outskirts of Buckhead, the Top Five show encounters a different kind of restaurant: the chef-owned, individually-driven “boutique-style” restaurant, like Seeger’s, Restaurant Eugene and Joel. Three restaurants named for individuals who believe in good, honest, carefully sourced ingredients and what can be made from them. All three were hits, though for different reasons, as she’ll tell you.

In Midtown, Margit takes you to the all new, all chic, very highly cultural High Museum of Art with its new addition and Table 1280. What kind of cuisine suits a museum designed by one of the world’s hottest architects? You’ll find out what, and hear about a chef who stepped up to the plate (so to speak) for a challenging assignment, and is pleasing all sorts of highly discerning diners. Also in Midtown, two restaurants emphasizing “farm fresh” menus, with worldly and creative twists, as well as great cheese plates. Oh, and get ready to hear about a serious Champagne room.

In the Virginia Highlands neighborhood, Margit pauses for a cold beer on tap and a barstool, but quickly finds herself fortified enough to head back out into the dining fray, stopping by an Italian neighborhood bistro, as well as a couple of tapas joints. She finishes at one of the city’s “kings” who leaves no room for more, try as you may. After musings on architecture, rural influences, kitchen gadgets, wine lists and charming sommeliers, Margit leaves viewers with a crash course in the excitement of dining in Atlanta, and looks forward to more!