Destination 2016: AtlantaBy Jessica Colley Clarke

In 1992, after cutting her teeth in New York, Quatrano moved to her mother’s 60-acre farm in Cartersville, 42 miles northwest of Atlanta, with her husband and business partner, Clifford Harrison, to open their first restaurant. Bacchanalia ignored all conventions when it opened in 1993 in a small cottage in the Buckhead neighborhood: no valet parking, an all-American wine list and a prix-fixe menu. “We were different from everyone else,” Quatrano says. “We just wanted to cook locally grown, interesting food.” This was long before “locally grown” became a ubiquitous marketing term. Prior to Bacchanalia, a few large restaurant groups dominated in Atlanta, but fine dining was confined to fancy hotels. The unpredictability of local produce didn’t fit with large restaurants that served a predetermined menu with no room for seasonal fluctuations. Instead of fine dining for the business set, Quatrano catered to Atlantans, drawing mainly locals to a 50-seat restaurant where meals were served on her grandmother’s antique china. The gamble was a successful one—diners took notice of the unfussy experience and exceptional food.

When the Olympics boosted tourism to record levels three years later, Quatrano seized the opportunity to open a second restaurant. Floataway Cafe debuted in 1998 in a renovated warehouse near the gentrifying Emory Village in northeast Atlanta, further expanding where great food could be served. Another ambitious pioneer who used the Olympics to his advantage was Guenter Seeger, a German émigré who enjoyed widespread prestige as chef at the Dining Room in the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. In 1997, he branched out on his own. His eponymous Seeger’s in Buckhead also capitalized on locally grown ingredients. Earning critical raves from magazines such Esquire and GQ, Seeger’s helped Atlanta begin to get national notice.

The sophistication of Atlanta’s restaurants has grown rapidly, but an attitude of old-fashioned hospitality remains, and that helps explain one of the area’s biggest culinary draws: The food experience in Atlanta feels authentic to the city and its culture. “People ask us: Why are you so nice?” says Duane Nutter, executive chef at One Flew South, the first upscale dining restaurant at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, the world’s busiest airport. The restaurant was a James Beard Award semifinalist for best service in 2014 and 2015. With more than 100 million travelers passing through the airport each year, impeccable service is no easy feat. But Nutter attributes his guests’ reaction to good service to their perceptions of Atlanta’s glitzy skyline and trendy appearance. “On the surface, there’s a city snootiness about us,” he explains. “Within that, though, there’s a ‘come on over and have some cornbread’ attitude.”

Beyond hospitality, Atlanta’s success stories don’t pander to passing trends. Locals have a nose for the genuine, and restaurants that don’t pass that test don’t survive. Notably, chefs and restaurant groups from outside Atlanta including Emeril Lagasse and Tom Colicchio have often tried and failed to open eateries here. With decades of experience cooking in Atlanta and several restaurants under his belt, Gerry Klaskala, the chef/owner of Aria, knows what Atlantans want. “A restaurant must be genuine. Not for show. Gracious,” he says. “It’s such a simple idea but can be hard to achieve: to make the customer feel welcome.”

Groundbreaking chefs like Quatrano and Klaskala also helped shape Atlanta dining by mentoring young talent. Chefs behind the next wave of great restaurants came up through kitchens with high standards of excellence, and were welcomed into a close-knit community. After working with Klaskala for several years at Aria, Christopher Grossman, now the executive chef at Atlas in the St. Regis hotel, worked in California’s renowned restaurant, the French Laundry. But Grossman felt the city’s pull and returned. Atlanta’s laid-back lifestyle and affordable homes—the median home price is $187,000—were also part of the appeal.

Among their many talents, chefs in Atlanta know how to answer one important question: What do customers want? Perhaps the best example is chef Ford Fry, the big personality behind eight of Atlanta’s buzziest restaurants, from oyster bar The Optimist to Marcel, a classic steakhouse, plus outposts in Alpharetta and Decatur, Ga. “Once I have a location, I ask myself: What does the neighborhood really want or need?” says Fry. “Or sometimes, it’s just the kind of place I would really want to go.” Fry also notes that today’s customer is willing to go off the beaten path. “We are now in an age of destination dining. People want more than just great food; they want an experience, too.”

So where should travelers look for the best bites in town? Todd Richards, executive chef of White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails, advises, “Invest time in the neighborhoods.” In addition to downtown dining, he points visitors to the Buford Highway, Old Fourth Ward and Decatur. Choose a restaurant, and it becomes a gateway to a neighborhood.

With restaurants ranging from Caribbean to Chinese, one of Atlanta’s strengths is its diversity. “There is no fear of being different,” Richards says. “For a time, there was a period of sameness—everyone was serving classic shrimp and grits—but now, chefs are fearless about expanding the definition of Southern food.”

This article originally appeared in the 2016 June/July issue of Worth.

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