Sweet Auburn Curb Market still anchors the historic Black business district. Pittypat's Porch, Mary Mac's nearby and downtown hotel kitchens fill the rest.
Paschal's in Atlanta has served soul food since 1947, when brothers Robert and James Paschal opened on Hunter Street. The civil rights movement met here; SCLC was anchored at the bar.
Signature: Fried chicken, Collard greens, Peach cobbler
Order: Fried chicken plate with collard greens, mac and cheese, candied yams.
Tip: The current Castleberry Hill location since 2002 expanded with a banquet space; the original Hunter Street site is preserved at Clark Atlanta.
Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta opened 1947 on MLK Drive and won the James Beard America's Classics Award in 2022 for its decades of soul food service near the AUC campuses.
Signature: Fried chicken, Oxtails, Collard greens
Order: Fried chicken with two sides; the oxtails on lunch special when available.
Tip: Cash and card. Lunch and early dinner only Tuesday to Sunday; line forms before noon weekends.
American Deli on Auburn Avenue in downtown Atlanta runs the city's canonical lemon pepper wings since 1989. Counter ordering; the order is wings and a side of fries.
Try: Lemon pepper wings
Tip: Order 'lemon pepper wet' to upgrade to butter-tossed; the canonical Atlanta order since the Donald Glover TV episode put the city on the map.
J.R. Crickets has run wings and burgers in Atlanta since 1981. The Walton Street downtown shop is the cult choice for after-work wings and beer; the Buckhead and Tucker locations later.
Try: Lemon pepper and hot wings
Tip: Wings and fries combo with a beer at the bar is the order. The hot-fire sauce is the upgrade for spice. Cash and card.
The Original Hot Dog Factory downtown in Atlanta runs loaded hot dogs since 2017: the Atlanta dog with slaw, the lemon-pepper wing dog and the philly cheese dog.
Try: Loaded hot dogs
Tip: Counter ordering. The Atlanta dog with slaw and chili is the canonical order. Multiple metro locations.
Sweet Auburn Curb Market in downtown Atlanta has run since 1924 in the historic Auburn Avenue Black business district. Now houses 25 vendors of soul food, tacos and produce.
Tip: Closed Sundays. Bell Street Burritos, Grindhouse Killer Burgers and Miss D's New Orleans Pralines anchor the food court inside.
Unexpected Atlanta runs a biscuit class inside Sweet Auburn Curb Market with vendor tastings: a two-hour Southern primer plus history.
Tip: Indoor and climate-controlled inside the market. Good rainy-day backup; come hungry, the vendor tastings are generous.