Murphy's has anchored Atlanta brunch in Virginia Highland for 45 years: crab cake benedict, fluffy pancakes, an award-winning wine cellar attached.
Must order: Crab cake benedict and the complimentary biscuits with jam.
Tip: Heated outdoor patio runs October through April, so winter brunch outdoors is genuinely usable.
Address: 997 Virginia Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306
Toast on Lenox is Atlanta's high-glam Buckhead brunch destination: lobster sweet potato waffles, Biscoff french toast, gold-and-green dining room.
Order: Lobster sweet potato waffles and the Biscoff french toast.
Tip: Black-owned, woman-owned Buckhead room; reserve a week ahead for Sunday brunch or expect a 45-minute wait.
Southern National in Atlanta's Summerhill runs Sunday brunch only: Duane Nutter's beignets, fried chicken biscuit and short rib hash with champagne flights.
Order: Beignets with coffee-toffee sauce and the fried chicken biscuit.
Tip: Chef Duane Nutter cooks Sundays only for brunch, so the room turns over the after-church crowd by 13:30. Reserve the 12:30 slot.
Marcus Bar and Grille runs Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward weekend brunch buffet: Marcus Samuelsson's fried chicken and waffles, shrimp gumbo, $55 spread.
Order: Fried chicken and waffles, shrimp gumbo with chorizo from the buffet line.
Tip: Marcus Samuelsson's Old Fourth Ward room. The $55 buffet runs unlimited mimosas as an add-on; come hungry.
BeetleCat in Atlanta's Inman Park runs a weekend brunch built around hot donuts, raw oysters and 70s-coded boozy slushies, nautical room above the Beltline.
Order: The savoury donut flight, a rotating sweet-savoury board.
Tip: Downstairs Den is the bar room with the DJ; upstairs is daylight and the oyster bar. Sit upstairs for brunch.
The General Muir in Atlanta runs a daily New York deli brunch at Emory Point: house-cured pastrami, smoked-fish boards, matzoh ball soup, real bagels.
Order: Bagel with smoked trout dip and the matzoh ball soup.
Tip: Order a half-dozen bagels to take home; the everything bagel is what Atlanta's bagel critics measure other shops against.
Ria's Bluebird in Atlanta is the Grant Park diner that defined the city's brunch shorthand: buttermilk pancakes, tempeh gravy, ten-table queue.
Order: Buttermilk pancakes and country-fried tempeh with white pepper gravy.
Tip: Wednesdays are closed and weekends queue out the door by 09:30; come solo or sit at the counter to skip the worst of the wait.
