Signature Dishes of Atlanta

Must-try dishes

Lemon pepper wings

Bone-in fried chicken wings dusted in lemon pepper seasoning, often glossed with butter or hot sauce. Atlanta's signature snack, a hip-hop fixture for two decades.

History: Lemon pepper wings emerged from Atlanta's Black-owned wing joints in the 1990s and went mainstream after a 2016 Donald Glover Atlanta TV episode in which a character orders 'lemon pepper wet'. The wet refers to butter-tossed wings finished with a hot sauce coat over the lemon pepper. American Deli, J.R. Crickets, and Atlanta hot wing standards built the format. Today the dish is a marker of Atlanta hip hop culture and on menus from corner takeout to Magic City strip club's famed chicken wings.

Where to try it: American Deli

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Atlanta fried chicken

Bone-in fried chicken, brined and breaded, served with sides at a Southern Black-owned dining room. Paschal's set the standard in the civil rights era.

History: Atlanta's fried chicken tradition runs through Paschal's, founded in 1947 by brothers Robert and James Paschal on West Hunter Street and a key civil rights organising room where Martin Luther King Jr planned with the SCLC. Busy Bee Cafe opened in 1947 on Hunter Street and won a James Beard America's Classics Award in 2022. Mary Mac's Tea Room since 1945 still serves the cracker-crusted version with sides. The dish is the city's continuous thread from Reconstruction-era cooking to today.

Where to try it: Paschal's, Busy Bee Cafe, Mary Mac's Tea Room

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Georgia peach cobbler

A Southern baked dessert of Georgia peaches under a biscuit or pie-dough crust, sometimes served with vanilla ice cream. Peak season is July to August.

History: Georgia produces some of the country's finest peaches; the state has been called the Peach State since the late 1800s. Pearson Farm in Crawford County and Lane Southern Orchards have run since the 19th century. Peach cobbler became the canonical Georgia dessert at Sunday tables and meat-and-three counters across the state. Mary Mac's Tea Room and Paschal's both serve a version year-round, though peak peaches arrive in July and August.

Where to try it: Mary Mac's Tea Room, Paschal's, Busy Bee Cafe

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Brunswick stew

A Georgia barbecue stew of pulled pork, chicken, tomatoes, corn and lima beans, slow-simmered. Served alongside barbecue plates as the canonical side.

History: Brunswick stew's origin is debated between Brunswick, Georgia (where a 1898 pot at the St Simons Island commemoration is celebrated) and Brunswick County, Virginia. The Georgia version is sweeter and tomato-led; Virginia's is leaner. Atlanta barbecue rooms like Fox Bros and Heirloom Market all run Brunswick stew alongside their pulled pork. The dish is the canonical side, not a starter; portion sizes scale with the plate.

Where to try it: Fox Bros Bar-B-Q, Heirloom Market BBQ, Community Q BBQ

Watch out for: None typical

Soul food meat-and-three plate

A protein plus three Southern vegetable sides with cornbread or rolls, served on a single plate. The canonical Black-owned lunch format across Atlanta, at Paschal's, Busy Bee and Mary Mac's since the 1940s.

History: The meat-and-three plate-lunch format runs across the South but Black-owned Atlanta restaurants codified the soul food version. Paschal's (1947) and Busy Bee Cafe (1947) on the West End ran the format through the civil rights movement. Mary Mac's Tea Room (1945) added the white-tablecloth version. Sides typically include collard greens, mac and cheese, candied yams, black-eyed peas and cornbread. Most rooms still serve lunch only and run cash-and-card under $15.

Where to try it: Busy Bee Cafe, Paschal's, Mary Mac's Tea Room

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Pork

Coca-Cola float

An Atlanta-invented soft drink poured over vanilla ice cream. The Varsity downtown serves Frosted Orange floats since 1928; the Coca-Cola museum the canonical version.

History: Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta by pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886 and bought by Asa Candler in 1888. The company headquarters has anchored the city since. The Coca-Cola float, sometimes called a Black Cow, became a soda-fountain staple from the 1920s. The Varsity, founded 1928 at North Avenue downtown, runs Frosted Orange and Coca-Cola floats from a counter that has fed Atlanta for nearly a century. The Coca-Cola museum at Centennial Olympic Park completes the tour.

Where to try it: The Varsity, Paschal's, Mary Mac's Tea Room

Watch out for: Dairy

The Varsity chili dog

A steamed hot dog on a soft bun topped with chili, mustard and chopped raw onions. The Varsity has served the same version since 1928 at North Avenue downtown.

History: Frank Gordy founded The Varsity at North Avenue and Spring Street in downtown Atlanta in 1928. The chili dog, fried onion rings and Frosted Orange became Atlanta soda-fountain canon. Curb service was a fixture into the 2010s. The Varsity is among the largest drive-in restaurants in the world by daily volume; the chili dog is the canonical Atlanta sports-game pre-meal. Multiple satellite locations across the metro since the 1980s.

Where to try it: The Varsity

Watch out for: Gluten

Buford Highway Korean barbecue

Tabletop-grilled Korean barbecue and banchan, served at Doraville and Duluth strip-mall rooms along Buford Highway. Yet Tuh and Iron Age anchor the corridor.

History: Atlanta hosts the South's largest Korean population, concentrated north along Buford Highway and into Duluth's H Mart corridor. Korean immigration peaked in the 1990s after the Olympics drew international attention. Yet Tuh, opened in Doraville in 2008, runs the classic charcoal-grill tabletop format. Iron Age in Duluth franchised the AYCE banchan-heavy version. The corridor's depth makes Atlanta the strongest Korean food destination east of LA.

Where to try it: Yet Tuh, So Kong Dong Tofu House

Watch out for: Soy, Sesame, Gluten

Buford Highway bánh mì

Vietnamese sandwich on a French baguette: pate, mayonnaise, pork roll or grilled meat, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno. Atlanta's Buford Highway is the Southern capital of bánh mì.

History: Buford Highway became Atlanta's Vietnamese restaurant corridor through the 1980s as the Vietnamese refugee community settled along the strip. Quoc Huong Banh Mi opened in the 1990s and Lee's Bakery has produced the canonical Atlanta banh mi for over twenty years. The sandwich is the cheap-eats classic at $5 to $8, with the classic dac biet (combination) ordered most often. The bread is made same-day on the strip; it is the make-or-break ingredient.

Where to try it: Lee's Bakery, Quoc Huong Banh Mi Fast Food, Buford Highway Farmers Market, Snackboxe Bistro

Watch out for: Gluten, Egg, Soy

Biscuits and sausage gravy

Southern flaky buttermilk biscuits split and smothered in pork-sausage cream gravy black with pepper. The defining Atlanta diner breakfast and Sunday-morning brunch staple.

History: Biscuits and gravy is the foundational Southern breakfast, with documented origins in 19th-century Appalachian and Piedmont kitchens. The dish became canonical at Atlanta's Waffle House (founded 1955 in Avondale Estates) and the city's diner counters. Atlanta Breakfast Club, Thumbs Up Diner and Mary Mac's Tea Room serve the modern Atlanta benchmark; the dish remains the cheap-and-filling Atlanta breakfast classic.

Where to try it: Atlanta Breakfast Club, Thumbs Up Diner, Mary Mac's Tea Room, Waffle House (Howell Mill)

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Shrimp and grits

Stone-ground white grits cooked slow with butter and cheese, topped with butter-braised Gulf shrimp, andouille sausage, scallion and a squeeze of lemon. A Charleston dish made Southern across Atlanta.

History: Shrimp and grits originated in Lowcountry South Carolina as a fisherman's breakfast (then called 'breakfast shrimp'), but Bill Neal of Chapel Hill canonised the modern restaurant version in 1985 by adding mushrooms and bacon. Atlanta chefs imported the dish through the 1990s and 2000s; Watershed in Decatur (closed) was an early signature. Today South City Kitchen Buckhead, Mary Mac's Tea Room and Atlanta Breakfast Club plate the reference Atlanta versions.

Where to try it: South City Kitchen Buckhead, Mary Mac's Tea Room, Atlanta Breakfast Club, The Optimist

Watch out for: Crustaceans, Dairy, Gluten

Collard greens

Southern-style collard greens slow-braised with smoked pork (ham hock, turkey wing or bacon), onion, garlic, vinegar and red-pepper flakes. The defining Atlanta soul-food vegetable.

History: Collard greens were brought to the American South by enslaved West Africans, who adapted the West African leaf-vegetable tradition (egusi, kontomire) to the European Brassica varieties grown in the Carolinas and Georgia. The slow-braise with smoked pork and the resulting 'pot liquor' became the canonical Southern preparation. Busy Bee Cafe (open since 1947), Paschal's and Mary Mac's Tea Room serve the reference Atlanta versions. The dish is the heart of every soul-food meat-and-three plate.

Where to try it: Busy Bee Cafe, Paschal's, Mary Mac's Tea Room, This Is It Southern Kitchen and BBQ