Art of the Meal

Sometimes you can define a place by what it's not. And sometimes those negatives add up to positives.Take, for example, Babette's Cafe, the venerable little restaurant in Proven?al colors near Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta. Despite its big-city, cult-favorite status, it is not: noisy, crowded or loud. It does not treat people as "orders" (as in, "Let me see what happened to your order").

Covering the state's dining scene usually means reaching for the clouds in Atlanta, and digging for rural roots in the country.

How do you choose 10 barbecue joints to write about? You might as well try to describe your 10 most memorable dates, or your favorite shirts. Barbecue is that personal, and that familiar. It has to do as much with taste as circumstance. In other words, the story involved.

Oh, the poor businesspeople who get stuck in downtown Atlanta. Busy at a conference or meeting, they see only the neighborhood inside their hotel's atrium. The restaurants within a short taxi ride or (for the very brave) walking distance are often unremarkable, except for the outrageous expense.

For years, Georgians who love Japanese food gravitated to Atlanta's Soto, one of the most revered sushi restaurants along the entire East Coast. Chef Sotohiro Kosugi earned a reputation for the freshest and best cuts of raw fish, as well as his inspired, unique dishes -- firmly within Japanese culinary tradition, but also utterly original.

How do you explain the smashing success of Rathbun's, lauded by USA Today and Bon Appetit, and crowned by Esquire as one of the country's best new restaurants?

Like its name, this small restaurant represents a turning point. Like its cuisine, Watershed intersects Southern culture's classic tenets -- black and white, city and country, tradition and progress.

With a little help from readers, Georgia Trend's dining critic selects the state's top 10 restaurants, salutes some long-time favorites and makes a few new discoveries

Some like it hot. One of Georgia's most popular summer getaways, St. Simons Island is packed in the peak months of June through August. But I've always loved the beach in fall and winter. The gnarled live oaks still stand sentry over the sidewalks, but the throngs of tourists are mostly gone. If you're lucky, the night air will be cool, but you might be able to swim during Indian summer, even as the leaves turn.

Ah, September. A little cooler in the air, a little color in the trees. With summer over, it's time to contemplate your annual Leaf-Peeping Tour of the North Georgia mountains. But let's face it: the food is as important as the foliage.