Art of the Meal

No wonder the lowly cricket is the esteemed mascot of this humble, homestyle restaurant in lush Pine Mountain: At dusk, the little critters commence a cheerful, ringing chorale that reaches a late-night crescendo.

Landmark restaurants like the Buckhead Diner always prompt happy memories of previous visits. Like a young star who achieves fame with his first movie, the place crackled with excitement from the day it opened in 1987.

Dark and comforting as a womb, the old-fashioned neighborhood trattoria with incredibly good, authentically Italian food is such an irresistible notion that it's a kind of cinematic stereotype, in everything from The Big Night to "The Sopranos." You need only hear the words "chianti" and "checked tablecloth," and you're off and salivating.

When Carey Pickard gives feedback, he doesn't mess around. "Please give Krista Reese a new map of Georgia - one with Macon on it!" the Tubman museum director thundered (via e-mail) in response to the 2003 Silver Spoons Awards. He was right: I'd left Macon out of the state's best dining spots, simply because the restaurants I'd tried there in recent years ranged from not-very-exciting meat-and-threes to boring upscale chains, often in the suburbs.