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BACCHANALIA
1198 Howell Mill Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-365-0410.
www.starprovisions.com

Ask anyone outside the Atlanta area to name one ATL restaurant and most likely the response will be Bacchanalia. This elegant yet easygoing restaurant has embodied the modern spirit of Atlanta since its opening on Piedmont in 1993. The move to its warehouse-chic home on Howell Mill cemented its place in Atlanta dining as the best of the best. Chef-owners Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano coax you towards their keen sense of flair and flavor, then gently lull you into submission. You won't know what hit you: Winter selections of fresh, briny Wellfleet oysters with a bright champagne mignonette; cioppino with lobster, white shrimp and house-made fennel sausage; simple risotto with alba white truffles. The seasonally inspired daily menu changes make it hard to play favorites with anything other than the kitchen's signature warm Valrhona chocolate cake, but expect full-flavored freshness. Star Provisions, the restaurant's storefront, does what so many in other cities have tried and failed at, offering prime ingredients from the menu to buy for yourself, along with an excellently priced selection of wine and the best cheese offerings in the city. Dinner: 6-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. $$$$$

Joey Ivansco/AJC Staff (ENLARGE)
From decor to cuisine, understated elegance is the hallmark of Quinones at Bacchanalia.
WILLIAM BERRY/AJC (ENLARGE)
MF Sushibar on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown offers the city's freshest, best-made sushi.
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HUNGRY FOR MORE? Welcome to our Spring Dining Guide See & hear it: What's so Southern about that? Southern food's high-fallutin again The seven: Savvy Southern fare Check out these homey sideshows Spring '07: Our Top 10 New places with familiar flavors Ethnic flavors in our backyard Great eats in the neighborhood

THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ-CARLTON BUCKHEAD
3434 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-240-7035.
www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/atlanta_buckhead

The Dining Room continues its dramatic reign as the best dining experience in the city with executive chef Arnaud Berthelier and his playful approach to modern American cuisine. And though the hunt club portraits and continental feel of the decor profess otherwise, the menu and staff have never felt this buoyant. The exit of passionate Chantelle Pabros Grilhot as sommelier comes as a massive loss to the overall experience, but the rest of the staff remains upbeat and impeccably professional in spite of it. Servers who have been a part of the front of the house brigade for years remain renewed in attitude, and maitre d' Claude Guillaume sweeps through the staid room like a contented cat who has found a very cozy spot in the sun. Berthelier is director, script writer, actor — and his offerings are livelier than ever. Poussin is served as confit playfully wrapped in pretty plastic, swimming in a clear consommé. Tiny root vegetables surround an onsen egg where the yolk is magically firmer than the white. St. André soufflé rests fluffily inside a pastry crust of a buttery fourth dimension, paired with sweet quince jam and sorbet. The extensive wine list remains a thing of beauty, and the cheese and friandise carts make the meal like no other in the city. Yet it is Berthelier's festive mood that elevates the attitude of the staff, his script of dish after incredible dish that provides the soul of the performance, and his presence in the Dining Room as the meal closes that proves he considers himself just another member of the ensemble. 6-9:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $$$$$

ECCO
40 Seventh St., Atlanta. 404-347-9555.
www.ecco-atlanta.com.

It's hard to argue with the success of this charming, sophisticated restaurant, housed in what was once the Atlanta Fencing Club. The kitchen, while not perfect, seems to value freshness and sourcing, a fact most evident in the offerings of charcuterie and fine cheeses which should be made into the meat of any meal here. Signatures of fried goat cheese with honey and chitarra pasta du jour round out the best of a flawed, but fun, menu. The wine list has deep options, and the dining room staff is competent and informed; what they can't answer they'll find out. Bar opens daily at 4 p.m. Dinner: 5:30-11 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays; 5:30-11 p.m. Thursdays with late menu to 1 a.m.; 5:30-midnight Fridays-Saturdays with late menu to 1 a.m. 5:30-10 p.m. Sundays. Bar open later. $$$

THE GLOBE
75 5th St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-541-1487.
www.globeatlanta.com.

Ultra modern, the Globe embodies an attitude that is part Soho, part San Francisco — and all Atlanta. In a city rife with mingling diversity, the Globe's über contemporary atmosphere is where it's at, baby. Chef Joshua Perkins' worldly menu is light and inviting, and his execution of tidbits like beet ravioli, tempura frites of asparagus and haricot vert and gulf white shrimp cakes with mango salsa are playful, but soulful, too. He's the type of chef talked about at dinner parties, and the Globe is the kind of restaurant we can't wait to get back to just to taste what's on the spring menu. The buttery pineapple upside down cake is reason enough to return for a seasonal fix of butter and caramelized pineapple. A hip bar serves the gamut from house-made sangria to house-muddled Pimms cocktails, plus newbies like an inventive chamomile whiskey sour. Lunch: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Dinner: 4-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 4-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; Brunch: noon-4 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. $$$

JOËL
3290 Northside Parkway N.E., Atlanta. 404-233-3500.
www.joelrestaurant.com

James Beard award winning chef-owner Joël Antunes magically creates modern French cuisine in subtle portions, beautifully manicured yet so approachable. Late summer might bring chilled Andalusian gazpacho crowned with an elegant quenelle of bright-tasting tomato sorbet; winter carries with it roasted venison with sweet potatoes and truffle bread pudding. The signature pavola is a giant quenelle of snowy meringue filled with the most velvety creme patisserie imaginable. The restaurant is an oasis of delightfully unpredictable French cuisine, with lots of Mediterranean and Asian influences. Each dish arrives at the table happily and beautifully unrecognizable. Service remains an issue, as does the wine program — both are plodding compared to what comes from the kitchen. But the towering ceilings, orange tiled wall, groovy leather banquettes and expansive windows are très metropolitan, and one of the prettiest perches in the city. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays. Dinner: 5:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-10:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. $$$$

KYMA
3085 Piedmont Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-262-0702.
www.buckheadrestaurants.com.

Year after year this restaurant continues to set the gold standard for the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, and chef Pano Karatassos, son of the Buckhead Life founder, strikes the right notes of homey authenticity and gourmet finesse with everything that comes from the kitchen. The menu offers what reads like a hit list of your favorite pop songs: Big beautiful fish, deboned at the table; crisply seasoned Greek potatoes, sprinkled with a dusting of tangy kefalotiri cheese; sweet, thick imported honey over creamy Greek yogurt and baby calamari so sweet and delicate it melts in your mouth after one quick chew. It's all these, of course, plus the royal atmosphere of Kyma that make you feel as pampered as a kitty cat, and desserts such as galaktoboureko —a mesmerizing mix of semolina custard wrapped in phyllo — are perhaps the best course of all. 5-11 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. $$$$

MF SUSHIBAR
265 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta. 404-815-8844.
www.mfsushibar.com.

The slick digs and power-lunch players belie what's behind the success of this Midtown wonder: the freshest, best-made sushi in the city. And with last year's loss of Soto, they're the only real sushi deal in town. Brothers Alex and Chris Kinjo give their restaurant energy and attitude, but it's the quality of ingredients and straightforward creativity of Chris (known as "Magic Fingers") as sushi chef that have made this restaurant such a destination. From the crunch of the nori wrapped around a hand roll with crispy salmon skin to the glorious freshness of something as that's-so-'90s as a rainbow roll, nowhere is there a more palpable sense of quality to sushi in Atlanta. Don't overlook classics like the buttery otoro (worth every penny of the market price) or funky twists like the kamikaze roll, hot with sriracha sauce. Start with sunomono pickles and wakame salad and go from there to the best-sourced fish sashimi and nigiri in the city. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Dinner: 5:30-10:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-11:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 6-10 p.m. Sundays. $$$$

QUINONES AT BACCHANALIA
1198 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta. 404-365-0410.
www.starprovisions.com

What a lovely lady is Quinones. From award-winning Bacchanalia chef-owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison comes a restaurant with a soulfulness that is at once sensuous and sexy, yet ever so ladylike. The kitchen takes a fresh, young approach to a prix fixe menu that could have drowned in its own soberness, but doesn't. Instead, seasonal offerings buoy dishes that speak with a slight Southern accent, and offer flavor as their driving force. With or without wine pairings, Quinones offers a meal to remember. 6-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $$$$$

RATHBUN'S
112 Krog St., Atlanta. 404-524-8280.
www.rathbunsrestaurant.com.

Kevin Rathbun's take on modern American cuisine is arguably the most popular restaurant in the city. Here, Atlantans find what they love — a sophisticated but completely accessible approach to dining out and a menu loaded with influences from the Southeast, Southwest and Rathbun's native heartland. Goodies like the kitchen's sea scallop Benedict over country ham grits and always-fun eggplant steak fries, cut thick, crisp-edged and covered in confectioner's sugar are so popular Rathbun couldn't take them off the menu if he wanted to. His Achilles' heel is what Rathbun calls "second mortgage plates" which are rarely as good as the smaller, less expensive offerings. Save room for pastry chef Kirk Parks' creamy, dreamy peanut butter-banana cream pie and the Krog candy bar, both city signatures. Dinner: 5:30-10:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-11:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Bar opens at 5 p.m. $$$

SOTTO SOTTO
313 N. Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-523-6678.
www.sottosottorestaurant.com

Evviva! This Italian beauty's dining room's softer, hushed touch combined with the fresh take the restaurant puts on authentic Italian cooking make for an evening of fine food and conviviality. The kitchen continues to put forth dishes with a creative take on the traditional, and though there's no one region overly represented here, the love of fresh ingredients well rendered is as Italian as it gets. Cape sante is pure joy, with cannellini beans pepped up with roasted peppers and arugula, the scallops plump and perfectly seared. And the risotto mantecato — a signature —is even better than you remember, the rice a perfect mix of cream and pearls offset by caramelized onions and rich balsamic in the center. Coupled with a cozy, comfortable wine list and seasoned staff, Sotto Sotto is the best of Italian in the area. 5:30-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30 p.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturdays; 5:30-10 p.m. Sundays. $$$

KEY TO RATINGS
Outstanding: Sets the standard for fine dining in the region.
Excellent: One of the best in the Atlanta area.
Very good: Merits a drive if you're looking for this kind of dining.
Good: A worthy addition to its neighborhood, but food may be hit or miss.
Fair: The food is more miss than hit.
Restaurants that do not meet these criteria may be rated Poor.

Pricing code: $$$$$ means more than $75; $$$$ means $75 and less; $$$ means $50 and less; $$ means $25 and less; $ means $15 and less. (The price code represents a meal for one that includes appetizer, entree and dessert without including tax, tip and cocktails.)