Watermelon may be the official Fourth of July fruit, but there's nothing quite like the sweet, sharp and squishy savor of a fresh strawberry. The following locales display their distinct love for the heart-shaped treat.

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BUCKHEAD

The Little Cake Bakery

The trendy allure of cupcakes finds its way into this high-end sweetery where all-natural ingredients and made-from-scratch sensibilities reign. Its popular strawberry cupcakes roll out of the oven only on Tuesdays, and the staff says they sell about three dozen each week. A vanilla cake base gets a strawberry blast courtesy of fresh purée. "It gives it a decent flavor that's not processed and tastes like a fresh strawberry cake, which is what we're trying for," says pastry Chef Kristia Paz. It's topped with a crown of traditional Italian butter cream (egg whites, sugar syrup and butter) that doesn't overpower the strawberry flavor, Paz says.

• 3792 Roswell Road, Atlanta. 404-841-8856, www.littlecakebakery.com.

INMAN PARK

Shaun's

Chef Shaun Doty uses locally grown fruit for his strawberries and homemade ice cream. It's the tail end of regional strawberry season, so the clock's ticking on the availability of Doty's customer favorite. "This year in particular, the season has been fabulous," he says. "A lot of times we assume, like with grapes, when you have drought-like conditions, it concentrates the flavor of the fruit." The most recent crop, according to Doty, pops with "intense" flavor. Doty pairs his homemade Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream with a batch of strawberries. With each order, he splashes a little Grand Marnier on the berries. Then the waiter or waitress delivers the dish to the table along with a bottle of balsamico from Modena, Italy. At table side, the staff member pours a bit of the vinegar on the ice cream and strawberries, which delivers a balance of acidity and sweetness.

• 1029 Edgewood Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-577-4358, www.shaunsrestaurant.com.

SANDY SPRINGS

Joli Kobe

Don't be deterred by the construction in swing at the Prado. French and Japanese-influenced bakery and bistro Joli Kobe still cranks out glorious bites. (It will continue closing on Sundays until construction is complete.) The bakery draws early risers and fans of sweets throughout the day. Its strawberry shortcake, a menu mainstay, has a style lifted from the land of the rising sun. Manager Kyoji Osato says the staff starts with a sponge cake made with flour, corn starch, egg, sugar and butter. Then comes the cream, which utilizes fresh strawberries each day, fresh cream and sugar. "The original recipe is from Japan," Osato says, "so you won't find it anywhere else in town."

• 5600 Roswell Road N.E., Sandy Springs. 404-843-3257, www.jolikobe.com.

DOWNTOWN

Luckie Food Lounge

After sampling the strawberry-related desserts off of the newly-revamped menu, it might warrant walking off the calories in nearby Centennial Olympic Park. For the strawberry shortcake, layers of yellow cake get a sweetened whipped cream and strawberry filling. The strawberry white chocolate panna cotta finds a layer of white chocolate panna cotta covering a helping of strawberry gelée. A strawberry-lemon compote serves as the topping. And Luckie's Five-Dollar Milkshakes, hand-spun by the staff, come in either strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, peanut butter and cookies and cream.

• 375 Luckie St. N.W., Downtown. 404-525-5825, www.luckiefoodlounge.com.

BUCKHEAD

Restaurant Eugene

Pastry chef Chrysta Poulos offers her own incarnation of the time-honored melding of peanut butter and jelly. A homemade yeast doughnut comes with one container of peanut butter crème brûlée and another holding a glob of oven-roasted, Georgia-grown strawberries. Diners can dunk or spread at will. A classic strawberry shortcake periodically materializes on the Sunday Supper menu, a prix fixe exercise in regional goodness. Poulos and company make a basic shortcake about the size of a biscuit. They cut it in half and fill with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. The top gets a sprinkling of confectionery sugar.

• 2277 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-355-0321, www.restauranteugene.com.