The food choices in Atlanta never have been more varied — or more accessible.

Traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants now share the dining landscape with food hall stalls, food trucks, farmers market vendors, pop-up innovators and delivery-only entrepreneurs.

Combined, they offer a smorgasbord of creative, global flavors in everything from handhelds and messy finger food to sophisticated knife-and-fork fare.

For this Fall Dining Guide, our group of contributors is singing the praises of current favorite metro Atlanta dishes. We love them for the flavors, the ingredients and the care that goes into making — and, sometimes — plating them.

You’ll find picks for breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner — anytime the craving strikes. Some are menu mainstays, while others require a bit of planning to seek out. All but a few are highly affordable — and a couple are even free!

Here, in no particular order, are the dishes we crave right now.

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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams testifies during a misconduct hearing in May 2025. She resigned in February and has been hired as a prosecutor in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez