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Best Restaurants 2016 - Atlanta Edition

Mr. Plow and I call Atlanta home and Atlanta restaurants are the ones that we most often frequent. The following are our favorites from 2016 - a new discovery, a re-discovery, and our standard go-tos for whenever we need a nice meal and a respite from reality.

New Discovery

 Staplehouse
541 Edgewood Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30312

 We made our reservation (to celebrate Mr. Plow's birthday) just before the boom - the boom that catapulted Staplehouse to national acclaim: praise from the likes of GQ and Vogue, a feature story on CBS Sunday Morning, and the honor of being named the Best New Restaurant of the Year by Bon Appétit. I'll be honest, the experience was perfection primarily because the elegant and eclectic dishes are paired with the welcoming warmth of the staff and the comfortable aura of the room. (The fact that all the after-expenses profits benefit The Giving Kitchen is a moving bonus.) We'd desperately like to return, but the they are seemingly always fully committed since the boom.

Re-Discovery

Iberian Pig
121 Sycamore St
Decatur, GA 30030

 We love Spain and Spanish food and we have been trying to find a relatively authentic and reliable spot for a Spanish experience here in Atlanta. (We make the three-hour drive to Asheville at least once a year to get our tapas fix at Cúrate, chef Katie Button's award-winning restaurant.) We rediscovered Iberian Pig in downtown Decatur this year and - ¡qué maravilla! - what a rediscovery! We enjoyed tapas and sangria for three hours!

 Go-Tos

Bocado
887 Howell Mill Rd
Atlanta, GA 30318

Here are the things that keep us coming back to Bocado: the relaxed vibe, great cocktails, the roast chicken with grits and collard greens, and that well-documented burger stack! Seriously, Bocado consistently provides a comforting and delicious night out.

Floataway Cafe
1123 Zonolite Rd
Atlanta, GA 30306
No power at home? Let's go to Floataway! Wait out the notorious Atlanta traffic? Let's go to Floataway! Need to feel warm and full and satisfied? Let's go to Floataway! Simply put, we love Floataway Cafe and think of it as our hidden neighborhood gem. These are a few of our favorite things: the piccolo fritto (a clump of fried things including squid, onions, and lemons), the blue crab fritter (a lump of crispy-creamy deliciousness), the veal meatballs (with caserrece pasta), the roast chicken (with bread salad), the buttermilk budino (heaven in a cup), and the sticky toffee cake (heaven in a bowl).
Shorty's
3701 Lawrenceville Hwy
Tucker, GA 3008
(Also at 2884-B North Druid Hills Rd, Atlanta, GA 30329)

 We are probably equidistant between the two Shorty's locations, though the Tucker spot has become our favorite. Why Shorty's? There are two simple reasons: an ever-rotating selection of local craft beers (as well as plenty of other options in bottles) and crunchy, wood-fired pizzas. We love many of the pizzas at Shorty's, but we seem to always settle on the following few: the Janis Joplin (a white pie with apples, walnuts, blue cheese, and bacon), the Tina Turner (roasted onions, fresh onions, goat cheese, blue cheese, and walnuts), the Sid Vicious (all the meats - sausage, ground beef, ham, salami, pepperoni), and the Wu Tang Clan (buffalo chicken, blue cheese, celery, and ranch).
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