RATHBUN'S

2. Inman Park

112 Krog St. 404-524-8280

Kevin Rathbun's menu exemplifies what's fun and comfortable about modern American cuisine. His take is sophisticated, but never fussy, and loaded with influences from the Southeast, Southwest and his native heartland. Most restaurants take lots of time garnering a reputation for a signature dish, but in less than a year the kitchen's sea scallop Benedict over country ham grits — unapologetically salty, sexily smoky — is so popular Rathbun couldn't take it off the menu if he wanted to. Ditto the always-fun eggplant steak fries, cut thick, crisp edged and covered in confectioner's sugar. Rathbun isn't afraid to play with his food, having as much fun globe-trotting through classic Greek dishes like pan-fried kefalotiri cheese (saganaki style) as he does sprucing up tiny tostadas with habanero sauce and smoky salmon. Save room for pastry chef Kirk Parks' creamy, dreamy peanut butter-banana cream pie. It has already become a city legend. Dinner: 5:30-10:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. $$$$

BACCHANALIA

1. West Intown

1198 Howell Mill Road N.W. 404-350-0677

More than any other Atlanta restaurant, Bacchanalia represents what great dining means to Atlantans: Chefs Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano cook with easygoing personality and use the freshest ingredients possible. Their restaurant exudes the warehouse chic we love; the modern-yet-warm tones; the seamless service that still manages to make you feel at home. In the kitchen, these two don't coax flavor, it comes to them freely. The menu has daily changes, but expect full-flavored freshness from everything from Belon oysters to the precious quenelle of beet sorbet that accompanies your foie gras. Ingredients such as cavelo nero, hakurei turnips, lady apples and tarbais beans aren't just words thrown around on the menu; with one of the finest local provenders fronting the restaurant, if it's possible, they'll have it. The warm Valrhona chocolate cake with jasmine and mint ice creams has become as much a classic as the restaurant itself. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. Dinner: 6-9:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. $$$$

THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ-CARLTON BUCKHEAD

3. Buckhead

3434 Peachtree Road N.E. 404-240-7035

Visions of luxurious, patterned upholstery mix with Oriental silks and hunt club dog portraits. A larger-than-life guéridon, replete with chocolates and pastries that rival Willy Wonka, only these delicacies are all grown up. Servers who gently whisper and scurry about, catering to your every wish. From the moment you step into the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, life becomes otherworldly. You have entered universe à la Ritz — a place that coddles every whim you could possibly dream up, and a few you hadn't even thought of. Every last crumb, drop and smear of anything that comes from executive chef Bruno Ménard's pristine kitchen must be savored. What will it be tonight? Crab and avocado Napoleon with a perfect pecan tuile and yuzu and tomato sauce? Cocoa bean-coated lamb loin with a chorizo crust? The menu is a symphony of ingredients from top to bottom. For dessert? The Cuban chocolate tart with chocolate sorbet redefines chocolate. The staff is the epitome of understated elegance, continuing to set the standard for service in the region. And lovely Chantelle Grilhot maintains the wine list with amazing grace. Dinner: 6-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $$$$

FLOATAWAY CAFE

2. Briarcliff/Emory Area

1123 Zonolite Road, Suite 15

404-892-1414

Want to know where to get the best pizza in Atlanta? Right here. Wood oven-fired, the crusts are boldly charred and the perfect blend of chewy and crispy, topped with wild mushrooms, roasted garlic and nutty pea sprouts that taste like what spring smells like. But pizza is hardly the only reason to come. A pretty salad of pink lady apples tossed with frisee, spiced walnuts and asiago cheese is the essence of fresh, subtle flavor. The cheese selection from Star Provisions is hedonistically indulgent — nutty manchego, creamy Humbolt Fog goat's milk coated in vegetable ash. Of course, there's an antipasto with house-cured finnochiona. Floataway Cafe may just be the best non-Italian Italian restaurant in the city. Design improvements over the years have made Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison's second venture more comfortable, with carpeting to give warmth and absorb sound. There's little here not to like. 5-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $$$

JOËL

3. Buckhead

3290 Northside Parkway N.E. 404-233-3500

Every time I visit this gorgeous restaurant I remember why I eat food in the first place. Chef-owner Joël Antunes' food is like a Mondrian painting: modern austerity mixed with a warmth that often leaves me scratching my head and mumbling things to myself like, "How does he do that?" Antunes magically creates subtle portions beautifully manicured yet so approachable. I'm as happy digging into a pretty-as-a-picture Georgia shrimp salad with coriander sauce and frisee as I am a bee-yoo-tee-ful pavlova filled with the most velvety creme patisserie this side of the Atlantic. It's an oasis of delightfully unpredictable French cuisine, with lots of Mediterranean undercurrents, all arriving happily unrecognizable from the kitchen. Service remains plodding, but during lulls between courses the towering ceilings, groovy leather banquettes and expansive windows will give you something to ponder. 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

3. Buckhead

3085 Piedmont Road N.E. 404-262-0702

Fish. Big, beautiful fish. Sweet, thick imported honey over creamy yogurt. Baby calamari so sweet and delicate that it almost melts in your mouth. Crisp, seasoned potatoes. Flaky phyllo wrapped around potatoes and leeks, drenched in a cream sauce laden with caviar. Kyma seamlessly brings the authentic flavors of Greece to the table, setting the gold standard for the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group. Traditional dishes like saganaki — fried, crispy-edged cheese with lemon — are sure bets on the menu, as are any of the spreads served with pita for appetizers. Chef Pano Karatassos, son of the Buckhead Life founder, strikes the right notes of homey authenticity and gourmet finesse. The service staff makes you feel like royalty. And save room for dessert, perhaps the best course of all. You must have the loukoumades — a heap of a dozen or more flash-fried doughnuts drizzled with honey that evaporate in your mouth. Ditto the honey-drenched baklava and the galaktoboureko, a sublime vanilla custard wrapped in phyllo. 5-11 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. $$$-$$$$

NAM

2. Midtown

931 Monroe Drive, Suite A-101. 404-541-9997

I'm not sure what's more hip: Owner Alex Kinjo's shades or his elegant menu of nouvelle Vietnamese cuisine. I'll go with the latter, since it's the restaurant's shaking beef and rice flour tamales that are among the grooviest, and tastiest, offerings this city has to offer. Flavors here are fresh. Clean. And thoughtful — they allow for Vietnamese traditions while embracing an unmistakable modernity. Bask in flowing, organza-like sheer panels between tables and a muted, modern atmosphere while noshing on the buttery texture of shaking beef seasoned with garlic and onions. Its exquisite flavor is made bright with a lime-and-pepper slurry for dipping. The banh nam (rice flour tamales) are a lesson in understated elegance, wrapped in a banana leaf and filled with pork, shrimp and mushrooms. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Dinner: 5:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 6-10 p.m. Sundays. $$$

SEEGER'S

3. Buckhead

111 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W. 404-846-9779

It's hard to picture a tiny renovated Buckhead house as the home of one of the Southeast's great restaurants. But Guenter Seeger is one of the country's great chefs, and a meal at his restaurant is the benchmark for fine dining in the Southeast. Fine lines, clean flavors and pristine presentation are the calling cards on every plate that leaves his spotless kitchen. He plays with flavors and ingredients behind the scenes as if he were mixing paints for a palette, then fine tunes them with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. What arrives at the table are tiny tastings of his interpretation — foie gras roulade with onion marmalade, or silky quince puree with Sweetgrass Dairy's luscious Lumiere cheese. The wine list is mature, but not stodgy, with boutique bottles from throughout France and Germany. Service may seem distant, but it's entirely appropriate for this kind of dining. Dinner: 6-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 5:30-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. $$$$

SOTO JAPANESE RESTAURANT

3. Buckhead

3330 Piedmont Road N.E. 404-233-2005

Chef Sotohiro Kosugi is perhaps the quintessential temperamental chef: It's said he can take hours to prepare a dish and sometimes throws fish at customers. I'll suffer his genius gladly. His outstanding sushi notwithstanding, I would wait an hour just to nibble on the geoduck clam salad with subtle flavors of sesame, ginger and pine nuts and Japanese cucumber tossed with peppery radish sprouts. And no one can touch his sea urchin, which is the finest, freshest and most delicately flavored in the city. Even the edamame tastes fresher here. Dinner: 6-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 6 p.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturdays. $$-$$$

WATERSHED

2. Decatur

406 W. Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-378-4900

A converted gas station in Decatur is an unassuming spot for a nationally recognized restaurant. But there is no better setting for Scott Peacock's serene Southern cooking. A James Beard Foundation Award nominee, cookbook author and housemate of culinary legend Edna Lewis, Peacock partners with Emily Saliers, of the Indigo Girls. They have created a comfortable space with muted tones of teal bathing the walls and lots of serene bamboo out front. Peacock's cooking has a gentile Southern accent and is a blessed reminder of how important cooking used to be to all of us. Savory shrimp grits with hearty slices of Pullman bread to dip or smear have become, like the fried chicken, staples on a menu that is half signature, half seasonal. Amid offerings of Greek-style fish served whole with lemon and capers are hardy short ribs with a corn bread so good it defies the laws of nature. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Brunch: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. $$-$$$