Atlanta is maturing as a restaurant town with its own distinct, prismatic style. We now attract and nurture high-end chefs with solid creds who know how to fuse their cooking with craftsmanship and creativity. Just as importantly, the quality of our ethnic eateries continues to blossom. As we embrace new tastes and the city's diverse populations swell, we're seeing an influx of truer regional specialties made with pride. That new corner joint down the street isn't just Mexican -- it's Oaxacan.

My eight favorite new restaurants I reviewed in 2004 straddle the spectrum between high end and down home. My fingers are crossed that the new year brings some fresh blood to the middle-of-the-road neighborhood genre. Next week, I'll discuss the notable closings of the year, and look ahead at a few of the juicy prospects for 2005.

Rathbun's

After years on the Buckhead Life payroll, Kevin Rathbun flew the corporate coop to create the year's biggest dining destination. You may have to wait a spell for your table (and reservations are de rigueur), but your impatience is easily quelled by a stiff drink in the percussive bar area. The food is so worth the wait. The menu is largely a culmination of Rathbun's career, which takes you from New Orleans-style eggplant fries to the Nava-like lobster and roasted chile soft taco. Part of what makes this restaurant so successful (and popular) is that it accommodates all budgets. You can make a fine meal out of small plates -- mussels on toast, butternut squash tortelloni, sushi-like "crudo" -- or dig deep in your pockets for splurge dishes like bone-in rib eye with blue cheese and bacon vinaigrette. A selection of pastry chef Kirk Park's witty, miniature desserts is a must-have ending to the elegant evening.

112 Krog St., Suite R. 404-524-8280. www.rathbunsrestaurant.com.

Bamboo Garden

As Decatur's love affair with vegetarian South Indian food plateaus, it's refreshing to explore other facets of India's vast, lush cuisine. Bamboo Garden serves the increasingly popular Indian-Chinese fusion known as Desi-Chinese. Think stir-fries, spring rolls and garlic sauce crossed with elusive spices, dairy products and lamb. The menu is extensive, so scan carefully for the more unusual sounding dishes. Those are the jewels. Lat Mai paneer -- fiery cubes of fried, toothsome cheese -- has the addictive quality of popcorn. And braised lamb with choy sum (Chinese greens) illustrates the confluence of culinary cultures at its best. The combination is reminiscent of an Indian saag, but the Chinese quick-cooking technique leaves these ingredients with a vibrant immediacy that its long-simmered Indian counterpart loses. The dining room is benignly innocuous and the service a bit slow, but if you're bored with the same ol', same ol' at your local Indian and Chinese spots, the food is worth a jaunt across town.

1707 Church St., Suite C-8, Decatur. 404-294-6160.

Grace 17.20

A refined dining destination in an outdoor mall in Norcross? Astounding but true. From the tranquil taupe room to the thoughtful service and quietly exceptional food, the talented team behind Grace knows how to orchestrate the sublime details. Ex-Bacchanalia chef Charles Schwab cooks pristine ingredients with an intelligently light hand to coax out their essence. You can taste an urbane nod to Southern cuisine in the restaurant's signature mussels and grits, and a sense of adventure in the bruschetta topped with eggplant, blue cheese, golden raisins and basil. Already accomplished, it'll be a pleasure to watch -- and taste -- this sharp newcomer continue to mature and grow in culinary confidence.

5155 Peachtree Parkway, Suite 320, Norcross. 678-421-1720. www.grace1720.com.

Mitra

Mitra's feisty, Latin-infused outlook is just what Midtown needed: a sexy spot appropriate for dates or groups that serves lively, consistent food. Owner Sia Moshk originally tapped Scott Serpas, the executive chef at Moshk's well-respected Sia's in Duluth, to helm the kitchen at Mitra. When Serpas jumped ship to open Two Urban Licks, Moshk brought in Sia's sous chef, Gerardo Ramos, who has ably kept the Latin beat alive. The lamb taquitos -- roasted lamb blended with blue cheese, almonds and raisins and nestled between two arching tortilla chips -- deserve cult status. Stick to unfussy entrees like the supple, aptly named pull-apart pig.

818 Juniper St. 404-875-5515. www.mitrarestaurant.com.

Restaurant Eugene

Linton Hopkins moved back to his hometown from D.C. to open this genteel yet cosmopolitan venture that, like Rathbun's, has been a hit from the day it opened. The crowd is a bit more, um ... seasoned here, though. The well-heeled, retired Buckhead set has made prime-time reservations hard to come by, and not just on the weekends. Persevere, though, and you'll be ensconced in a pampered environment that reminds you how restaurants were once places for soft conversation. Hopkins' menu is intensely seasonal and changes often. On a recent visit, a sublime scallop gratin made me yearn for Paris. And his plate of winter vegetables, including spaghetti squash and Brussels sprouts cooked with eye-opening reverence, was unexpectedly dazzling. Thoughtful wine list, too. Guys, be sure to wear a jacket.

2277 Peachtree Road. 404-355-0321. www.restauranteugene.com.

Soto

OK, so Soto's not a new restaurant per se. But it closed for 10 months, and its rebirth is such cause for rejoicing that it deserves a mention. If you've ever been to Soto, you'll understand: Sotohiro Kosugi has inspired this degree of rapt adoration from Atlanta diners for nearly a decade. From his post at the center of the sushi bar, he creates pleasures you'll find nowhere else in the Southeast. Dual elements comprise the splendor of a meal at Soto. There is, of course, the impeccably sourced fish served as sushi and sashimi. But, for me, the deepest pleasures come from Kosugi's specials and appetizers: The aji carpaccio adorned with the sterling pieces of yuzu. The steamed lobster with uni mousse in its porous cage of lotus root. The tempura soft-shell crawfish, powdered with curry and poised over a fleshy mound of plump shiitake mushrooms. Sigh. There are too many to name, and always more to discover in the ever-changing lineup. Welcome back, Soto.

3330 Piedmont Road. 404-233-2005.

Taqueria La Oaxaquena

The tlayuda (pronounced klie-YOU-da) was my culinary obsession this year. It's a Oaxacan curiosity that's part pizza, part Taco Bell concoction with pedigree: An oversized tortilla, bigger than the average dinner plate, is griddled and smeared with bean paste, then topped with pork or steak, lettuce, two kinds of cheese and sundry other goodies. Each bite is different, each mouthful a riot of crispy, salty, mellow, meaty and spicy. Taqueria La Oaxaquena makes the best I've tasted in the metro area. Yes, other dishes are worth ordering at this modest charmer, but the tlayuda is the must-order specialty. You'll want to mosey up to their fixin's bar come chow time and help yourself to thin but delicious guacamole, smoky red salsa and vibrantly fiery green salsa. Slather them all copiously atop your tlayuda and dig in. Go ahead, use your hands. Man, I'm jonesing for one right now.

6738 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro. 770-960-3010.

Two Urban Licks