Atlanta, Georgia

In April, 1998 and May, 1999 I was in Atlanta. No time to do too much, but I have recommendations for four great restaurants--Dante's Down the Hatch, Maggiano's Little Italy, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen and Azio's.

Dante's Down the Hatch has two locations: Underground Atlanta and Buckhead. I went to the one in Buckhead in '98 and the Underground in '99--lots of ambience, personal attention and live crocodiles in the moat. My recommendation is to get the Mandarin plate, which has pieces of raw beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, squash and mushrooms which you cook yourself in hot oil in a fondue pot and then dip in one of four sauces (teriyaki, sweet and sour, horseradish and remoulade) which are wonderfully scrumptious. Click HERE for a copy of the remoulade sauce recipe. We also ordered a cheese fondue and a vegetable plate that had a huge variety of veggies. Favorites were the bread croutons and apple chunks dipped in the cheese fondue, potato chunks cooked in the oil, and all the meats cooked in the oil and dipped in the sauces.

Maggiano's, at 3368 Peachtree Road in Buckhead, had some of the best Italian food I have ever had. I ordered a special dish of linguini with shrimp and broccoli with alfredo sauce. They serve a large basket with a variety of four or five fresh-baked breads that are from their bakery which adjoins the dining room. The portion sizes on all their dishes (we ordered 1/2 portions) were so huge, we could have fed two or three people from each serving. The sad part was that we had to waste so much food since we were out of town, so we couldn't ask for doggie bags. After dinner we went over to the bakery side and got muffins and rugelach for the next morning's breakfast. Everything was delicious. We found out too late that they deliver, which would have been a whole lot cheaper than room service at our hotel.

Pappadeaux's food was so excellent, we went to each of their two locations (in Marietta and Norcross) even though our time in Atlanta was short. You can't go to Atlanta without trying Pappadeaux's blackened shrimp and crawfish fondeaux (yes, that's how they spell it to match the name of the restaurant). Dip some delicious french bread in the wonderfully rich cheese, filled with the seafood and mushrooms and more. Although it's an appetizer, you could actually have a wonderful lunch with that dish alone. I also recommend the crawfish platter, which includes fried crawfish and and crawfish etouffee served over "dirty" rice.

Azio's is a terrific Italian restaurant on the outside of Peachtree Center in the downtown area. Although their address is on Peachtree Street, the restaurant is actually on International Blvd. I am so glad I chose to have the Fetuccini Primavera with shrimp. It was filled with lots of perfectly cooked vegetables, large crisp shrimp, and asiago cheese in a light cream sauce. I couldn't stop raving about my meal during each and every bite. The service was excellent, and my two dining companions enjoyed their selections, too.