Judging by the mail I receive, Mr. and Ms. ATL are way more interested in barbecue and Brunswick stew than in trendier comestibles such as sushi, stone crabs and blood-orange sorbet. Leaving aside the implications that this may hold for The Next Great International City, it's fair to say that the typical citizen of metro Atlanta believes that the next great 'cue, stew and onion rings should always be right around the corner. For intowners, it ain't necessarily so. Memorable, reliable barbecue restaurants, in my experience, nearly always lie at the far end of a long drive. Such restaurants have usually been in business at least a decade.
Meat is slow-cooked on site.
Sauce ingredients and the finer points of hardwood smoking are treated as trade secrets. Prices are reasonable, portions moderate. Wallace Barbecue, among the state's best, qualifies on all counts. Kicking butt since 1966, Mickey Taylor's 'cue cathedral in Austell is convenient for residents of Lithia Springs, Powder Springs and Mableton. Cue connoisseurs will treat the lightly smoked, slightly pink meat as the Georgia communion that it is, consuming initial morsels without sauce or bread.