A guide to comfort food in Atlanta
Comfort food is feel-good food. It’s chicken noodle soup to ease the aches and pains of sickness. It’s the cherished food of memories, like the hearty Sunday supper that Mom or Grandma always made, when the aroma filled the kitchen like a great big hug. It’s the dining equivalent of an old pal you always can depend on to cheer you up when life gets you down.
In this Dining Guide, we’re celebrating comfort foods and their power to nourish the body and soothe the soul. Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich are among the classic American comfort dishes, but every culture has its familiar favorites — from Salvadoran pupusas to Vietnamese pho to Indian dals in a rainbow of colors. Whether your go-to comfort food has roots in the U.S. or abroad, chances are you can find it among the diverse restaurants in metro Atlanta.
For this project, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s dining team compiled 50 of their favorite comfort dishes. Most picks are hot and savory, featuring soups and stews, noodles and rice, meat and potatoes, stuffed handhelds and lots of cheese. But we don’t deny our need for sugar. Sometimes, a three-scoop banana split or a large chocolate milkshake is exactly what we crave.
The need for comfort food is universal, but each person’s preference is unique. So, we asked a slew of local chefs, folks from the AJC’s newsroom and even famous Atlantans to share the restaurant dish they’ve come to rely on when they want to feel good. Award-winning editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich even drew a picture to go with his pick.
We hope this guide not only will let you know where to find your favorites, but also will inspire you to explore some new comfort dishes. Slurp your way through a communal pot of budae jjigae, aka Korean army stew. Dig into the Peruvian purple corn pudding known as mazamorra morada. Heck, be like AJC political reporter Greg Bluestein and order the kids meal from Super Chix. After all, comfort food is all about channeling your inner kid.
• Map: Find a restaurant near you
