Linton Hopkins, Scott Peacock and Anne Quatrano have been featured in national magazines for their top-rated cuisine. Sonya Jones' homey desserts have won the praise of a president and spots on the Food Network. Virginia Willis just landed a deal with a major cookbook publisher after years of teaching her recipes to sell-out classes. Dave Roberts helped mastermind the menus for two of the city's most critically acclaimed barbecue joints.

While their cooking styles and venues for expressing them may be dramatically diverse, each has something in common with many of the readers of this section: a deep connection to this region that began at the family dinner table.

SPECIAL (ENLARGE)

A family photo catches Dave Roberts - of Sam & Dave's BBQ1 and BBQ2 - training for a future career.

Louie Favorite/Staff (ENLARGE)

Dave Roberts and his mother, Jean, come together for a meal recently at Sam & Dave's BBQ1. Though he specializes in barbecue, mac and cheese remains his favorite.

Louie Favorite/Staff (ENLARGE)

Comfort food par excellence, Anne Quatrano's Potato Boulangere is layers of potato and onion baked to a golden crispy tenderness.

Louie Favorite/Staff (ENLARGE)

Linton Hopkins with his grandfather's succotash.

LOUIE FAVORITE (ENLARGE)

Sonya Jones used to get help at Sweet Auburn Bread Co. from her mom, Catherine Johnson, who taught Jones to cook in a soul food restaurant she ran.

Louie Favorite/Staff (ENLARGE)

Scott Peacock with his pimento cheese using his mother's recipe in Watershed.

Louie Favorite/Staff (ENLARGE)

LOUIE FAVORITE / Staff /'The first time we cooked venison at culinary school, my chef told me to cook it rare,/' Willis says.

RELATED Anne Quatrano Co-chef/owner of Bacchanalia, Quinones, Star Provisions and Floataway Cafe in Atlanta  Before they were chefs...six Atlanta cooking pros  Sonya Jones - Chef/owner, Sweet Auburn Bread Co.  Scott Peacock Executive chef at Watershed in Decatur  Virginia Willis Atlanta cookbook author and cooking instructor  Linton Hopkins Chef/owner of Restaurant Eugene in Buckhead  Dave Roberts Chef at Sam & Dave's BBQ1 and BBQ2 in Marietta

That's why we invited them to join our Saving Southern Food chefs panel to help revive and, in some cases, update the beloved heirloom recipes you've been sending us since we began our Southern Recipe Restoration Project more than a year ago.

Each week we run some of those tested recipes and the stories behind them. Periodically, we show how they have inspired these chefs to devise more contemporary interpretations that help keep these traditions alive for a new generation — from refined gumbos born in hard times to sophisticated gelatin salads sprung from yesteryear's Jell-O molds.

This exercise has been no stretch for these chefs. Many of the dishes they serve on their menus or teach in classes are rooted in their own childhood memories.

For today's Food & Drink, we asked each to share a favorite and tell us how they adapted it.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, some of our panelists (Hopkins, Jones, Willis and Roberts) will join me at Cook's Warehouse in Decatur (108 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.) for a Simple Abundance cooking class, to discuss the project and demonstrate other Southern dishes they have updated. Tuition is $75. Proceeds from the classes, sponsored by the Atlanta Community Food Bank, benefit Atlanta's Table, a project that helps feed the city's hungry.

For more details on the class and to check availability, go to www.acfb.org, or call 404-892-3333, Ext. 1444.

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE

You, too, can share an heirloom recipe and honor a loved one: Go to ajc.com/food. Under Recipe Restoration Project, click on Submit Yours and fill out the form. Or e-mail it to savingsouthernfood @ajc.com. Or mail it to Southern Recipe Restoration Project, c/o Food Editor Susan Puckett, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.

The AJC's recipe testers and members of our Saving Southern Food chefs panel will select recipes to try and — in some instances — update for possible inclusion on a restaurant menu. And if the recipe was never written down? Share your best memory of it, and we'll leave it to the pros to fill in the blanks.