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Last year, when I made the decision to bring the Atlanta 50 back after a long hiatus, I used the power of executive fiat and chose all the restaurants for the list.
This time around, I invited Jenny Turknett and Jon Watson to the judges’ table to hash out the current list as a group effort. We all come to this job with different tastes and perspectives, so there were some disagreements — maybe even a little eye rolling. (“You’d put that restaurant on the Atlanta 50?”)
We decided to use this methodology for compiling the 50:
1. We each submitted a listing of our favorite places that we felt deserved a spot within the 50.
2. If any restaurant got two or more votes, it was in. There were 35 top contenders that cleared this hurdle.
3. We each then chose an outlier — one restaurant that each of us felt deserved a spot on this list for its cuisine or personality. We have video presentations about those outliers, and why they chose them: John Kessler | Jenny Turknett | Jon Watson. We were now up to 38.
4. We then went back to the conference table and picked the remaining 12 restaurants with an eye to ethnic and geographic diversity on the list. Remember, the Atlanta 50 isn’t our attempt at a straight “Best Of,” but rather a selection that tells the story of dining in the greater metro area today. These are restaurants that create community.
5. Unless we had eaten at the restaurants recently for review, we made sure to revisit each of the places on the list. A couple of them disappointed us and got “downhill alert” pinned to their dossiers, so better restaurants claimed their spots. Some others got their star ratings adjusted up (Bacchanalia, Tomo Japanese Restaurant, Table & Main, Greenwood’s on Green Street) or down (Bone’s, One Eared Stag). Three restaurants on the list (Woodfire Grill under its new chef, KR Steakbar, the General Muir) are unrated, awaiting a formal review.
These results show our taste and perhaps some of our quirks. For instance, all three of us cast ballots for the uneven-but-lovable Rathbun’s, while none of us voted for Kevin Rathbun Steak, which is ostensibly the better restaurant. A number of fine high-profile restaurants — One Midtown Kitchen, Floataway Cafe, Chops, among others — didn’t make the cut.
We all had our favorites — Local Three for Jenny, the Porter Beer Bar for Jon, Taqueria del Sol for me — that we couldn't imagine not being on an Atlanta 50 list. But that's what happens when you decide by committee.
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