New Additions to the MICHELIN Guide Atlanta in 2024

By Lia Picard

Published October 28, 2024
Last Updated December 3, 2024

Atlanta’s restaurant community, including chefs, staff  and enthusiasts, gathered at the Georgia World Congress Center for the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Atlanta awards. The high-energy, emotional evening reinforced what many of us already know: There’s never been a more exciting time to dine in Atlanta. 

In 2024, there are four new MICHELIN Star restaurants, four restaurants with Bib Gourmand distinctions, and four new additions to the Recommended list. This year’s list also welcomes restaurants found outside the Perimeter.

Here are this year’s recipients.

One Star

Staplehouse

Located on Edgewood Avenue in Old Fourth Ward, Staplehouse is a testament to Atlanta’s collaborative spirit and resilience. It began as the vision of chef Ryan Hidinger, who tragically passed away from stage 4 gall bladder cancer in 2014. His brother-in-law, chef Ryan Smith, and sister, Kara Hidinger, carried on Hidinger’s vision with an at-home supper club before opening their community-funded restaurant in 2015. It quickly earned accolades for Smith’s multi-course tasting menu before the pandemic forced it to evolve into a daytime cafe with outdoor seating in the restaurant’s backyard. For lunch, there are wood-fired pizzas topped with smoked burrata and tomatoes. Salads and hefty grinders also tempt. Two nights a week, Smith returns to his roots with a supper club in the upstairs dining room where fewer than 20 people gather at a time to feast on what MICHELIN calls a, “hearty and far from fussy offering.” Atlanta has long rooted for Staplehouse, so it’s particularly exciting to see it reach this milestone.

Spring

Spring is the first restaurant outside the Perimeter to receive one MICHELIN Star. The petite brick-walled restaurant with vaulted ceilings hides behind Marietta Square and it’s not unusual to feel the room rattle a bit as a train rolls past. Within this intimate, minimalist dining room, chef Brian So keeps a tight menu allowing seasonal ingredients to shine. Go with someone who likes to share so you can work your way down the menu together — and do not skip the house-made sourdough. You’ll likely be greeted by the friendly face of co-owner and sommelier Daniel Crawford who does his best to make sure everyone has a great evening, and it’s no wonder he received the Michelin Outstanding Service Award this year.

O  by Brush

When chef Jason Liang reopened his sushi restaurant Brush in Buckhead, he also opened a restaurant within a restaurant, O by Brush. Behind the counter, Liang presents his interpretation of omakase with Taiwanese and Japanese influences. It’s a delicious evening filled with bites such as wheel pie stuffed with monkfish and lots of beautifully presented nigiri, including shima aji, hay-smoked warayaki sawara and dry-aged hirame. Don’t overlook the dishes on which the food is served; many of them are vintage and carefully sourced by ChingYao Wang (who is also the pastry chef). MICHELIN lauds O’s wide-ranging sake program, but the cocktails, which place emphasis on Japanese ingredients, are worth sipping, too.

Omakase Table

In Atlanta, a restaurant can start as a pop-up and morph into a restaurant with one Michelin Star — just look at Omakase Table which built momentum during the pandemic. Chef Leonard Yu opened his restaurant in Atlanta’s West Midtown in 2022. The building is modern, but the interior is warm and welcoming with wood accents, comfy seats and soft lighting. It’s a meal that “leans traditional while offering a nice balance of variety and seasonality,” writes MICHELIN, with dishes like Wagyu beef poached in sukiyaki sauce with a quail egg, uni gohan with otoro. When it comes to nigiri expect to find delectable bits like kawahagi topped with flash-frozen liver paste and seared sharkskin sole with engawa — though Yu’s tomago may be the best bite of all thanks to his painstaking care in preparing the cake-like omelet.

Green Star

The Green Star is awarded to restaurants “who are at the forefront of sustainability .”Bacchanalia earned its Green Star in 2023 thanks in large part to its farm, Summerland, operated by chefs-owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison. “We’ve had over 2,000 employees, leading them in this direction of sustainability. We spent our money intentionally, and we showed our staff how to spend their money intentionally and make delicious food. Atlanta restaurants have really embraced it in so many ways that it’s admirable,” Quatrano told MICHELIN. The CHASTAIN, which has an onsite regenerative garden also earned a Green Star in 2023.

Bib Gourmand

The Bib Gourmand designation recognizes restaurants with great food and moderate pricing. This year, four new restaurants earned Bib Gourmand distinctions. They are: 

Masterpiece

Masterpiece is worth the drive to Duluth. The restaurant lacks frills but makes up for it with chef Riu Lui’s tongue-tingling Sichuan dishes like dong po pork (pork belly in a dark brown sauce) and fried eggplant coated in chili and pepper ash powders. Don’t worry, you can cool off with an order of cold (or hot) dan dan noodles.

Superica

Ford Fry’s burgeoning Tex-Mex chain now has five locations around Atlanta, but the MICHELIN Guide specifically applauds the original location in Krog Street Market with its industrial vibe and spacious patio. You can almost certainly expect to wait whether you visit for brunch or dinner, but it’s worth it. If you go for brunch, start with an order of the pancakes for the table (they’re huge and can be split among at least four people) and ask for extra buttermilk syrup. Dinnertime calls for queso fundido, cheese enchiladas or tacos al carbon. MICHELIN suggests pairing any of these with a margarita, but another option is the house-made horchata or the daily agua fresca for those looking for something nonalcoholic. 

Table & Main

In a converted home on Roswell’s Canton Street, chef Woolery “Woody” Back prepares modern Southern cuisine with a seasonal focus. The restaurant itself is charming and picturesque with ample natural light, earthy tones and a lush patio for those who prefer dining alfresco. Highlights of any meal at Table & Main should include the cornbread, hogs n’ quilts (barbecue pork wrapped in chive crepes) and the fried chicken with a choice of two sides (once of which should be macaroni and cheese). 

Whoopsies

Whoopsies opened its doors in 2023 bringing eclectic, vintage decor and a quirky menu to Moreland Road in Reynoldstown. Chef Hudson Rouse’s tight menu focuses on creative yet comforting dishes, like the roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce on a brioche onion bun or the rotating protein which includes prime rib and porchetta. MICHELIN suggests starting with a Southern snack tray, with bites like pimento cheese and chow chow served on an old-school plastic cafeteria tray.

Recommended Restaurants

This year’s newly added recommended restaurants are: 

Hen Mother Cookhouse

Located in a Johns Creek strip mall, the Hen Mother Cookhouse original location charms with its blue walls and plants galore — but that’s not why you come here. You come for chef Soraya Khoury’s breakfast food, like the “deep dish” pancakes, the fried chicken and biscuit sandwich, or the chia pudding adorned with fruit and house-made granola. Khoury and her team pay attention to all the details when it comes to their gourmet twist on breakfast classics and  their pastries, like kolaches and cinnamon rolls, which sell out quickly. They recently opened a second location in downtown Alpharetta offering the same great food and service with additional seating. 

Little Sparrow

Ford Fry’s Little Sparrow resides in the former JCT Kitchen space in Westside Provisions District. It’s possibly his prettiest restaurant yet with a moody ambiance accentuated by gold, wood, and marble as well as plenty of textures found in the patterned tile flooring, soft drapes and dark leather banquettes. Though it’s primarily a French brasserie where dishes like the duck liver terrine or poulet with chanterelles stand out, don’t overlook the dry-aged burger served alongside possibly the best thick-cut fries in Atlanta. All meals at Little Sparrow should conclude with “fancy” soft serve topped with seasonal fruit like summer cherries or the honey and extra virgin olive oil. 

Nàdair

Kevin Gillespie made waves when he opened Gunshow in 2013, but Nàdair, which sits on the edge of Zonolite Park in Woodland Hills, is his most personal restaurant yet. Scottish Gaelic for “the way of nature,” Nàdair pays homage to Gillespie’s Scottish heritage and his love of wood-fire cooking with dishes like vegetarian haggis pie and cider-braised pork shoulder. Choose between three or six courses; either way you won’t be disappointed. The restaurant’s interior reflects Gillespie’s personal touches, too, with deep green walls, heirloom furnishings and paintings by his favorite artists. 

Woo Nam Jeong (Stone Bowl House)

Situated in a nondescript shopping center on Buford Highway, Woo Nam Jeong serves traditional Korean fare in a casual setting. Bibimbaps served in dolsots (hot stone bowls) are the stars here in varieties like beef and mushrooms. Other can’t-miss dishes include the vegetable dumplings, seafood pancakes and, of course, all the banchan served with every meal.

MICHELIN Special Awards

Four special awards were announced in addition to Stars and Bib Gourmand. The MICHELIN Exceptional Cocktails Award was given to Miles Macquarrie of Kimball House. Ashleigh McFadden of Nàdair earned the MICHELIN Sommelier Award (sponsored by Franciacorta). Daniel Crawford of Spring won the MICHELIN Outstanding Service Award. Nolan Wynn of Banshee won the MICHELIN Young Chef/ Culinary Professional Award. 

Check out the full MICHELIN Guide Atlanta 2024 Awards.

Lia Picard is a lifestyle writer who has called Atlanta home for more than a decade. Her work appears in the New York Times, Garden & Gun, and Atlanta magazine among other national and regional publications. When she’s not writing she’s exploring Atlanta with her husband and daughter.