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In Your Neighborhood: Historic Roswell

In Your Neighborhood: Historic Roswell


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For folks who live in-town alongside rock star chefs and celebrated restaurants, it can be pretty easy to dismiss OTP dining as not worth the time in the car. But if you’re an ITP dweller looking to shake up your regular routine, or you just find yourself in Roswell and looking for some place to eat, Atlanta Eats has you covered.

Breakfast

Most Important Meal of the Day

Thumbs Up Diner. This place has come a long way from its beginnings in the Old Fourth Ward. Now with five locations ITP and OTP, Thumbs Up serves great breakfasts at very reasonable prices from 7am to 3pm. If you have a hankering for the kind of diner where regulars sit and talk about the news of the day to each other and the serving staff, this is the place for you.

Brunch

It’s a Breakfast, It’s a Lunch, It’s Super Brunch

You can find food posing as brunch at a few places around town, but for the real deal, you have to head to J. Christophers. Whether it’s French toast, waffles, or eggs benedict (the dish by which all brunches should be judged), J.C’s is where you should head on a weekday mid-morning. If brunch with mimosas and a few friends is more your weekend speed, get yourself to Oak Street Cafe, grab a seat in the sunshine and start your weekend right.

Lunch

I Never Bring My Lunch

It’s tucked away a little bit, but Artisan Foods Bakery & Cafe a great lunch destination among many great lunch places. Sandwiches and salads are the order of the day (literally) here.

Coffee

Where Can I Get a Caffeine Fix?

You can get it where I’m sitting right now, writing this blog, Roswell Provisions. Independent coffee shops have long been a hipster’s home-away-from-home, but on Canton Street you can escape the endless too-cool-to-serve-you vibe at this timeless-feeling French bistro. It’s possible that the door is a portal to 1962. The in-store radio plays Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, and Alma Cogan, and owner Marie serves coffee and all the pastries you’re used to at your local Starbucks. And, when she’s not pouring coffee or preparing the food, Marie chats to her customers, which sometimes means yelling a friendly “Bonjour!” through the door to passers by. Recommended as much for the experience as the food and drink.

Take the Kids

Not Just Kid-Friendly, Kid-Enthusiastic.

The Pie Hole. It’s fun to say, funner to eat there. The ladies of The Pie Hole are constantly baking new pies for their pastry case or for the freezer. Whether it’s a classic apple or cherry pie, or something more exotic like coconut or key lime, you won’t be able to stop at one slice. From the crust, a perfect combination of flaky and buttery, to the filling, which is just the right ratio of crust-to-filling, there’s nothing to complain at about this dessert shop in a barn.

Take a Date

When You Want to Look Sophisticated

Take a little turn onto Plum Street and you’ll find this little gem. Away from the craziness of Canton Street, Vin25 is ideal for romantic anniversary dinners, or quiet “getting to know you” first dates. Relive your childhood with a grown up chocolate peanut butter cup dessert, or indulge your inner adult with Vin’s wines and craft beers. If you get the salmon flatbreads, be sure to ask for a pen and paper, too. Because you’re going to want to write home about it.

Take the Boss

When You Want to Look Professional

It might be a cliche that bosses love steak dinners, but there’s a reason things become cliches. But whether there’s truth in it or not, there’s something admittedly decadent about a steakhouse that puts them on top of the list for business entertaining. Little Alley Steak is one of F&H Food Trading Group’s three restaurants on Canton Street (the other two are Salt Factory and Opulent).

After Work Cocktails

When You Want to Look Like Gatsby

Zest Sushi and Tapas is a great little restaurant in the heart of Roswell’s Canton Street. Whether you’re there for the (insanely good) pulled pork spring rolls, or the lamb lollipops, the food will give you plenty of reasons to keep heading back. But this is Canton Street, where taking a seat on the patio and soaking up the atmosphere in the evening is something of a local pastime, and the cocktails here will rock your world.

Dinner

Can’t Go Wrong Dinner

There are few places in metro Atlanta that feel like Table & Main on Canton Street. Fried chicken is the signature Southern dish this spot is famous for, and this simple, Southern plate is anything but plain. Other creative Southern classics you can look forward to enjoying include BBQ spiced tuna, shrimp and grits, mac n’ cheese, and a delicious buttermilk breaded and fried okra. Out-of-this-world Southern cookin’ isn’t all that Table & Main serves up. Their bourbon bar offers a selection of nearly 50 different bourbons, ryes, and American whiskeys; and their wines are independently sourced to perfectly complement their menu.

After Hours

Super-Secret Awesome Karaoke

Most people don’t go to Chaplin’s Cafe for the food — they go for the dive-bar atmosphere and the karaoke, which happens at least a couple of times every week.

Entertainment

Make It a Really Big Night Out

Feeling classy? Head to the Red Door Playhouse to check out a play, or some improv.

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