The 2022 ATL Food Bracket — And The Winner Is…

Championship Matchup and Results:

In the showdown between Old Money and New Money, the winner of the 2022 Atlanta Eats Food Bracket…is Chick-fil-A, with 68% of the total vote! Thousands of people voted each round, but alas, the winner is the epitome of Southern hospitality…the self-proclaimed inventor of the chicken sandwich…the place where you somehow always want it most on Sundays.

Ferocious Four Matchups and Results:

Waffle House vs. Chick-fil-A 

The battle of the ATL chains was a ferocious one. The lead shifted several times throughout the contest, and for a few hours it looked like Waffle House was going to be the All Star. But ultimately, our voters decided to Eat Mor Chikin and Chick-fil-A advanced to the Championship with 68% of the tally.

Superica vs. The Beltline

This matchup was one restaurant versus essentially hundreds, so Superica had an uphill battle to start. It held strong and kept the race tight, but The Beltline dominated the day and won 57% of the votes.

Exceptional Eight Matchups and Results:

Waffle House vs. Antico

In the battle of breakfast food versus artisan pizza, breakfast food wins out. While you’d be hard-pressed to find a pair of places that are so different yet offer similar levels of comfort, Waffle House won the day through sheer scope and versatility, earning 55% of the votes. 

Chick-fil-A vs. ITP

Look, I know this matchup was weird. It all happened so fast…but what is March Madness if not a platform for chaos? The result, however, was in no way chaotic. Chick-fil-A wins with a commanding 77% of the vote.

JR Crickets vs Superica

Lemon pepper wings may be iconic, but Tex-Mex is tried and true. There are few foods that we Atlantans love as much as wings, but it looks like nachos and fajitas rise to the occasion. Superica achieves a slim victory with 62%.

PCM vs Beltline

This matchup is inherently tough because Ponce City Market is one of the most popular spots on the Beltline, but it’s only one stop! The Beltline has Ponce City Market but also Krog Street Market, Ladybird, New Realm, Nina & Rafi, Two Urban Licks, not to mention direct paths to Inman Park and Piedmont Park. Ponce is great, but the Beltline barely slips ahead with a 52-48 victory.

And with that, the stage for the Ferocious Four is set: Waffle House will square off with Chick-fil-A, and Superica will take on The Beltline! Voting will take place on Friday, April 1st.

Savory Sixteen Matchups and Results:

Clearly Bracket Season is a popular one! We got thousands of votes in each contest. Some of these were runaways, with over 80% voting for one option in several of the matchups. Others were closer, with a margin of less than 10%. Here’s how it all shook out…

Waffle House vs. The Varsity

Two Atlanta icons, but Waffle House has over 200 locations in the city alone. Nothing against The Varsity (and I’ll always defend their chili dogs and onion rings), but…come on. The All Star Special. The hash browns. The patty melt. The Waffle House experience is just so much more than anything The Varsity can bring to the table. WaHo wins out with 82% of your votes.

Antico vs. Varuni Napoli

These are both top notch Atlanta pizza spots. Varuni has some of the best crust in the game, and Antico is just synonymous with Atlanta pizza. Varuni makes a killer pizza, but Antico’s supremacy cannot be ignored, and it shows with 85% of the vote.

CFA vs. Krystal

If there was a 16-seed vs 1-seed matchup in this nonsensical bracket I came up with, this would be it. This matchup only exists because these are the only Atlanta-based fast food chains I could find (Zaxby’s was founded in Statesboro and is headquartered in Athens, thank you very much). It’s my pleasure to say that Chick-fil-A wins in a landslide with a whopping 94% of the vote.

ITP vs. OTP

Here’s where things get touchy. For the unaware, ITP is “inside the perimeter,” referring to the circular I-285 loop, and OTP is “outside the perimeter.” ITP includes the city of Atlanta itself, as well as Midtown, Buckhead, and Decatur. OTP is everything else in Atlanta: Roswell, Tucker, Newnan, Alpharetta, Buford, and so many other suburbs. Both are mighty, and there’s not a single bad food town (and we’re not just saying that as a company literally called Atlanta Eats), but ITP wins out with 56% of the vote.

The Local vs. JR Crickets

These are two of the biggest wing spots in a city defined by wings. JR Crickets is nationally known, not only for its showcase in the show Atlanta, but for introducing the world to lemon pepper wet, THE wing flavor of Atlanta. The Local is more of a hidden gem, serving fall-off-the-bone smoked wings with a wide variety of cool and unique flavors. Both wings are fantastic, but ATLiens have spoken: JR Crickets wins with 57% of the vote.

Superica vs. The Optimist

The Ford Fry showdown! While he has so many ATL institutions to his name, these are probably the two most popular. Superica is the platonic ideal of Tex-Mex, slinging queso fundido, fajitas, and life-changing nachos. The Optimist is an upscale seafood restaurant and oyster bar, even featured in one of the first episodes of Netflix’s The Chef Show (check it out to see Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland slurp down oysters). Both have earned plenty of accolades and are almost always at capacity, but clearly those nachos can’t be beat. Superica tops The Optimist 59% to 41%.

PCM vs. KSM

The Beltline food halls duke it out! If you’re spending a day out on the Beltline, chances are you’ll make your way over to one of these at some point. Ponce City Market, in addition to plenty of retail shops, has a wide variety of restaurants, from the Indian street food of Botiwalla to the 100 layer donuts at Five Daughters Bakery. Krog Street Market focuses solely on the food, with Gu’s Dumplings, Fred’s Meat & Bread, as well as Superica and Varuni Napoli locations! Unfortunately, those places aren’t enough to carry Krog Street to victory, and Ponce City Market wins with 63% of the vote.

Buford Highway vs. Beltline

This matchup is the “long stretches of road that have a lot of cool things on them” round (I’ve never been the best at branding). Buford Highway is the city’s hub for authentic ethnic cuisines of all types and The Beltline is both the road and the destination for drinking and socializing (not that you can’t drink and socialize on Buford Highway…there’s plenty of karaoke places). In a tight race, the Beltline barely pulls ahead with 55% of the vote.