What To Eat in Georgia
A state of tremendous culinary contrast, from the most gracious Old-South tea rooms and dress-up Sunday suppers to raffish barbecue parlors and cheap-eats diners with waitresses who call you Hon’. Georgia must-eats include chopped barbecued pork in Augusta or Atlanta (accompanied by either Brunswick stew or hash on rice), hand-pattied biscuits almost everywhere, and fried-chicken all-you-can-eat buffets.
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Pot likker is the spruce-green broth retrieved from the pot in which greens have been boiled. The greens – mustard, collard, turnip, dandelion – cook for hours, leeching vegetable goodness into the water and giving it a tonic punch like no other soup. Top it with cornbread crumbles, and you have a true Dixie delight.
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There is memorable smoke-cooked pork throughout the state, but in Augusta you will find an old-time way of serving it – topped with crunchy cracklins. Described by Roadfood correspondent Chickenplucker as "pork candy," these crackly bits of fatty skin add immeasurable pleasure to smoky meat that is luxurious even before it gets sauced and cracklin'd.
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There's something of a rivalry between Georgia and neighboring South Carolina regarding peaches. South Carolina produces more, but Georgians say theirs are better. We won't take sides in this debate, but we will tell you that peach ice cream in both states is a dish to detour for, especially in peach season from May through July.
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Back in the Day Bakery
At Savannah's Back in the Day Bakery you will find the best sea salt-topped biscuits with pillowy insides ready for hot pepper jam and spicy pimento cheese.
Calvin’s Roasted Fish & Salads
A quiet soul food cafe on the outskirts of Augusta's downtown, Calvin's focuses on seafood, but the menu also includes beef, chicken & flavorful vegetables.
Ruth’s Family Restaurant
A favorite Augusta diner known for breakfast (any time), Ruth's also serves good meat-and-two lunch and desserts made by the waitresses.
Fish Eye Grill
Fish Eye Grill in the small town of Girard, Georgia, offers estimable southern-accented fare in modern/ rustic lodge-like setting. Save room for dessert.
Pork Place
Pork Place serves exemplary regional BBQ chipped or sliced, as well as ribs & pit-grilled chicken. A true taste of Central Savannah River Area Georgia.
Cafe 209
Locals love this downtown Augusta, Georgia, lunch-only meat-and-3 for vivid southern vegetables, fried chicken, pork chops, Wednesday ribs and Friday catfish.
Luigi’s
Opened in 1949 and showing little signs that time has passed since then, Luigi's is old-school Italian-American with a spicy Greek accent.
Sweet T’s
Downhome southern fare served cafeteria style makes Sweet T's a best-bet lunch destination between Atlanta & Augusta, Georgia. Glorious desserts!
Sports Center
Half-pound hamburgers and hand-breaded onion rings are excellent edibles in the Sports Center, a timeworn billiards parlor / bar on Augusta's Broad Street.
