For Charlotte - Have to go to Mac's, Penguin, or Pike's. All are great places.

Charlotte-- don't miss Mert's.

Atlanta--Horseradish Grill--truly heaven on earth.

atlanta summer asses should bring their own lunch in an effort to show that they are frugal so that their firms do not have to lay off more people.

What about a Portsmouth lunch post? I prefer the Bier Garden, but I hear good things about Roger Brown's.

Atlanta on the firm: Oceanaire, Rathbun's, Paul's, Peasant Bistro, MF Sushi (Ponce or Buckhead), Eno, Nan

On your own: Joe's on Juniper (if you're gay-friendly), F2O, Stella, Six Feet Under, Slice

Duke Sucks...GO DEACS!

I summered in both cities and was surprised by how expensive Charlotte's uptown restaurants were. Macs is the best place in clt, and Hal's is by far the best steak in Atlanta, maybe in the country.

In Atlanta: on the weekends, go to Fellini's, Fat Matt's, Alfredo's (on Cheshire Bridge), Mary Mac's or Vortex (if you're adventurous, try the one in Decatur).

In the evenings, go to Manuels, Front Page News, and just about anyplace on Highland Ave (Dark Horse, Limerick Junction etc). Downtown Decatur ain't too shabby either.

If the firm is paying, Bones and Chops are both musts.

4:26 - Come on Hal's doesn't have anything on Bones

Better yet, just don't refer to Duke at all.

Ever.

4:39 pm - tried to sleep with Tucker Max and failed -- hence the reason she's hating on Duke Law.

What about New Orleans restuarants?

ATL:

- Any Buckhead Life restaurant (Bluepointe, Chops, Pricci, Nava, etc.)
- Ray's on the River
- Roy's
- Capitol Grille
- 191 Club
- Sundial (rotating restaurant on top of Westin w/ amazing views; food is decent)
- Dante's
- Nikolai's Roof (amazing rooftop views plus great eastern European fare)
- MF
- La Grotta

Funny how it was Duke that BLEW IT in the NCAA final. Guess lat's decision to start with sports today wasn't such a bad idea after all.

on your own $ in the ATL, nothing beats Carver's (if you can find it!)

Duke has the most academic acheivement awards of any university. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Blue_Devils_football

4:44, I think the post wanted lunch suggestions, not cheesy tourist destinations.

CLT on the firm - GW Fin's, Zink (when it reopens in June), Luce, Bentley's, Blue

CLT on the firm, off campus - Noble's, Oceanaire, Del Frisco's, Copper

CLT on your own - Mac's, Penguin, Cantina 1511, Hawthorne's, that noodle place on Tryon

The Varsity? Anybody?

Who really brags on Duke football...really?

4:45, so right about carver's. Also, for some good bbq try Harold's or Fox Bros. Fox Bros. is better food in my opinion, but you can't beat the mix of lawyers, politicos, and rednecks at Harold's.

Duke. Most. Overrated. School. Ever.

I second 4:25.

Kash, er, 4:47- no need to defend Duke. I don't think anyone is genuinely second-guessing its status. This is, afterall, really just a topic about food and not academic elitism. Wait a second! This is ATL (the blog, not the city), it's always about some kind of elitism!

In Atlanta, Einstein's on Juniper is decent on your own money and so is the Flying Biscuit if you're looking for inexpensive fairly decent places. I also enjoyed One Midtown Kitchen.

The homos should definitely check out Swinging Richards. While it's a strip club and they don't serve food, you can umm, get some meals...

Firms in ATL don't spring for anything more than $20 a person except on special occassions or they give Associates like me a limited budget. So we could blow it all on one nice meal--or, go to several cheap meals.

Some firms love to take you to Atlanta's dives--they play this up as a way to see Atlanta. In reality, it saves $$ without admitting "we are cheap." If you must go to a dive go to Harolds, Mike's Philly Cheese Steak Stand, Daddy D's bbq,, Carvers Country Kitchen. Avoid the Varsity unless you like your firm's bathroom (some firms do have very nice bathrooms in ATL).

Midtown firms can go to South City Kitchen; Trois, Tamarind--those are probably the best for lunch that you can walk to. Einstein's isn't bad.

You should get your firm to take you to Rathbuns, Rathbun Steak, Bones, Nan, Oceanaire, Restaurant Eugene, Taurus, MF, Capitol Grille, Capitol City Club, Rays on the River, Canoe, any of the Buckhead Life restaurants, etc.

Avoid 1280; Fuego.

Ya Im From The South They Try To Tell Me That We Slow
But Its Ironic How Your Tryna Keep Up With Me Tho

4:51 - I would hardly call any of those 'cheesy tourist destinations', except possibly the Sundial. All the others have top-notch food.

ATL, hidden gem for soul food, Son's Place.

Located off Dekalb Ave in East Atlanta. A little east of Inman Park but before you get to Moreland Avenue. Right next to the Inman Park Marta Station.

ATL: Nuevo Laredo is a great 2 hour summer associate lunch.

Kash, if you're ever in SF/SV, I'll take you anywhere you want.

Additional mid-priced ones off the beaten path (in ATL) but good:

Le fleur de lis (tiny but great, in downtown)

Watershed

Canoe

Carpe Diem (and Apre Diem)

5:03: a lot of firms spend well over $20 per SA for lunch on a regular basis, mine included. ATL firms aren't that cheap!

Nikko in CLT is also good.

Price's Chicken Coop in South End was named the best fried chicken in the US by Gourmet magazine (I think...it might have been another magazine though). Its good, but its to-go only. Green's Lunch Counter uptown is also good.

CLT- Price's Chicken Coop in South End was named the best fried chicken in the US by Gourmet magazine (I think...it might have been another magazine though). Its good, but its to-go only. Green's Lunch Counter uptown is also good.

Even if this WAS a thread on academic elitism, why would Duke be mentioned?

For Atlanta:

Ecco
Rathbun's
NY Prime
Bacchanalia
Float Away Cafe
Trois
Pano & Paul's

Oceanaire sucks.

For Atlanta:

Ecco
Rathbun's
NY Prime
Bacchanalia
Float Away Cafe
Trois
Pano & Paul's

Oceanaire sucks.

I recommend the picnic table outside of Paul Hastings in ATL. The experience is killer!!!

Look, Duke is a great school. Are they so great that they can claim "Harvard is the Duke of the north"? No, of course not. But, then again, Harvard is probably a little overrated as well. Not everyone who goes to Harvard exits as a scholar in his/her field of study.

On your own $: Whoever said Carver's nailed it. Same with Harold's. And as an added bonus, judicial sightings are common at both places (in the tradition of underneaththeirrobes).

On the firm: Nan, Bones, Prime

Atlanta - Warren City Club (if you know someone who can get you in)

CLT (ranging from cheap to mid-priced) - Tin Tin, RiRa sandwich bar, Johnny Burrito, Lola's, Cosmo's (best sushi uptown), French Quarter, Dixie's, Tic Toc, Phil's, Latorre's

Off campus - Penguin, Cajun Queen, Cabo Fish Taco

4:09 - Everything north of Tampa is very much the south.

Is this a lunch thread or a place for people to list the most expensive restaurants in the city? A lot of the places listed, including Rathbun's, Rathbun Steak, and Nikolai's Roof, are not even open for lunch. I am pretty sure Bacchanalia doesn't offer lunch anymore either. But it would be pretty awesome to get to listen to some overentitled 24 year old ask an attorney to take them there for lunch.

I second the Nuevo Laredo suggestion, if you can convince some attorneys to take a big chunk out of their afternoon. If you have a big enough party, you can get a reservation. For southern flavor, Son's or Mary Mac's. Agnes & Muriel's also has southern cooking with a wacky decor, but YMMV on whether the cuisine is delicious or atrocious.

Charlotte - spend your lunch hour at a personal computer looking for firms in other cities with jobs available and wondering why your "real-life projects only consist of financing widgets and pro bono work" ...

... speaking of that, looks like another round of layoffs at CWT.

Charlotte - spend your lunch hour at a personal computer looking for firms in other cities with jobs available and wondering why your "real-life projects" only consist of financing widgets and pro bono work

8:08: Or you could spend your personal time posting repetitively in another lame city about how Charlotte sucks.

Kash, after learning you went to Duke, I retract all requests for pictures of you in a bikini.

lol at Hal's being the best steak house in the country... I love Hal's... but you should really get to NY.

I'm with 4:25...Go Deacs!

For lunch try Pasta da Pulcinella...its right next to Cosmolava near all the firms on 14th.

Zesto > Varsity

Wow, another posting on the redneck South and where to eat? Atlanta's the same as Texas: too many buffets for fat, overweight rednecks and chain restaurants that are prevalent in every suburb in this country. Let's just concentrate on the big cities (New York, Chicago, Boston, DC, San Francisco, and LA) and ignore the overweight South.

1:17, you are an idiot.

In Charlotte, 300 East and 131 Main are good off campus locations, but everything in Charlotte is off campus, especially if you work on South Tryon.

"Let's just concentrate on the big cities"...too bad Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston are all bigger than Boston, San Francisco, and DC...

charlotte - zink and luce are probably my favorite restaurants there.

phil's has the hottest bartenders in the city, though that's not very helpful for lunch.

Yeah but Dallas and Houston are universally acknolwedged hellholes.

Atlanta:

I third Carvers Country Kitchen for a true Southern "mom and pop restaurant" experience. I haven't seen anyone mention Taqueria Del Sol.

The Varsity is so overrated. If the firm is doing a dive lunch there, pass.

Charlotte

Umm, hello...Capital Grille! On the firm of course.

Otherwise La Torr'es is top notch and RiRa's sandwich shop kills it.

Off-campus, definitely Mac's. But 300 East, 131 Main and Cantina are great as well.

"Go Duke"????

I have now lost all respect for Kash.

don't forget anne's snack bar on memorial-- best burger in the country, according to the wall street journal!

oh, and 1:17am, you can always just eat a dick.

Le fleur de lis is dead. And it wasn't worth recommending while it was alive (before its cajun rebirth).

Who goes to Oceanaire in Atlanta? Honestly? It's a pitiful shadow of DC shop.

Best steaks in the country are definitely at Peter Luger's. No contest. To pretend otherwise is silly.

I like the offbeat suggestions much better than the trendy big names that people are throwing out in a vague attempt to be (anonymous) prestige whores. To that end, ditto 7:08pm from last night.

On the firm's dime: Atlanta Fish Market, Chops, Nava, Pricci, Blue Ridge Grill, One Midtown Kitchen, Murphy's, Tomo, MF Sushi.

On your own dime: Tamarind Seed, Fat Matt's, Vortex, Carver's.

I find Harold's barbecue tremendously overrated and don't understand the love it gets or why it's still on so many dive lunch lists. Dive yes, good 'cue...not so much.

Unfortunately while Atlanta has a million restaurants, few of them are really excellent. There are a lot of B+ restaurants out there, and a lot of chains.

Charlotte: while a questionable place to work experience -wise, does provide some intriguing dining options. Go to del frisco's, make them take you on a tour of the wine cellar. (It's built in an old bank vault and very, very cool). No good Thai in Charlotte that I have ever been able to find. Latorre's is fantastic, Zink is classy, Therapy is fun for a happy hour. Make a partner take you to Charlotte City Club -- classy and a good view. Harry & Jeans?

ATL: Is Silk still open?

For what SA's make in Charlotte and ATL vs. the cost of living, they should be taking the partners to lunch!

Ecco is not getting enough love on this thread. Definitely some of the best food in Atl. Ignore the fact that it used to be a crackhouse.

MF Sushi should be in the category of on your own dime. They have very reasonable lunch specials, at least at the Ponce location.

Mary Mac's is overrated. Carver's is delicious.

I'm very in touch with the lunch scene. I just don't understand what all you southern people are all about. I mean, clearly my new york restaurants are much more expensive and much more luxurious than yours. Why would anyone want a "Dive" lunch or be forced to live in a city with a $20 per-person lunch limit. When my friends and I play credit-card roulette at Pastels, it's totally reasonable if we keep the tab under $570. All you silly people should go to Dorsia; Texarcana for a Dive lunch. I once had a moment of sheer panic when I realized I could get a much larger condo in Charlotte than my Penthouse in NYC. But thankfully it was much less expensive, so I felt better about myself.

ATL for lunch or dinner

On your own:

Casa Grande
Taverna Plaka
Mellow Mushroom
Flying Biscuit
Tin Lizzy's
Treehouse

On the firm:

Paul's
Hal's
Houstons
Buckhead Diner
Kyma
Murphy's
Two Urban Licks

I agree that Atlanta is chock full of B+ restaurants and not too many A's.

Go UNC!

ATL for lunch or dinner

On your own:

Casa Grande
Taverna Plaka
Mellow Mushroom
Flying Biscuit
Tin Lizzy's
Treehouse

On the firm:

Paul's
Hal's
Houstons
Buckhead Diner
Kyma
Murphy's
Two Urban Licks

I agree that Atlanta is chock full of B+ restaurants and not too many A's.

Go UNC!

ATL for lunch or dinner

On your own:

Casa Grande
Taverna Plaka
Mellow Mushroom
Flying Biscuit
Tin Lizzy's
Treehouse

On the firm:

Paul's
Hal's
Houstons
Buckhead Diner
Kyma
Murphy's
Two Urban Licks

I agree that Atlanta is chock full of B+ restaurants and not too many A's.

Go UNC!

Hey, Atlanta has some A restaurants. Joel, Bachanalia, the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead. I agree, though, that these aren't lunch spots.

And also that some of the best eating in Atlanta is in the little divey spots like Carvers.

The best sushi in Atlanta moved to NYC -- Soto. He's in the village now. Check him out if you're summering in NYC.

The second best sushi is not MF, but Tomo. Harold's is indeed overrated. For good barbeque try Daddy Ds.

Lunch - For those of you at A&B - Vini Vidi Vici is probably standard. It's just downstairs. For others in midtown, it's a nice place to take a long lunch.

A lunch must would be Nans, but it is hard to justify dropping $12 for a bowl of coconut milk soup.

I personally like the dives in Atlanta. You get to roll up your sleeves and have a good time with whoever you're eating with and not worry about which fork/napkin/glass/price range/etc. The best dives (or cheap places) -
Harolds,
Fat Matt's Chicken or Ribs (I prefer the ribs. It's an even better place to go in the evenings when they have live jazz music),
Vortex,
Ghetto Burger (recently rated as the best place in America to get a burger),
Eats (continually rated as the best jerk chicken in the city, but I personally think the chicken sucks. Veggies good.),
the Varsity (only if you're from out of town),
Carolynn's (for those in Midtown but otherwise not really worth the trip).

Now, although much has been said about this being a lunch post, and some other places only serving dinner - I'll give my list of favorite and least favorite places to eat in the city for dinner -

1) Rathbun's Steak - Best. Steak. Ever. (and i'm fat; I know these things).
2) Rathbun's - Not the same place, but it is next door. Same chef - same great food, just different.
3) Fat Matt's - see above.
4) Nava's - the rare exception to the Buckhead Diner's Group (which I generally am not a fan of since Kevin Rathbun left)
5) Bacchanalia
6) And for a little drive north of the City - The Swan and the Hollow. Great BBQ. Great Banana Pudding. Seriously.

Worst/Overrated -

Chops.
the Sundial. Seriously - this place is for kids going to prom and fat families on vacation.
any place in underground. just don't go down there.
Buckhead Diner - it's ok; but, I think it's terribly overpriced for some fairly mundane crap.
Spaghetti Factory and any other chain place like that. Don't come to Atlanta and eat at a chain; there are too many great locally owned places.