The South is practically synonymous with comfort food. Soul food, biscuits and gravy, mashed potatoes and ham... just makes you want to sit back and loosen your belt. There's no shortage of comfort food within easy reach of the W Atlanta Midown, but for the truly great stuff, you should also venture out of Midtown and explore what the city has to offer.

For breakfast, it's hard to beat the Flying Biscuit Cafe, a small local chain known, as you'd expect, for light-as-air biscuits and stick-to-your-ribs dishes like hotcakes and "meatloaf and pudge (pudge being mashed potatoes with sundried tomatoes, basil and olive oil). For dinner, sample South City Kitchen's upscale take on Southern classics. Starters include fried green tomatoes and pan-fried chicken livers, while main dishes range from perfectly fried chicken to crab hash to charred tuna with Carolina gold rice and sausage. Their brunch is out of this world.

Farther afield, The Colonnade is an institution for authentic Southern comfort. "Meat and three" is the mode here, with solid fried chicken anchoring down-home meals with black-eyed peas, friend okra and collard greens. It's just a notch above cafeteria, decor-wise, but worth seeking out for the food.