THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED.

When looking for a place to meet some folks for lunch in town, I took the chance to try Hugh Atcheson’s new (at the time) venture, Empire State South. Known for his Five and Dime and the National in Athens, ESS is his foray into the Atlanta food wars. I got there a few minutes early and took a look around. It has a good looking bar area, along with pastries and coffee.

We took a seat in the dining room. Even though it is on the ground floor of an office building on the corner of Peachtree and Tenth, you feel fairly removed from the city inside. I started with the pimiento cheese and bacon marmalade appetizer. Bacon marmalade? What a brilliant idea. Then for the entree

a pork cutlet with potatoes, greens and cabbage. It was an excellent meal. Recently, Atlanta Magazine named Empire State South as the 6th best restaurant in Atlanta. I’ve been back once since for lunch (had the bacon marmalade and pimiento cheese again) and I can’t wait to get back for dinner.