15 best places to eat across the South — from fancy to just-plain good restaurants
We get the question all the time: What restaurant should I try? It comes from friends looking for the latest and greatest, family visiting from out of state and readers who trust our expertise.
As journalists, it’s a question we love, a point of pride. We know our communities. From The Tennessean to FLORIDA TODAY, we’re embedded across the South, always in search of the next best bite.
That's why when we set out to spotlight the USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year, we didn't select the places you would find on your average best restaurants roundup. Because we’re not spending a few days passing through a city in search of what it has to offer. We’re here. We know.
Out of the 47 restaurants selected, 15 are in the South. They’re the places we love — a mix of old, new and in between. They’re places with stories to tell, places that should be on your dining bucket list and, lest we forget, places serving craveable dishes we can’t stop talking about.
Here they are, the Southern USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year for 2024.
Urban Bar & Kitchen | Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Details: 2321 University Blvd., Tuscaloosa, Ala.; 205-248-7162, urbanbarandkitchen.com
"Minimalist boho meets industrial" is how Urban Bar & Kitchen describes its downtown Tuscaloosa interior, a revamped spot that's offered Italian, Mexican, pub food and fusion over decades. Southern comfort food blended with tastes of other longitudes and latitudes might summarize the UBK menu: gumbo to salmon, surf 'n' turf pasta to honey-garlic pork chops and gumbo worthy to stand with anything from south Louisiana.
Hands-on warm service, where co-owners will likely stop by to ask about your meal, and variations on down-home standards, such as mac 'n' cheese and sweet potato fries, make patrons feel at (a slightly better version of) home. Though opened only three years ago, it's fast become not only a Druid City hit, but the place you take visitors to show off.
Brother Fox | Pensacola, Florida
Details: 415 N. Alcaniz St., Pensacola, Fla.; 850-208-6913, brotherfoxsisterhen.com
At Brother Fox, the bones of the Old Mount Olive Baptist Church assembled in 1928 come back to life. Now, friends gather in fellowship to break Catalan-style toasted bread and sip Spanish sangria. The menu merges the city’s history as America’s first settlement with the modern expertise of executive chef Darian Hernandez, a Food Network “Chopped” champion.
Dishes like the Low Country shrimp boil “a la España” are the menu’s heart, with Florida Gulf shrimp, Spanish chorizo, charred corn and potato. But you can’t miss the dishes made on the fire, from the cabbage baked in embers to the sous vide coal-fired chicken with anticucho. Once finished, meander inside speakeasy Sister Hen — abbreviated "S.H.,” pronounced “shh” — for a nightcap under candlelight. — Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal (Fla.)
The Daley Trade | Titusville, Florida
Details: 330 S. Washington Ave., Titusville, Fla.; thedaleytrade.com
In a town better known for rocket launches than out-of-this-world food, diners are over the moon for The Daley Trade. Glass walls, lush greenery and mid-century décor give the airy dining room the feeling of a mod terrarium, while the tropical back bar offers secret garden escape. Chef Terrence Daley, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who worked in fine-dining kitchens across the country, landed in wife Laura’s hometown during the pandemic.
He began making bread and pasta for home delivery. Now located in a historic downtown building, The Daley Trade has transitioned into a marketplace and restaurant. Look for an ever-changing menu inspired by the Daleys’ world travels and featuring seasonal, locally grown ingredients, often served with house-made pasta and sourdough bread. — Suzy Fleming Leonard, FLORIDA TODAY
How many have you been to? Check out USA TODAY's 2024 Restaurants of the Year.
Star Fish Company | Cortez, Florida
Details: 12306 46th Ave. W., Cortez, Fla.; 941-794-1243, starfishcompany.com
Nestled along Sarasota Bay in the fishing village of Cortez, Star Fish Company offers exceptional Gulf seafood with a generous serving of Old Florida charm. Credit Karen Bell, a third-generation Cortezian dedicated to preserving her family's commercial fishing heritage. She not only owns Star Fish and its adjoining fish market but also a fleet of commercial fishing boats and the adjacent “fish house.”
While dining at her dockside restaurant boasting a century of history, you'll be captivated by the fishermen working alongside seabirds and the occasional dolphin. Star Fish serves expertly prepared Florida favorites like grouper, shrimp and oysters. However, the restaurant is particularly renowned for its mullet, a fish best enjoyed fried or blackened with a side of cheese grits. — Wade Tatangelo, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Fla.)
Stage Kitchen & Bar | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Details: 2000 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; 561-408-3685, StagePGA.com
Stage, with the clean, modern lines of its spacious dining room and leafy outdoor patio, brought big-city buzz to a once monotone patch of Palm Beach County. A lively vibe spirits you through the dining experience, but it is chef/co-owner Pushkar Marathe’s creative, modern-Indian plates that will bring you back.
Those bites include a bruleed chicken liver pate spiced with cardamom, green ginger and fenugreek, local fish served in Bengali-style sauce, tandoori churrasco, plus an eclectic array of small plates. Marathe’s innovative cooking earned Stage national acclaim, including a 2023 James Beard Award semifinalist nod. He and Stage partner Andy Dugard defied the odds, having opened just days before the 2020 pandemic shutdown and rebounding into destination status. — Liz Balmaseda, The Palm Beach Post (Fla.)
Cotton & Rye | Savannah, Georgia
Details: 1801 Habersham St., Savannah, Ga.; 912-777-6286, cottonandrye.com
A cheese and wine shop was just one of the many ventures that tried and failed to take hold in the midcentury bank building until Savannah native Zach Shultz captured lighting in a bourbon bottle in 2015. With Cotton and Rye, Shultz created a warm industrial space in which to savor elevated comfort foods that seem both achingly familiar and entirely new with each bite.
Executive chef Caleb Ayers assembles artful charcuterie boards filled with house-made sausages and cured meats. His curry-infused chicken and dumplings winks and nods at Savannah’s long history as a global port city. Ayers’ chicken thighs and mac ‘n’ cheese are worth the caloric splurge. — Amy Paige Condon, Savannah Morning News (Ga.)
Our criteria for USA TODAY's Restaurants of the Year for 2024: How the list of best restaurants was decided
Barn8 | Goshen, Kentucky
Details: 10500 W. Highway 42, Goshen, Ky.; 502-398-9289, hermitagefarm.com
Barn8 sits on the 600-acre Hermitage Farm, where visitors can take in the sights of rolling equine farmland, edible gardens and greenhouses. Since Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, known for founding 21c Museum Hotels among other ventures, opened Barn 8 in 2020, the place has become a go-to for locals and visitors alike. And why not? What could be more Kentucky than tables available inside horse stalls and surrounded by stacks of bourbon barrels?
While the 19th-century structure maintains the frame of a barn stuck in time, the space is modernized with decor, artwork, leather chairs and upscale details. From the seasonal menu, consider the cast iron cornbread, which requires a 15-minute wait to be made from scratch, and go from there. Simple dishes such as house-made bread, spaghetti and burrata shine, while the pork loin and duck breast entrees are favorites. Dessert options also change frequently, but a banana date cake is a top recommendation during the winter. — Amanda Hancock, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
Nami | Louisville, Kentucky
Details: 835 E. Main St., Louisville, Ky.; 502.690.2067, nami-restaurant.com
After 20 years in Louisville, the city’s best-known food personality, Korean American chef Edward Lee, opened a Korean restaurant here. Lee last opened a Korean restaurant as a 25-year-old first-time owner in New York City. Louisville, which has championed the chef for the success of 610 Magnolia and his many awards, was ready for a look at Nami, which means “I am beautiful” in Korean.
The modern Korean steakhouse arrived last May, and it’s clear people like what they see and taste. Between the welcoming atmosphere and menu, featuring Korean barbecue dishes, bibimbap rice bowls and kimbap hand rolls, there are many reasons to return. — Amanda Hancock, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
Dakar NOLA | New Orleans, Louisiana
Details: 3814 Magazine St., New Orleans; 504-493-939, dakarnola.com
Serigne Mbaye grew up in Senegal. When he arrived in New Orleans, he found familiar flavors. The city’s Creole cooking, like the food he grew up eating, often relies on layered, slow-cooked dishes. At Dakar NOLA, his first restaurant, Mbaye mines the connections between the two cuisines. Guests sit at communal tables, and the prix fixe dinner is as much a performance as a meal.
With each course, Mbaye comes out of the kitchen and offers a story. The intensely flavored black-eyed peas with palm oil, for example, were inspired by the last meal fed to enslaved Africans before crossing the Atlantic. His jollof rice, an African staple, is delicious evidence of the origin of Louisiana’s jambalaya. Mbaye, a quiet perfectionist, can also leave the room speechless with the confidence of his cooking. — Todd A. Price, USA TODAY Network (South)
Fat Calf Brasserie | Shreveport, Louisiana
Details: 3030 Creswell Ave., Shreveport, La.; 318-351-2253, fatcalfbrasserie.com
A brasserie is a small, informal and unpretentious neighborhood restaurant. Owners Anthony and Amanda Felan fulfill that definition with their small but welcoming restaurant serving French-inspired Southern cuisine.
Customers can expect a variety of shareable appetizers and hearty entrees, a nice selection of craft beers, specialty cocktails and wine. The menu, with plates such as a crispy brussels sprouts and crispy duck breast, changes with the seasons and uses locally sourced ingredients. — Makenzie Boucher, The Shreveport Times
Stamps Super Burgers | Jackson, Mississippi
Details: 1801 Dalton St., Jackson, Miss.; 601-352-4555, stampssuperburgers.company.site
Stamps is a well-known burger joint that offers massive beef burgers, along with turkey burgers, and a portobello burger that weighs 11 ounces — sometimes even more. The family-owned business has a popular, walk-in atmosphere that serves all with a juicy burger and a vibe anyone would love to feel.
Owner Phil Stamps Jr. is known to give everyone a greeting when they walk into Stamps Super Burgers, which has been operating in the Washington Addition neighborhood since 1986. — Kiara Fleming, The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)
Neng Jr's | Asheville, North Carolina
Details: 701 Haywood Road, Asheville, N.C.; 828-552-3880, nengjrs.com
Neng Jr’s, an avant-garde Filipino-meets-Southern eatery, is a shining star in West Asheville. Neng Jr’s hidden entrance, in a back alley and up a set of stairs, leads to an unassuming, intimate, 18-seat dining room.
Sit at a table or get a front row seat to the kitchen from the counter-style bar. The rotating menu features comforting and delightfully delicious food and exquisite cocktails. Executive chef/co-owner Silver Iocovozzi transports diners to his family’s origins in the Philippines and North Carolina with dishes like adobo oyster, duck adobo, scallop and peach inihaw, pickled shrimp and pork belly lechon. — Tiana Kinnell, The Asheville Citizen Times (N.C.)
Catch | Wilmington, North Carolina
Details: 6623 Market St., Wilmington, N.C.; 910-799-3847, catchwilmington.com.
Proof that great things can be found in otherwise nondescript shopping centers, Wilmington native Keith Rhodes, along with wife Angela, opened Catch in 2006 and created a cozy and classy space with a bar and dining room. From his appearance on Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” to two — and counting — nominations from the James Beard Foundation, Rhodes has become a well-known proponent for local ingredients, especially seafood.
Look for dishes inspired by the Carolina coast (like shrimp and grits and Gullah Geechee seafood stew) as well as those with an international flair (like drunken noodles and Korean-style grilled octopus). Plus, Catch serves great casual fare with its food truck and the Tackle Box Kitchen concept. — Allison Ballard, StarNews, Wilmington, N.C.
Potchke | Knoxville, Tennessee
Details: 318 N. Gay St., Knoxville, Tenn.; potchkedeli.com
Tucked behind a towering downtown condo building is an unassuming storefront, branded with just seven cutout letters hanging like an art project in its window: “Potchke.” The word means to fuss or waste time in Yiddish, though dining at this Jewish deli is always time well spent. What’s all the fuss about?
At Potchke, chef Laurence Faber, an alum of Tennessee's renowned Blackberry Farm, explores his roots in Ukraine through delicious food with a story in a relaxed environment. Babkas, lox bagels and matzo ball soup are among fan favorites at this pop-up-turned-permanent fixture of Knoxville’s dining scene. — Ryan Wilusz, Knox News, Knoxville, Tenn.
Locust | Nashville Tennessee
Details: 2305 12th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn.; locustnashville.com
Everything about Locust is disarming by design. The chefs, who will also turn out to be your affable, knowledgeable servers, shout boisterous “Hellos!” from the open kitchen as you walk through the door. The 36-seat dining room of blond wood and big windows feels airy and open. The soundtrack ranges from The Pogues to Pantera. You might be encouraged to have a bracing shot of horseradish vodka at lunchtime. You should.
James Beard-nominated chef Trevor Moran is behind the tiny restaurant with the huge following, all chasing after a menu so mutable it could change a couple of times in one day. But you can bet on reliably excellent tartare to roll in toasted nori, exceptional dumplings, and some other sumptuous thing such as clams on buttery toast or oysters with far too much caviar. But beyond the stellar ingredients and obvious talent is an X-factor that makes Locust special: It's a really fun place to be. — Mackensy Lunsford, The Tennessean (Nashville)
Read more about our other USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Best places to eat 2024: Top restaurants in Tennessee, Florida, NC
