When it came time to grab dinner with a buddy in Atlanta, I was given a few choices. While the others will remain nameless, South City Kitchen stood out to me. Having existed for more than 20 years and cooking up a modern take on classic Southern food, I figured this was the place for me.

Now, apparently it may be a sin to leave Atlanta without having some sort of take on pimento cheese. Thus, we ordered the pimento cheese dip, which came with a few things for dipping. The best of these was the crackers and the worst was everything else because they were celery and pickles. Luckily, the crackers were plenty.

As for my main course, I just had to have the Springer Mountain Farms Fried Chicken. I couldn’t tell you what the significance of Springer Mountain Farms is, but I was eager for their chicken. It also came with some mashed potatoes and collard greens that I swapped out for a sweet potato and parsnip dish. The fried chicken itself was the star, as it should be. The batter was a little bit on the peppery side for me, but I can respect that others are into that. Most importantly, it was super crispy while the chicken itself was moist and tender.

While I’m generally more of a fan of the old school hole-in-the-wall places, I couldn’t help but be happy with South City Kitchen and the somewhat fancied up fried chicken.