Metro Atlanta added two new stars to its Michelin Guide constellation Wednesday night.

⭐ Chef Ryan Smith, who gave up a Michelin star at Staplehouse when he moved his tasting menu to a small resort restaurant south of Atlanta, was the biggest winner of the night in Nashville.

• He earned a new star with Uberto, his restaurant at Quercus in the town of Gay, Georgia, which was one of just a handful of restaurants in the American South to be added to the prestigious roster.
• He also was one of two chefs to win one of the night’s special awards, called Mindful Voices — a recognition of his leadership in the field.

⭐ Newcomer So. Fox also won a Michelin star.

• This designation comes just a few months after owners Myles Moody and Rachael Pack opened So. Fox in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood near their butcher shop, Kinship Butcher & Sundry.

Eight other Atlanta restaurants retained their one-star designations, bringing the state’s total up to 10 Michelin-starred restaurants.

This year’s ceremony was held in Tennessee, thanks to the Michelin Guide’s new regional structure. After focusing on metro Atlanta in 2023 and 2024, the guide expanded to cover much of the Southeast. Last year’s ceremony was moved to Greenville, South Carolina, for the debut of the American South guide, and the event’s host city will change each year going forward.

🍽️ Read more: The complete list of Atlanta’s Michelin-starred, Bib Gourmand and recommended restaurants.

After a wave of restaurant closures struck West Midtown in late 2024 and early 2025, theories on the state of the area’s restaurant scene proliferated.

Media outlets, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, turned out articles that suggested a worrying picture of the corridor and restaurants that seemed to be closing left and right.

Common complaints from Atlantans included parking that was too expensive, traffic woes and a real estate shift in the area.

Over a year later, those closures have slowed, and a variety of restaurants and entertainment venues have opened or are set to debut in the Upper Westside area. A group of restaurant and business owners, some with places that have been there for years, saw a need to band together and change the narrative that was plaguing West Midtown.

In the past year, the West Midtown Alliance was born as a small-business association, and one of its major initiatives was to hold the inaugural West Midtown Restaurant Week. The landscape of the area has shifted, too, as the Upper Westside Commercial Improvement District has led the charge on new transportation projects meant to improve the walkability of the district, and early next month, Howell Mill Road will come to life with the annual Westside Stride.

Now that the dust has settled from the deluge of negative reports surrounding West Midtown’s reputation, the future of its restaurant scene is looking hopeful.

🏢 Read more: A stubborn narrative has not stopped crowds, new businesses from filling West Midtown.

While elbow macaroni is, and always will be, the standard for Hamburger Helper, a new spin using chewy rice cakes has seamlessly integrated itself into AJC contributor Candy Hom’s weekly meal rotation, and its cultural fusion exemplifies the next level of third-culture home cooking.

These stir-fried rice cakes are tossed in a sauce made with chopped onions, ground beef and lots of shredded cheddar cheese. Tomato paste adds extra umami, and it comes together with just a few ingredients. Add more cheese or beef to bulk it up. The 3 cups of water isn’t too much — the starch from the rice cakes naturally thickens the sauce.

🍔 Find the full recipe for Stir-Fried Cheeseburger Rice Cakes here.