Emeril Lagasse will experience his first-ever restaurant shuttering when he closes the beleaguered Emeril's Atlanta in Buckhead today. But with the loss of one celebrity chef in Atlanta comes the arrival of another: Jean-Georges Vongerichten recently opened a branch of Spice Market, his sultry South Asian, in the W Atlanta Midtown. At this stunner serving street food family-style, expect islands of seating outfitted with celadon silk pillows, dangling pagoda-inspired structures, heavy ropes adorned with found artifacts and hundreds of ca ndles at night.

Meanwhile, over in South Buckhead, low prices and late hours encourage laid-back loafing at Linton Hopkins' ( Restaurant Eugene) new Holeman & Finch, where his trademark local ingredients (think housemade charcuterie, hearth-baked bread) can also be found. Other noteworthy newcomers to the dining scene include Cuerno, a Spanish tapas joint in Midtown, and Vita, a South Buckhead red-sauce Italian.

See More Atlanta Restaurants

Seeking something stronger than sake, but subtler than scotch? Try a sip of shochu, an ancient Japanese liquor that’s recently become popular on these shores. Along with its Korean cousin soju, the continuously distilled version – often compared to vodka – has been showing up in trendy cocktails across the country. Meanwhile, aficionados are savoring otsurui or honkaku shochu (which goes through a single-pot distilling process and has a more distinct flavor) on the rocks or even straight. In a recent poll on ZAGAT.com, 70% of surveyors said that they’d never tried the colorless spirit – but would be glad to give it a whirl.

Here are some restaurants and lounges that offer a selection of shochu or soju:

Katana (LA)

Mantra (Philadelphia)

Oishii (Boston)

Oya (DC)

Sakagura (NYC)

Shochu (Chicago)

Shochu Lounge (London)

Sudachi (San Francisco)

More About the Trend

There are already long lines at the new Culver City location of Father's Office, the LA hot spot famous for an oddball beer selection and burgers that our surveyors call “pure bliss on a bun”; unlike the Santa Monica original, this branch is spacious, decorated and has a long outdoor patio, but in keeping with tradition, asking for ketchup is still taboo.

3229 Helms Ave., Culver City, CA; 310-736-2224

Read About the Opening of the New Father's Office

In NYC, stoop sales sometimes do the trick, dumpster diving makes for good sport and eBay scratches the itch 24/7, when it comes to finding truly unique stuff at a price that you can cart home guilt-free, there’s nothin’ like a merch-packed flea market. No wonder bargain-hunters borough-wide and beyond are packing into Brooklyn Flea, Fort Greene’s new outdoor bazaar from the owners of Brownstoner.com...

Read More