The food choices in Atlanta never have been more varied — or more accessible.

Traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants now share the dining landscape with food hall stalls, food trucks, farmers market vendors, pop-up innovators and delivery-only entrepreneurs.

Combined, they offer a smorgasbord of creative, global flavors in everything from handhelds and messy finger food to sophisticated knife-and-fork fare.

For this Fall Dining Guide, our group of contributors is singing the praises of current favorite metro Atlanta dishes. We love them for the flavors, the ingredients and the care that goes into making — and, sometimes — plating them.

You’ll find picks for breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner — anytime the craving strikes. Some are menu mainstays, while others require a bit of planning to seek out. All but a few are highly affordable — and a couple are even free!

Here, in no particular order, are the dishes we crave right now.

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Laurence Walker, a volunteer with the Cajun Navy Relief, left, takes two volunteers out on his boat on Lake Oconee to search for Gary Jones, Tuesday, February, 18, 2024, in Eatonton, Ga. The Putnam County sheriff is investigating and searching after Spelman College instructor Joycelyn Nicole Wilson and an Atlanta private school coach Gary Jones went missing on Lake Oconee over a week ago, Saturday Feb. 8th. The body of Wilson was found Sunday, Feb. 9th and Jones has not been found. (Jason Getz / AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com