Canoe

The 2009 floods may have engulfed it in six feet of Chattahoochee overflow, but you could walk into Canoe today and never sense what happened. A new al fresco bar sits on the edge of the Chattahoochee River, with a placid view of the baby-blue bridge that spans Paces Ferry Road.  The space has been gently updated with fresh carpet patterns and fabrics that line booths, but it retains the same clubby rusticity embraced by regulars.

Carvel Grant Gould, who has been executive chef since 2006, understands her audience. Dishes such as a sculptural beet and goat cheese salad, fish specials with Asian overtones, and slow-roasted short rib embellished with chocolate vinegar maintain the New American philosophy while also subtly pushing the cooking in up-to-date directions.

Photo by Alex Martinez