Young Hui Han (aka 'Grandma') and her spicy kimchi stew at Stone Bowl House

24 Hours on

Buford Highway

73 knock-out dishes, 33 essential grocery buys, 17 kaleidoscopic snacks, and 6 inspiring families who keep the highway buzzing at every hour

If there is one question most frequently asked by and of food-obsessed Atlantans, it is this: “What should I eat on Buford Highway?” Below, we offer a meager 123 answers. We break them down by time of day (because on a highway that’s home to this much culinary diversity, every hour elicits a new craving), by what items you should grab in the literal miles of grocery aisles (we walked them all), and, most obviously, by which single dish you should eat at a given restaurant (in case you want to strategically plot a multicultural, multicourse meal). We intended not to pick more than one offering from any menu, but in an exercise this epic, we were bound to inadvertently double-dip—and we challenge you to find which restaurant snuck in two dishes.

Compiling this issue was a marathon (one with pit stops that filled us with pupusas, biriyani, and dumplings). But despite the joyous complexities along the way, it turns out that the answer we attempted to give you could have been much more simply boiled down. What should you eat on Buford Highway? Everything.

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6a.m.

Laura Barrera in the kitchen

The best way to start your day on BuHi—thanks, Barrera family

Their Mexico City-style breakfast sandwiches on handmade bolillo rolls draw lines out the door—at 7 a.m.

9a.m.

Buford Highway market guide, 14 things to buy on a conveyor belt

The best finds at 6 of our favorite BuHi markets

From banana leaves to minced goat

1p.m.

"Do not tell my mom, but Dominican food is island-inspired perfection"

As a Colombian-American, I might catch some heat for saying this

Juan Vidal, seated before one of life's great delights

7p.m.

Husband and wife Yiquan Gu and Qiongyao Zhang

The story behind the Gu family’s comeback

Just when it seemed their culinary influence was waning, the Sichuan pros expanded their reach

9p.m.

The Lure of the Mango

This couple gave up their lives in New York to open a dessert shop on Buford Highway—all because of a particular fruit

Cindy Cheng and Jet Lee at Mango Mango

12a.m.