Cacao Laboratoire du Chocolat and Boutique Adults feel that giddy kid-in-a-candy-store thrill in this tiny shop filled with Kristen Hard’s chocolate imaginings. The seduction begins with truffles infused with grown-up flavor combinations such as espresso and bourbon. cacaoatlanta.com
Dancing Goats Oympia, Washington–based Batdorf & Bronson Coffee runs its second roasting facility in Atlanta and opened this Decatur hangout in 2007. Its potent, balanced espresso shots are great afternoon fuel. dancinggoats.com
Pine Street Market Rusty Bowers both produces and retails his robust, nuanced charcuterie from his Avondale Estates storefront. Bowers is generous with samples. If salami isn’t your yen, try the bacon. pine-streetmarket.com
Star Provisions The cheese shop and the lunch sandwiches receive the loudest praise, but other aspects of the city’s best gourmet shop deserve props, too. Young chefs clamor to learn the secrets of the meat department’s finely wrought charcuterie. The bread is exemplary, as are the bakery’s birthday cakes (order ahead). starprovisions.com
Via Elisa The closing of pasta shop Via Elisa caused us as much grief as the demise of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. But Elisa Gambino’s craftsmanship lives on in her outstanding tomato-based pasta sauces, which she simmers and jars at an onion plant in Vidalia, Georgia. Available locally at Whole Foods, Toscano & Sons, and Sawicki’s. viaelisa.com
