Press

It's no surprise that a Buford Highway spot would top our list. Crawfish Shack has been serving up top notch seafood for years. Their fried shrimp is some of the best that has ever graced a plate.

Cajun food – REAL cajun food – right on Buford Highway? Oh yes. It’s real, and it’s spectacular. But this Cajun food comes from an unlikely source. The owner and chef, Hieu is of Vietnamese decent and you can taste some of that influence sprinkled throughout the menu.

HIEU PHAM serves about a ton of Louisiana crayfish each week here at the Crawfish Shack Seafood, boiling them in a slurry of commercial seasoning mix, garlic cloves, orange wedges and lemon grass stalks.

Crawfish Shack Seafood has awesome Cajun-style seafood … be sure to try the Shack-tastic Platter.

Bad news: you’re gonna die. Now for some good news: there’s a ton of great food in Atlanta to eat before you die, which is why we came up with 49 ATL foods you need to eat before you do. Just do us a favor and try not to eat ‘em all at once -- we don’t want our bucket list to be the (totally ironic) reason you kick said bucket.

Every visit to Buford Highway is an opportunity to cross a cultural boundary. Dining on delicious, unfamiliar ethnic food is a serious step toward the realization that ethnocentrism and racism not only oppress other people, they also limit our experience of much of the world’s beauty.

There’s no doubt that Buford Highway is one of the best food destinations in Atlanta. From Vietnamese pho to authentic tacos, this 49-mile stretch of culinary bliss has it all. It’s a magical place, but it can be a little intimidating to explore for first-timers.

Summertime's the right time for a lobster roll. Crisp, clean, creamy, salty, sweet, buttery...yep, it's the perfect food for hot weather. The simple lobster roll isn't the burger or the hot dog, where Haute Cuisine versions present "interpretations" of a classic;

In the heart of Louisiana's Cajun country, Lafayette is a diner's paradise. Roadside stands sell spicy boiled shrimp and crawfish, and meat markets smoke their own sausage.

One thing both the ITP and OTP crowds can agree on? Buford Highway is the jam. And not the kind of jam that normally makes ITP and OTP crowds want to cut one another. The kind that makes them want to drive side-by-side in harmony, right on up to the neon signs and oral pleasures of Atlanta's most diverse stretch of road...