UPDATE: OK, so apparently this issue is a couple months old.  Still sorta interesting though!

Kimball House, Brick Store Pub, Paper Plane and Leon’s all placed among the Top 10 bars in Atlanta, according to Atlanta Magazine.

Here’s their full Top 10 list, with the Decatur spots bolded.

1. Wrecking Bar
2. Kimball House
3. Brick Store Pub
4. Paper Plane
5. Porter Beer Bar
6. Manuel’s
7. The Sound Table
8. Blind Willie’s
9. Mary’s
10. Leon’s Full Service

Decatur’s Mac Magee (#18) and Pinewood (#27) also delivered a strong showing.

As to how they determined the rank, here’s the lowdown…

Each bar could score a maximum of 100 points—up to ten each for setting, food, activities, the mix of people, and service. Up to thirty points for quality and depth of drinks (this is a bars package after all). And finally, up to twenty points for the “X factor”—that ineffable quality that may defy easy description but nevertheless makes the place special. (Clermont, we’re looking at you.)

What do we think?  Seem about right or do you feel an inebriated rant coming on?

Paper Plane adds a couple more “Top” awards to its list.  The first is from Esquire, which named the Decatur spot among their “Best Bars in America”.

Also of late, Kimball House and Paper Plane have found themselves on the same “Top” lists.  FM Fats points out another.  Bill Addison has placed both Kimball House and Paper Plane on Eater’s latest 38 Best Cocktail Lounges Across America list.

Here are their respective blurbs…

Kimball House

“Some of the richest bartender talent in the Atlanta metro area” is stationed here, according to Eater critic Bill Addision. In addition to an extensive list of traditionally served absinthes and refined cocktails, Addison says, “sitting at the bar, drinking cocktails and slurping oysters, is the power move” at this French-inflected restaurant and bar housed in a former railway depot built in the late 1800s.

Paper Plane

Eater critic Bill Addison thinks this Southern bar is “the hottest place to drink in the Atlanta area,” though their tight menu also gets noticed for excellence. Addison finds that head bartender Paul Calvert is a “virtuoso at blending potent flavors compatibly.” Cocktails like the In Bloom with Mezcal, Italian vermouth, Campari, St. Germain and rose water (there’s that expert blending at work) are interesting to say the least, and the atmosphere is intimate. Let it be known they welcome “Members and Non-Members Only” into the place.

Photo courtesy of Paper Plane’s Facebook page

Scott points to this Facebook page that announces the arrival of a new bar “to be named later” at the under-construction strip on West College Ave at Mead Rd.  The description on Facebook describes the spot as …

A neighborhood bar, nestled in beautiful Oakhurst in Decatur, Georgia. All we need is a name. And a license. But we need a name to get the license.

This unnamed bar joins “Corrina’s Corner”, a pet supplies store, as the second business to announce opening in this building.

Is West College is the new Ponce?!

Photo courtesy of “A bar to be named later’s” Facebook page

According to Trackside’s Facebook page (and J_T) the rebuilt tavern finally reopened to the public at 1pm today after a fire destroyed the space 2 1/2 years ago.

From the sounds of it, they’re hoping for a “soft open”.  Unfortunately, unless you do an “by invite only” sorta event, the internet easily turns a soft open into a pretty hardcore one in a matter of minutes!  Let the frivolity begin!

P.S.  Looks like Dave’s already there!  InDecatur’s got a nice pic of the interior posted if you’re interested.

Trackside owner “Doc Al” just wrote in with this comment to a previous post…

Yes, Trackside is definitely coming back – plans for the re-build are currently being formulated. However – it appears that quite a bit of the existing building is going to have to be demolished before it can be rebuilt, so – don’t get worried if you see bulldozers at work in the near future. The goal is to re-create as much of the old Trackside as possible along with some modern upgrades behind the scenes. Stay tuned for updates as the weeks and months go by.

Sweet.  It will be interesting to see exactly how detailed they get in “recreating” the old bar.

Best o’ luck Al!