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?

FM Fats points out a big shout out for Decatur’s Kimball House.  Southern Living recently put it #1 on its list of the top new restaurants in the South.  Here’s how the piece starts…

As my group of four settled into a high-backed leather booth, we sat fixated by the menus. One championed absinthe-based cocktails. Another listed 22 oyster varieties, most sourced from small family farms, with the kinds of tasting notes more frequently reserved for wine lists. The Chelsea Gems from Eld Inlet, Washington, were likened to “anise and buttered truffle”; the Northern Cross from Fisherman’s Island, Virginia, “salted parsnip and green onion.” It was obvious this place was special; it merited a crowd. So, like a group of bon vivants with a line to the golden age fêtes of Paris, we texted our friends to come join the fray. By the time our oysters arrived atop their heaving, iced-down pewter tray, the four-top had grown to eight, squeezed in elbow-to-elbow.

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

Two Decatur bars have a place on Southern Living’s recent “100 Best Bars in the South” list.  Both Kimball House and Paper Plane found a spot.  Of course there are a few ATL bars on the list as well!

The site suggests the following beverages at the two spots:

• Kimball House: Pecan Old Fashioned with Medley Brothers Heritage bourbon and Elliott pecans
• Paper Plane: The Permanent Collection—Fernet-Branca, cognac, Bénédictine herbal liqueur, and bitters

h/t: Eater Atlanta 

Photo courtesy of Kimball House

UPDATE: ALSO, Julian Goglia of Pinewood Tippling Room was voted bartender of the year!

Eater Atlanta just announced its restaurant champions of 2013.

Among the chosen few, General Muir won the coveted “Restaurant of the Year” award, while Kimball House took home the “So Hot Right Now” award.

Paper Plane, Sobban and Ink & Elm were all finalists in the “So Hot Right Now” category, speaking to the bumper crop of new restaurants among the eastern, inner-burbs of Atlanta.

Related: Check out the Ink & Elm website for so cool historic photos of Emory Village!

Photo courtesy of General Muir website

You know that dream where you visit a random selection of Decatur landmarks and find yourself waited on by a revolving door of familiar faces from the Brick Store?  This week, fantasy becomes fact, my friends.

In case you haven’t already heard via annoyingly gushing comments from friends (Facebook or meatspace), the Kimball House is now open.  J_T sent in this photo late last night of the scene.

Atlanta Magazine has some slightly more sober photos and a nice “sneak peak” over on its website.

The Kimball House is slowly taking shape in the old Decatur Depot.  Check out the new bar in the photo above.  You can view more pics of the new interior on their Instagram page.

Here’s something else I came across that might also be of interest.  The Kimball House is offering a culinary apprenticeship program to interested culinary artisans.  Based on the application, there doesn’t seem to be a requirement for an culinary background.

Sounds like a great opportunity for young and not-so-young adults looking to put their hands where their mouth is!