Become a Local Champion in Atlanta

A Local Champion in Atlanta has rated five different Atlanta places, answered three Top 3 questions about the city and made a list with an Atlanta place on it in the Mosey app. In a city with soul food, barbecue, peach cobbler and one of the country's great international corridors, five ratings are easy to earn and hard to make boring.

How do you become a Local Champion in Atlanta?

Do three things in Atlanta: rate five different places, answer three Top 3 questions and make a list with an Atlanta place on it. A card on Home tracks each step with counters, and shows Done or To do beside each. Atlanta sprawls, so the places you rate may sit in very different parts of the metro, and that is fine as long as each is a separate place in the city.

Because five ratings of one favorite is still one place, plan a spread. A biscuit breakfast, a weekday meat-and-three and a weekend dinner on the BeltLine would already be three.

What is a meat and three, and can you rate one?

A meat-and-three, or meat-and-two, is one main meat with two or three sides, usually served with cornbread or a roll and sweet tea. Fried chicken, baked chicken and roast beef are classic mains, and sides run from collard greens and candied yams to baked macaroni and cheese. It is a very Southern way to eat lunch, and a dish-by-dish rating suits it well: name the main and the side that stood out.

Soul food runs deep in historically Black neighborhoods on the Westside, in Southwest Atlanta and in East Point, where many of the city's soul food kitchens are.

Which Atlanta neighborhoods and corridors suit your ratings?

Pick a few corners. Buford Highway runs through Brookhaven, Chamblee and Doraville and is known for Vietnamese pho and banh mi and for Korean barbecue and tofu houses. The Buford Highway guide goes deeper. Sweet Auburn has a historic market, Inman Park and Old Fourth Ward are walkable and food-focused, West Midtown has converted industrial space, Decatur has independent bakeries and coffee shops, and Clarkston, often called one of the most diverse square miles in America, adds East African, Middle Eastern and South Asian food. Clairmont Road, Doraville, Chamblee, Duluth and Norcross hold clusters of international grocers, so even a grocery store food court can supply a rating that sits far from the usual downtown stop.

What are the Atlanta Top 3 questions about?

Expect one Top 3 question each time you open the app for it, spaced at least four hours apart, about kinds of food such as breakfast, brunch, barbecue and coffee. Atlanta has plenty to argue over: vinegar-based or sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce, a flaky biscuit or a fluffy one, the right way to serve fried chicken. You name up to three places, ranked, and you need three different questions answered in Atlanta.

Tapping skip is allowed, but only an answered question moves the counter. The Atlanta barbecue guide is useful background for the barbecue debate.

What belongs on an Atlanta list that counts?

A list of your own with an Atlanta place on it. Try "Sunday dinner after church" or "Buford Highway on a Saturday" or "Peach season". Peaches matter here: peach cobbler nods to Georgia's Peach State name, and summer is the time to rate it. The title ignores the My Favorites list and the automatic list of your Top 3 answers, so start a fresh one.

Drop a place in, leave a note for your future self and pass the link to friends, who can add their own favorites.

How do dishes, tags and friends help in Atlanta?

Atlanta eating is dish-led: fried chicken and biscuits, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, pho and banh mi. Rate by the dish and the next person knows what to order. Add tags, tag who you ate with, and follow friends to see what they rate on Home. The title ignores what you say, so an honest meh counts the same as a rave. The earned, not bought guide explains why.

What about peach season and the barbecue sides?

Peach season runs roughly July and August, and peach cobbler is the classic dessert to rate while it lasts. Barbecue in Atlanta means pulled pork, ribs, smoked chicken, sausage or brisket in regional styles, and Brunswick stew shows up beside it as a side. A large state farmers market south of the city, in Forest Park, is among the biggest produce markets in the Southeast, and a farmers market day gives you a quick way to rate a dish you would not otherwise try.

Treat the season as a prompt, not a deadline. The title never expires, so rating a cobbler in October counts as much as one in July.

What happens once you earn the title in Atlanta?

A thank-you reads "You are a Local Champion of Atlanta", the title appears on your profile and beside your name on ratings of Atlanta places, and a share button turns three plain numbers into a picture card. There is no prize or payment. The how-to guide has every rule, and the Local Champion page shows the screens.

Mosey is free for a place to list, with no hidden fees and affordable tools. Supporting local in Atlanta means telling people about the lunch counter that deserves a line out the door. Browse the US food guides for neighboring cities. The New York page covers a city with a very different pace.

Get the Mosey app, rate your next Atlanta lunch by the dish and start the list that makes you a Local Champion.