<p>We went to Joel’s for my 50th bday (I wont tell you when that was…) with a group of about 12 people and we were underwhelmed. Maybe it was an off day. Paul Karatassos (of Panos and Pauls and the Buckhead life group restaurants) opened his own restaurant, called… (drumroll…) “Paul’s”. Its in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood. Right smack in the middle of a quaint neighborhood. It was quite good, and it helped that the couple we were with’s daughter was dating the sous chef, and one of the waiters was their nephew (an unexpected. Other good restaurants near Emory are Bluepointe (by Lenox Mall) and Twist (a fun tapas and sushi place-- a bit loud, but fun. It has a sister restaurant… “Shout,” intown. There are several good restaurants in and around Lenox and Phipps (a funky middle eastern restaurant around the corner from Bluepointe, but I forget the name). Steviesteve mentioned many of the classics right near Emory. There is also a nice French restaurant on Clairmont, Violette, but the owner died and it hasn’t been quite the same… Here’s a like to one list of the top 50 restaurants. I agree with some, not all of them <a href=“http://www.accessatlanta.com/restaurants/content/restaurants/diningguide/dg_top50a-l.html[/url]”>http://www.accessatlanta.com/restaurants/content/restaurants/diningguide/dg_top50a-l.html</a>.
Dude-- you will see that Spondivits didnt make the list 
It’s an aquired taste- true local color).</p>