Athens "An Up and Coming" Food City, Says Zagat

Known as a favorite of retirees and rockers, Athens has made yet another list. This one is for up-and-coming food cities, and it's compiled by the folks at Zagat, the restaurant guidebook producer and restaurant rating company.

The list of seven includes Charleston, Salt Lake City, Boulder, Louisville, Nashville and Birmingham, in addition to Athens.

Here's what they say about Athens:

It's no surprise that Athens, the notoriously hip Southern college town known for its music ties to bands like R.E.M., makes our list of up-and-coming food cities. A number of exciting eateries, including Farm 255, helmed by executive chef Whitney Otakwa (Top Chef Texas), are fixing up amazing plates that change daily based on what's fresh from local farms. The restaurant's management even runs a farm collective, which brings the freshest produce and humanely raised animals to the table every night.

Athens' most famous chef, Hugh Acheson, now a judge on Top Chef, snagged himself a James Beard Award last year for his eatery 5 & 10. According to him, things in Athens haven't truly blown up yet, but he tells us, "It hasn't changed immensely. While it's still not prevalent with food choices, so much more improved in the last 10 years, I think finally people are starting to realize there's so much going on right in their own backyards, and it should be a celebration. There's a sense of place in the food. There's so many farms that have long sort of catered to Atlanta, and we now buy a lot of their stuff. There's like 30-40 farms that we can access."