Bread & Butterfly
This sun-soaked all-day café and bistro borrows its name from the whimsical creature of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, whose wings are made of “thin slices of bread-and-butter.” Here, Billy Allin, owner of Decatur’s much-loved Cakes & Ale (a past Hot 10 winner), transports diners to Paris via Atlanta’s trendy Inman Park neighborhood. The small, airy space is picture-perfect: jade-tiled walls, stamped metal ceiling, and handsome leather-upholstered bar stools. You’ll find an omelet du jour—impossibly soft, butter-slicked, topped with grated Parm and minced herbs—that would make Jacques Pépin weep with joy, plus textbook steak tartare, chicken-liver toast, and roast chicken. From sister bakery Proof Bakeshop, Bread & Butterfly sources its custardy canelés, flaky jam danishes, and layer cakes, set under towering glass cloches. In a dream world, you could park yourself at a bistro table on the porch in the morning with your laptop and a Counter Culture Coffee cortado and not leave until you’ve finished lunch, dinner, dessert—and just one more glass of Loire Chenin Blanc.
PRO TIP: Weekday lunch is the way to go; waits get real at weekend brunch.
THE DETAILS: Closed Monday all day and Sunday after 3 p.m.
