Ken and I had two excellent meals at One Flew South, a serious restaurant in the Atlanta airport. Concourse E, in the secure zone, easy to get to from any of the terminal buildings. It’s not cheap ($15-$25 main courses) and not particularly quick (an hour minimum), but if you’ve got a couple of hours to kill at the Atlanta airport and you want a fine meal, One Flew South is the place to go. They also have a great cocktail selection at the bar if you just want a nice drink.

The menu is pleasantly eclectic with a welcome attention to local artisanal ingredients. They bill themself as Southern-influenced international. The best dish I had was a pulled duck sandwich. Exactly like a pulled pork Georgia BBQ sandwich only with lovely duck confit, a fine marmelade, and good fresh bread. Also had a well balanced frisée salad with excellent local bacon and a surprisingly great sushi roll. They even have a cheese plate, three pleasant Georgia cheeses. Local ingredients and a careful chef, miles away from the Chili’s / TGIFridays / Sbarro horror of the usual airport dining experience.

Service was friendly and professional. A bit uneven in the pacing, particularly for drink service, but the friendliness made up for it. They were nicely accomodiating about returning a corked bottle of wine. It’s a good dining room, too, a comfortable and pleasant private space separated from the terminal by a wood screen that creates privacy while letting you still watch the people walking by. Concourse E seems to be the new international terminal in Atlanta and is quite civilized, particularly the live piano playing in earshot of the restaurant.

The executive chef is Duane Nutter; the other principles are chef Todd Richards (also of Rolling Bones BBQ) and manager Jerry Slater. I imagine it’s difficult to run a fine restaurant in the secure zone of an airport. High rent, awkward delivery logistics, and a bizarre and changing customer base. I sure hope they’re doing well because I’d love to go back.