Restaurants in Lawrenceville

Diners take a whiff of grilled meats and slide into dark-wood booths upon entering Famous Joes, waiting to be greeted by the chilly handshake of a cold glass of beer and the calming glow of baseball games emanating from the 21 42-inch flat-screen TVs hung on terra-cotta-colored walls. As a karaoke singer croons on, chefs pull ribs and pork from a 12-hour marinade, toss glistening chicken wings in 16 varieties of sauce, and hand-sculpt ground beef into half-pound patties and busts of Woodrow Wilson. Behind a row of stools, bartenders pour from 10 drafts and 30 bottled beers hailing from domestic and overseas breweries.

It’s hardly a surprise that chef Tony Vitulli’s food embodies his Italian heritage, from housemade pasta sauces to rich and decadent slices of tiramisu. Yet, it’s the tapas that add complexity to his traditional Italian recipes. While living in Spain, Tony married a Spanish woman and fell in love with the country’s signature small plates. The couple then moved to Atlanta, where they opened up their trendy bi-cultural eatery. The kitchen, which Robert Nebel of the Examiner.com applauded for “[concentrating] on quality, rather than quantity,” represents Spain with a range of tapas, such as lamb kebabs and chorizo omelets, and churns out seven types of long and short pastas drenched in 13 sauces—each one made from scratch. Golden-yellow walls and exposed brick encircle a handful of tables set for two inside the cozy space. Diners can also head to the outdoor patio and enjoy a pitcher of homemade sangria alfresco, which is Italian for “while posing for a mural.”