Restaurants in Valdosta

Capturing the feel of the Big Easy throughout Florida, Po’ Boys surrounds diners with photos of New Orleans and Mardi Gras memorabilia, as well as the rich fragrances of gumbo and jambalaya. The menu presents fried pickles, gator baskets, po’boys, andouille sausage platters, and firecracker shrimp, which are proof one can never know what Mother Nature will do next. The downtown location remains festive with live music on the deck, while other locations, including the Killearn restaurant, host karaoke nights. Catering options are also available to bring bayou flavors to special events.

The chefs at A La Provence show discipline in their commitment to classic French recipes as well as to how they source ingredients; they use only natural grass-fed beef from Harris Ranch, domestic veal and lamb from Marcho Farms or Strauss Farms, and fish and shellfish brought fresh daily from Southern Seafood. Using these meats, they craft a gallery of traditional French- and European-American fusion dishes, relying on precise recipes rather than just carving steaks into the shape of Napoleon's face. They showcase their talent and creativity through a nightly changing amuse-bouche, a bite-size appetizer that servers ferry to tables before the main dinner. They follow this introduction with French classics such as rack of lamb, duck confit, and filet mignon. At lunch, they prepare salmon and rainbow trout with sides such as herb risotto and garlic haricots verts. The aromas of these dishes and international wines fill the stone-tiled dining room, where walls are hung with mirrors in gilded frames, delicate sconces, floral displays, and oil paintings of tree-lined French streets.

Extreme Wings takes taste buds to the flavor's edge with a menu featuring casual eats as well as hearty chicken offerings. As chicken wings flutter forth, vegetarians can also select fowl-free wraps or salads. Open every day until midnight, the casual eatery stands as a beacon for hungry night owls and those looking for tasty bait to lure a raccoon into a rival bobsled team’s sled.

In 1991, tired of sating their late-night delivery cravings with pizza, University of Florida pals Matt Friedman and Adam Scott concocted an alternative snack in their frat house's kitchen. Many hours and tweaked sauce recipes later, the duo dispensed their brand of buffalo wings to the university’s students, selling out their stock in the first two nights. Since relocating from the frat house to its two original Gainesville storefronts, Wing Zone has opened nearly 100 locations nationwide, supplying wing lovers with boneless bites slathered in 15 award-winning flavors, including nuclear habanero, garlic parm, and blue buffalo. Three of the pair’s sauces have garnered awards at the National Buffalo Wing Festival, which recently inducted Adam and Scott into the Buffalo Wing "Hall of Flame," where they share reigniting duty every time a strong breeze extinguishes its symbolic eternal flame.

Founded nearly 25 years ago on a frozen foundation of nonporous, 5-degree granite, Cold Stone Creamery has blossomed into a nationally recognized ice-cream parlor distinguished by its daily creations of sweet treats. Fruit, nuts, and candy collaborate with ice-cream flavors such as french vanilla, sweet cream, and cake batter to manifest a signature sundae or a personalized creation made to match customers' tastes and fifth-birthday-party footage. Smoothies and shakes sate sippers, and fruity sorbets, nonfat ice creams, and tangy frozen yogurt satisfy the need for healthy indulgences.

Thick brocade curtains, soft seating, and ornate chandeliers cosset diners in an elegant atmosphere at Marie Livingston's Steakhouse. In 1992, the restaurant's matriarch and namesake parlayed years of menu-making into opening her own eatery, which she still runs today with her two daughters. Her sweet Alabama twang and gracious hospitality float through the air as she works both the front and back of the house, greeting guests at the door and ensuring each steaming dish and housemade dessert represents her name well. A secret-recipe steak sauce coats her selection of USDA Choice steaks and chops, all grilled over an open flame rather than a flat pan or a Senate subcommittee. And accompanying each are fluffy, family-recipe yeast rolls that have kept a stable of regulars coming back for more.

In a building once thought by many in the industry to be unsuitable for a restaurant, elegance enfolds guests and proves naysayers wrong. An entryway with a dome of distressed silver leaf and a vintage red sofa opens onto a dining area enhanced underfoot by marble and hardwood floors, and overhead by bright-red drop lighting. Black and cream flow throughout, with dark baseboards and crown molding lining the light walls, and large curved booths leading the eye to a black granite bar.