All You Could Possibly Want To Know About Grits

The most unusual Atlanta guide to come out this Olympic summer is published by Quaker Oats.

“The Official Grits Guide to Atlanta” lists 21 local restaurants that serve grits. The hominy houses run the gamut from traditional (cheese and grits at Mary Mac’s Tea Room) to fusion (jalapeno grits at the Peachtree Cafe) to fancy (grits cakes at the Horseradish Grill, where the menu advertises that they use stone-ground grits, not Quaker).

Quaker, the nation’s largest seller of grits, commissioned 15,000 copies of the six-page pamphlet to capitalize on the Olympic-inspired curiosity about all things Dixie. Lisa Willet, who helped produce the guide for the Atlanta marketing firm Cookerly & Co., says it is needed because you can’t assume anymore that most restaurants around here even serve grits.

The guide also is needed because of newcomers such as Willet.

“I’m from L.A.,” she says. “I’ve eaten grits once in my life. It’s corn. Who knew?”