Joël Antunes is a Southern boy—a Southern French boy, that is. But he has taken to gracious Atlanta society like a fish to water. First making his mark in town as Guenter Seeger’s replacement at The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, chef Antunes headed out on his own in that most inauspicious of years for new businesses, 2001. His commitment to local products and local chefs has kept a steady trade coming through the doors of his modern brasserie, where a wasabi sorbet graces the salmon sashimi and tomato sorbet accents the gazpacho. As dramatic as the food and the dining areas is the 2,500-square-foot state-of-the-art kitchen, complete with a humidity-controlled pasta room among other features, which chef Antunes built for his cooks.