The restaurant scene in Athens can change considerably between May and August when the drop in business caused by students leaving town, even temporarily, can deal the death blow to a struggling establishment. If you’re new to Athens, welcome, and know that not only can you get biweekly restaurant reviews here in Flagpole, but you can also check Flagpole.com for more regular newsy updates on food. Athens has much more to offer than the same chains you find everywhere else (although we have a lot of those, too), and you should never be afraid to eat in a restaurant connected to a gas station or where you don’t speak the language. Fearlessness is often rewarded with mouth happiness. Tips, questions, etc., should be directed to food@flagpole.com, and remember to pick up a Flagpole Guide to Athens for a great reference all year long.

Peaches Fine Foods on Broad, The Local Jam in Five Points, Gymnopédie on Pulaski, The Dogg Pound, The Beer Growler and Kabana all shuttered over the summer, leaving us poorer for Southern cooking, gourmet vegan and charming weirdness, respectively. We also said goodbye to Casa Mia downtown. You might think Maba Grill, serving Vietnamese food downtown across from the Arch, is gone, but it’s actually been revamped into a new place called Yummy Pho. Ditto for Stuffed Burger, which moved its Juicy Lucy from Baxter Street across town to the Georgetown Shopping Center, near Publix on the Eastside. The best news in a long time is the rumor that the shuttered Middle Eastern restaurant The Sultan, formerly way out Atlanta Highway serving excellent dolmeh, may move into the latter’s building. The downtown Planet Smoothie also moved to the Eastside.

Donderos’ Kitchen, on Milledge, which retails prepared foods and groceries out of a house, is looking to move next door, into bigger quarters, and Five & Ten, Athens’ premier gourmet eatery, is likewise moving down the road, into a historic home on Milledge Avenue. That move won’t be complete for some time, but it will bring with it both lunch and a light breakfast, as well as a better parking situation.

If you've been wondering what will take the place of the abandoned gas station on Lumpkin between Milledge and the university, it looks like it will be Atlanta's Grindhouse Killer Burgers. Alex Brounstein, who owns it, tasted countless bread products until he found the perfect one for the bun, and his focus on quality is impressive. The original Sweet Auburn Market Grindhouse cooked one of the more delicious burgers I've had, and I have high hopes for an Athens location.

The Branded Butcher, a high-end farm-to-table restaurant with lovely charcuterie and head chef Matt Palmerlee, opened next to the Georgia Theatre, in the space that was Flight. If you’re looking for a new place to have someone buy you a really good meal, this is your spot, with smart takes on cured meat classics and great veggie options, too.

Chipotle came to town at long last, not improving the traffic on Alps Road, where it was built on the site of the old Package Warehouse. Athens Bagel Co., on Jackson Street downtown, which operates as a lunch option and a bar as well as a bakery, is still working out some kinks, but its product is pretty tasty. Quickly, open with little fanfare and lots of mystery, across from Vision Video on Broad, makes fast, juicy burgers, Taiwanese snacks and bubble teas with alacrity and care. From Scratch Café opened way out in Winterville, doing breakfast and lunch and baking its own bread. The Camp took the space that was previously Toshiro’s in the Homewood Hills Shopping Center and is doing a healthier version of traditional Southern cooking therein. Firehouse Subs graced the Eastside with its presence.

Yet to Come: Tin Drum Asia Café in Beechwood Shopping Center, encroaching on Chango’s turf with noodle bowls; Urban Flats, a franchise in the Washington Street parking deck downtown; another Your Pie on the Eastside, combined with a Dunkin' Donuts by the Omni Club; Dirty Birds, a wing joint on Washington Street; second locations of Tlaloc El Mexicano in Watkinsville in the Bell’s shopping center and Siri Thai in the Ansonborough development on the Eastside; Taqueria La Parrilla also on the Eastside, along with the long awaited La Puerta del Sol; a location of Striplings General Store out at Highways 78 and 53, retailing lots of sausage; Fresh Market in Beechwood; Ideal Bagel, next to Treehouse Kid & Craft on Broad, in the old Ideal Amusement Company space; Steak 'n Shake on Broad, where Thai of Athens once was and not far down, a new Longhorn Steakhouse; Marker 7 Coastal Grill, coming to Five Points from the folks behind Hilltop Grill; and, most excitingly, Pulaski Heights BBQ in the Leathers Building on Pulaski Street. It’s rare that any BBQ place worth its salt has a full bar, but this one promises to have both booze and quality cue, as well as veggie sides and fun specials.