Spoon It Up: If I started talking to you about a relatively new restaurant that focuses on locally sourced produce, prepared with a chef’s touch and available at very reasonable prices, you’d be like, “Where in Boulevard is it?” But The Savory Spoon isn’t even in Athens. You’ll find it, instead, at 705 Sycamore St. in Jefferson, about half-an-hour from the Classic City. Be warned, too, that Google Maps may send you up a dirt road that turns out to be someone’s driveway, as the restaurant doesn’t have its own curb cut. You’re best served to veer to the left at Chili Dawgs, then turn right into the Shell Station/Papa John's and proceed up the hill to the small shopping strip. If that all seems like a lot of effort, stick with me.

Josh Aaron and Arielle Hirsch are doing a fine job with their small restaurant that has larger ambitions, and it would compare favorably in Athens, let alone in its current location. The menu changes daily, updated on Facebook and based on what’s fresh and good at local farms. You can be assured of having a wide selection of hamburgers, including many combinations crafted by patrons of the restaurant. Rather than the usual boring standards, you might find your eye caught by the Smokey Joe, topped with Gouda, bacon, smoked sweet peppers, dehydrated tomato and mango pineapple sauce, a carefully balanced array of big flavors designed to hit up just about every tastebud you have. The burgers themselves are clearly hand-formed, amoeba-like and not too tightly packed, and although a pinch more salt would elevate them further, they’re well cooked and tasty.

The best thing I ate in two trips to the restaurant was a side of barely roasted okra, seasoned only with salt and pepper, touched as little as possible. Sometimes being a good chef is knowing when to leave a main ingredient alone rather than futzing it up with accessories. Warm but still with some crunch, this okra makes a strong case for replacing french fries as a side, fresh from the plant rather than stewed or battered and fried or otherwise camouflaged. Okra seems to be having a bit of a moment right now in kitchens across the country, and it is an unjustly maligned vegetable, delicious and complex. This side conveys a real respect for its green, botanical nature.

Almost as good is the restaurant’s poblano-tomato mac and cheese, a creamy version of the dish that can hold its own with any baked rendition. Other items on the menu could use a bit of tweaking. The cod burger is delicately formed and perfectly cooked, but the soft bun it arrives on soaks up the citrus aioli like a sponge, leaving the burger perhaps too plain. A quick toast on the griddle might help solve that problem easily. A salad of purple-hulled peas treats its main ingredient with care, tossing peas, onions et al., with a bright, lemony dressing, but the legumes needed a bit more cooking time. The BBQ sandwich is fine but overwhelmed by its bread, and although the Not Your Normal Bird turkey sandwich is good enough, you can do better.

Minor complaints aside, the kitchen has talent and good instincts, not to mention a taste for variety rather than resting on laurels. Its owners are ones to watch. The Savory Spoon serves lunch weekdays, dinner Tuesday to Friday and brunch Sunday, is alcohol-free and takes credit cards.

BBQ Beat: While out in Jefferson, I also stopped by Redd’s ‘Que & Stew (7226 S. Apple Valley Rd.), which perches up on the hillside in a neat cabin. The aesthetics are great: cozy, Appalachian, lots of decorative glass bottles and pig art. The people are super nice, walking you through the menu and offering advice. The ice cream is homemade. They even pack your to-go order with thoughtfulness and care.

Unfortunately, the BBQ isn’t on par with the rest of these attributes. It’s not bad, but it is disappointing. The pork itself is decent, pulled not chopped, erring on the dry side and served separately from the sauce, but the stew, which the restaurant touts as the best in northeast Georgia, is bland and thin. Were you to take it home and add some healthy shakes of Texas Pete, it would improve, but it still wouldn’t be great. The sauce draws heavily on apple cider vinegar and comes in mild, hot and mustard. The latter is the best of the three, but pales in comparison to the memory of Jot ‘Em Down’s zippy yellow stuff.

Homemade cobbler is gooey and syrupy, as it often is. Texas toast is soggy, and baked beans aren’t notable, but the slaw is good: simple and savory rather than sweet. Redd’s is open Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It does catering and takes credit cards.

What Up?: Yoguri has closed downtown. ‘Tween the Pages is open again in the UGA Main Library, now with hot food prepared to order. The new Taqueria La Parrilla on the Eastside is now open. Marti's at Midday is celebrating its 10-year anniversary on Oct. 31. La Fiesta on Hawthorne is closed but a new restaurant, La Cabana de Don Juan, is taking its place. A new restaurant/bar/music venue called The World Famous, and run by Bain Mattox, is set to open in the old Wilson's Soul Food space on Hull Street.