Travel Souths Best The South's Best Food Towns 2019 By Hannah Hayes Hannah Hayes Hannah Hayes is an Editor for Wildsam. Previously, she was the Travel + Culture Editor at Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on November 5, 2022 Fact checked by Elizabeth Berry Fact checked by Elizabeth Berry Elizabeth Berry is a fact checker and writer with over three years of professional experience in the field. She has fact checked lifestyle topics ranging from destination wedding venues to gift guide round-ups for a variety of publications including Brides, The Spruce, and TripSavvy. In addition to her fact checking background, she also has over six years experience of reporting, writing, and copy editing articles for digital magazines including Woman's Day and The Knot. Elizabeth also has a strong background in e-commerce content as both a fact checker and writer. brand's fact checking process Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Robbie Caponetto Our readers are fiercely proud of our region's small towns, and when it comes to the South's Best survey, it is one of our most contested categories. This year, many of our previous food town winners made return appearances, but we were also pleasantly surprised to see some new tiny tastemaking towns make it into our top ten. St. Augustine, Florida, worked its way from the bottom to be our overall champion with their ever-burgeoning food scene anchored by restaurants like Preserved, which shows off the wealth of local ingredients in a modern way in the country's oldest city. Last year's winner, Oxford, Mississippi, dropped into second place, but not by much, a testament to its nationally acclaimed food community. And tiny towns like Kinston and Davidson demonstrate that it's not how many restaurants make a dining scene, but how great they are at serving a community and a purpose. See which towns made the list, and which spot might take first place next year. Travel and Culture Editor Hannah Hayes tells you where to explore in each one. 01 of 10 1. St. Augustine, Florida Robbie Caponetto Where to go: Preserved, The Ice Plant, The Hyppo, The Floridian 02 of 10 2. Oxford, Mississippi Robbie Caponetto Where to go: St. Leo, Snackbar, City Grocery 03 of 10 3. Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina Courtesy Grace and Grit Where to go: Graze, Grace and Grit, Bon Banh Mi 04 of 10 4. Charlottesville, Virginia Courtesy MarieBette Cafe and Bakery Where to go: MarieBette, Lampo, The AlleyLight 05 of 10 5. Kinston, North Carolina Baxter Miller Where to go: The Chef and the Farmer, Benny's Big Time 06 of 10 6. Fredericksburg, Texas Courtesy Pontotoc Vineyard Weingarten Where to go: Pontotoc Vineyard Weingarten, Otto's, Emma + Ollie 07 of 10 7. Breaux Bridge, Louisiana Cedric Angeles Where to go: Cajun Claws, Maison Madeleine 08 of 10 8. Winter Park, Florida Courtesy of 4 Rivers Smokehouse Where to go: 4 Rivers Smokehouse, Prato 09 of 10 9. Brunswick, Georgia Andrew Thomas Lee Where to go: Indigo Coastal Shanty, Jerk Shack 10 of 10 10. Davidson, North Carolina Southern Living Where to go: Kindred, The Pickled Peach Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit