Cheerwine slushies, and cue-bano sandwiches—the General Muir team delivers wood-smoked meat to equally hot Summerhill.

When one of the best chefs in Atlanta turns his attention to barbecue and opens a restaurant in a fast-changing neighborhood near downtown, sparks will fly. Todd Ginsberg, whose General Muir near Emory forever changed what Atlantans could expect from a Jewish deli, does something similar with Wood’s Chapel BBQ: He takes an old-fashioned concept and makes it stunning and modern in a way that respects its integrity.

Things are changing along Georgia Avenue. The tasteful redevelopment of several historic buildings by megafirm Carter respects the scale of the neighborhood. That strip has attracted a slew of high-profile spots—Little Tart Bakeshop, Big Softie ice cream, Halfway Crooks Beer, Junior’s Pizza, and the soon-to-open Little Bear by Jarrett Stieber. But Wood’s Chapel, named after one of the first churches built in the neighborhood after the Civil War, is Summerhill’s largest restaurant by far—and serves as an anchor to a reimagined Georgia Avenue.