Is "Suburban Shangri-La" an oxymoron? Not if your idea of paradise is a great restaurant and you happen to be in Atlanta. About 25 minutes northeast of downtown, in an upscale shopping mall in the middle of a residential area, is where you will find Sia's, a thoroughly modern restaurant with a contemporary menu that has redefined the city's concept of suburban dining. Owner Sia Moshk and chef Scott Serpas have created a dining destination among country clubs and fast-food outlets. Atlanta Magazine gave Sia's the "Suburban Shangri-La" moniker, but there is nothing "sub" about it.

According to the magazine's restaurant critic, Christiane Lauterbach, from Serpas "you won't get a piece of meat or fish that is less than well chosen and perfectly cooked." John Kessler of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution considered his "sophisticated fare" among "the metro area's best." Kessler named Sia's to his list of noteworthy newcomers, saying, "The food is served with substance as well as style."

For this Friends of James Beard Benefit, Serpas will welcome four Atlanta chefs into his kitchen (they don't have far to travel, but their destination is worlds away). Gary Donlick graduated from the CIA and worked as sous-chef at 103 West for five years. Executive chef positions at Chops and Lobster Bar (both Buckhead Life Restaurant Group restaurants) prepared him to return to 103 in 1997 as executive chef. Pastry chef Frederic Monti was born in Nice, trained in Paris (at Le Nôtre, no less), and worked at Le Bernardin before moving to Atlanta as pastry chef of Brasserie Le Coze. Today he serves as pastry chef for the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, the Mobil five-diamond flagship of that prestigious hotel chain.

He'll be cooking with Nava chef Kevin Rathbun, a Kansas City native who made his name at the celebrated Baby Routh's in Dallas, Texas, whence he was lured to Atlanta by renowned restaurateur Pano Karatassos of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group to become the executive chef of Nava. John Mariani named Nava to his list in Esquire of the Best New Restaurants of 1995, and Nava has stayed in the top five of Zagat's listing for three years running. (Serpas worked with Rathbun at Nava before opening Sia's.) Jay Swift of South City Kitchen will also be joining in the out-of-House fun. A talented chef with a creative mind, Swift worked with Lydia Shire at Biba in Boston and Bob Kinkead at 21 Federal in Washington, D.C.

Come "sia" for yourself how good dinner in the 'burbs can be.