The Fourth Is For Food, Brews and Freedom!

The Fourth of July falls on a Monday this year, opening up the weekend to a huge display of that favorite American pastime -- eating and drinking with family and friends. Whether you choose to grill on the deck and entertain at home or head out, Atlanta restaurants cover you in a star-spangled way.

Atkins Park Tavern in Virginia Highland will be hosting its fourth annual pig roast on July 4. Chef Andrew Smith will roast a whole Riverview Farms Berkshire pig and will offer smoked all-natural chicken. Order off the $15 "meat and three" menu brimming with grilled corn on the cob, potato salad, braised pole beans, vine-ripe tomato salad, Texas toast, three house-made sauces and a choice of Southern banana pudding or caramelized peach ice cream for dessert. Atkins Park Tavern will be open late on Sunday, July 3 for the holiday weekend, too. (794 North Highland; 404 -876-7249)

The "Red, White & Brew" menu at Marlow's Tavern continues to help Atlantans celebrate "life, liberty and the pursuit of happy hour" through July 25. Perfect for the patriotic holiday, the menu is all about summertime in America. While you're chillin' on Independence Day, enter the Second Annual Marlow's Tavern Grilling Recipe Contest -- maybe you'll win the Big Green Egg! Find out more and find a Marlow's Tavern location near you on their website.

New York Butcher Shoppe locations have meaty plans for your Fourth of July cookout and an especially big day planned at their Dunwoody location, which marks the starting point for the Dunwoody Fourth of July parade. The Dunwoody store will open at 7 a.m. on July 4; early parade goers can purchase breakfast tacos, coffee, iced coffee and mimosas. Throughout the weekend, folks in Dunwoody can stop by to enjoy specials on BBQ sandwiches and wings. All three locations -- Alpharetta, Buckhead and Dunwoody -- will offer the new "Grill Master" ($19.99 to $44.99) and "Weekend Getaway" ($64.99 to $94.99) packages. Choose your favorite meat combo package to grill or pick up a meat and side dish package for quick meal planning.

Rooftop 866 is hosting an Independence Day cookout from noon until 5 p.m. It will be easy to heap your plate high from the $10 buffet full of classic cookout fare -- hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, sides and plenty of desserts. The rooftop bar and lounge also is offering buy-one-get-one-free Boozy Pops ($3), $3 draft beer and cocktail specials. (866 West Peachtree Street, NW; 678-412-2402)

Spice Market decorates for the Fourth of July with a delightful trio of red, white and blue sorbets for $5. These are the real thing: sour cherry purée is the main ingredient in the sour cherry sorbet, lemon juice and lemon zest star in the lemon sorbet and blueberry purée powers up the blueberry sorbet. (In the W Atlanta-Midtown, 188 14th Street, NE; 404-724-2550)

Uncle Julio's Fine Mexican Food in Buckhead invites Peachtree Road Race contestants to bring their race bib into the restaurant on July 4 to receive $10 off their meal (race bib offer excludes gratuity; not valid on gift cards or merchandise; no cash value or cash back). (Buckhead location: 1860 Peachtree Road, NW; 404-350-6767)

A star-spangled cookout begins with burgers made from White Oak Pastures grass-fed ground beef. Talk about American heritage -- Will Harris and his fifth-generation family farm raise some of the finest sustainable, Certified Organic grass-fed beef in the country! Read more and place an order online or call 229-641-2081. Atlantans also can purchase White Oak Pastures products at the New York Butcher Shoppe. And while we're on the subject of burgers, why not top that delicious grass-fed patty with a thick slice of sweet Vidalia onion!

Woodfire Grill keeps Georgia on your mind over the Fourth of July weekend by serving the finest local and sustainable fare at its annual "BBQ & Beer" bash on Saturday, July 2. The three-course, all-American dinner will be served from 5:30 - 11 p.m. and costs $38 per person (plus tax and gratuity). The menu includes an appetizer course; an entrée course consisting of a BBQ plate made with Gillespie's Terminus City BBQ sauce, Brunswick stew and two traditional sides; and fruit cobbler for dessert. There will also be freshly baked cornbread and Southern-style white bread on every table. The bar will serve SweetWater draft specials all night long with proceeds from beer sales going to "Save the Hooch," a campaign started by Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing Company in 2005 to advocate and secure the protection and stewardship of the Chattahoochee River, its tributaries and watershed, in order to restore and preserve their ecological health for the people, fish and wildlife that depend on the river system. Limited seating means reservations are required; call 404-347-9055. (1782 Cheshire Bridge Road; 404-347-9055).