Amazing Acheson... one of the "Thursday four"

We can't wait for the Thursday evening private wine dinners for sponsors and benefactors of Collective Spirits.

Hugh Acheson, chef/partner of Five & Ten, the National, Gosford Wine and Empire State South (opening June 2010), will provide a feast for the dinner at the Fisher home (teamed with wine by Viader).

All about Hugh: Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, he started cooking at a young age and decided to make it his career after taking a very long time to realize that academics weren’t his thing. At age 15, he began working in restaurants after school and learning as much as possible. Today, Acheson's experience includes working under Chef Rob MacDonald where he learned stylized French cuisine, wine and etiquette at the renowned Henri Burger restaurant in Ottawa, and in San Francisco as the chef de cuisine with Chef Mike Fennelly at Mecca, and later as opening sous-chef with famed Chef Gary Danko at his namesake restaurant, where he found a love of the simple, pure and disciplined.

Taking these experiences, Hugh developed a style of his own forging together the beauty of the South with the flavors of Europe, and opening the critically acclaimed Athens, GA restaurant Five & Ten in March of 2000. The eclectic menu at Five & Ten includes seasonal delicacies such as home-grown Georgia 'pecan truffles' as well as comfort-inspired new Southern classics like ‘Frogmore Stew’ – Acheson’s take on a low-country boil.

Since opening Five & Ten, Hugh has gone on to open Gosford Wine with sommelier Ben Giacchino and The National with fellow chef Peter Dale. Adding to his list of dining establishments, Hugh will open an Atlanta based restaurant, named Empire State South in the summer of 2010.

Acheson's fresh approach to Southern food has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef (2002), the AJC Restaurant of the Year (2007), a four time James Beard nominee for Best Chef Southeast (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) and a 2007 Rising Star from StarChefs.com. Chef Mario Batali chose Hugh as one of the 100 contemporary chefs in Phaidon Press' Coco: 10 World Leading Master Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs.

Hugh is an active supporter of the Southern Foodways Alliance, Slow Food USA and Goergia Organics. He served of the board of Community Connection, participated in Project's Safe annual fundraiser Dancing with the Stars, and has helped raise thousands of dollars for Athens Land Trust, St. Mary's Hospital and Project Safe.

In addition to running two restaurants, a wine shop, and opening a new restaurant Hugh is writing a cookbook titled A New Turn in the South: The Cuisine of Hugh Acheson. This book is to be published by Clarkson Potter in the fall 0f 2011.

But that is to everyone outside of Athens. To Athens he is a guy who owns those restaurants, has one eyebrow, a wife far better looking than he is and two young children who are the apple of his eye.