Hugh Acheson

Hugh Acheson is the chef/partner of the Georgia restaurants 5 & 10 and The National located in Athens, Empire State South in Atlanta, and The Florence in Savannah. Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada Hugh 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 Chef Danko's namesake restaurant, where he found a love of the simple, pure and disciplined, which guided him when opening his own restaurants in the years to follow. Hugh's cookbook titled A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen published by Clarkson Potter, hit the bookshelves on October 18th, 2011 and won the award for Best Cookbook in the field of "American Cooking" by the James Beard Foundation in 2012. With inviting and surprising photography full of Hugh's personality, and pages layered with his own quirky writing and sketches, Hugh invites you into his community and his very creative world of food, and to add new favorites to your repertoire. His second book, Pick a Pickle: 50 recipes for Pickles, Relishes, and Fermented Snacks, is a pickling swatchbook and handy kitchen reference guide. Hugh's third book, The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits published by Clarkson Potter, is due out in May of 2015. It's a vegetable-centric look at cooking through the seasons. Acheson's fresh approach to Southern food has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 2002 and winner for Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation in 2012. In 2010 Hugh competed on Bravo's Top Chef Masters: Season 3. He currently serves as a judge on Top Chef.