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Food & Wine Magazine
July 2002

America’s Best New Chef 2002:
Hugh Acheson Five & Ten, Athens, GA

Why: Because his idiosyncratic vision succeeds with merging soul food with Old World cuisine.

Born: Ottawa, Canada, 1971

Education: He is a self-taught chef Experience: Henri Burger, Montreal; Gary Danko, San Francisco

How he describes his food: Contemporary American with influences from France and Italy. “It’s definitely not fusion.”

First dish cooked: Paprika toast. “I think I was 4. Don’t even ask.”

Why he became a chef:  He studied political philosophy in college. “If that won’t make someone want to pursue something else, nothing will.”

Where he would eat on a $1,000 budget: Gordon Ramsay in London. “He’s a nutcase, but an absolutely amazing cook.”

Where he would eat on a $10 budget: La Taqueria in San Francisco’s Mission District

What keeps him up at night: “Things like, Are the fridges still working? Are the veal bones still burning? God, everything keeps me up at night.”

Favorite kitchen tool: “Other than the stove? The Vita-Mix blender and a good Japanese knife, a Masahiro.

About his recipe:  His Frogmore stew, named after an old South Carolina town, is a southern version of bouillabaisse. “It’s simple yet refined. We’re not in to foam yet.”

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