Omnivore - Acheson, Hopkins top list of Atlanta’s 2012 James Beard nominees
Both landed nominations for “Best Chef: Southeast”
- James Camp
- Chef Ryan Smith, owner Hugh Acheson and wine director Steve Grubbs at Empire State South
Hugh Acheson and Linton Hopkins both landed nominations for “Best Chef: Southeast” in the 2012 James Beard Awards. Acheson earned his nomination for his role as chef at Five and Ten in Athens, though he is also owner of Empire State South here in Atlanta. Acheson’s cookbook, A New Turn in the South, also landed a nomination in the “Cookbooks: American Cooking” category.
Neither chef has seen any shortage of praise from CL. Empire State South was named Best Restaurant in last year’s Best of Atlanta issue. I profiled Linton Hopkins for the $20 Dinner series and he penned a great little essay about his origins as a chef for our Food Issue. Acheson also made brief appearances in my profile of ESS’s chef Ryan Smith and Besha Rodell’s “A day in the life of Empire State South.” All of which is to say, we write about these guys quite often for good reason.
The winners will be announced at events on May 4 and 7.