Hugh Acheson

Acheson was born on November 5, 1971, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[2] The youngest of four children, Acheson has three older sisters.[2] His father was a professor of economics at Ottawa's Carleton University, while his mother was a reading tutor.[3] Acheson's parents divorced when he was young,[2] and he was raised primarily by his father in the Manor Park and Centretown neighbourhoods of Ottawa,[3] with the exception of two years that he spent living with his mother and stepfather in the American cities of Clemson, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia.[2]

Acheson took his first kitchen job when he was fifteen years old,[3] as a dishwasher at Ottawa's Bank Street Café.[2][4] He subsequently worked at other well-known Ottawa restaurants, before moving to Montreal, Quebec, to attend Concordia University.[2] There he studied political philosophy, but he soon dropped out to work in Italian restaurants in Montreal.[4] In 1994, Acheson moved back to Ottawa with his future wife, Mary Koon, and began working at Café Henry Burger,[2] an iconic restaurant that closed in the 2000s after over 80 years of operation.[5] At Henry Burger, Acheson learned about French cuisine, wine and etiquette under chef Rob McDonald.[6] Later in the 1990s, Acheson moved with his wife from Ottawa to her hometown of Athens, Georgia[3] so she could attend graduate school at the University of Georgia.[2][4]

On the basis of his experience in French and Italian cuisine, Acheson became the head chef and manager at the Last Resort Grill upon moving to Athens.[4] Following his wife's graduation, the couple moved to San Francisco, California, where Acheson took a job at restaurant Mecca. He subsequently worked as a sous chef for San Francisco chef Gary Danko,[2] helping him to open his eponymous restaurant.[4] After approximately two years in San Francisco, Acheson and his wife returned to Athens at the request of Melissa Clegg, the owner of Last Resort, who wanted Acheson to help her open a restaurant.[4] In turn, Acheson opened his first restaurant, Five & Ten, in Athens in 2000.[3][4] He was named one of the best new chefs in the United States by Food & Wine magazine in 2002.[3][4] Acheson opened his second Athens restaurant, The National, in 2007.[3][4] His third eatery, Empire State South, opened in Atlanta in 2010.[2][4] Empire State South closed its doors in February, 2023. Cinco y Diez, a modern Mexican restaurant in Athens, was only open from January to October 2014.[7] In 2015 Acheson opened Spiller Park, a coffee shop in Ponce City Market. On February 2, 2021, Acheson's latest culinary business Ovide is slated to open its doors as Hotel Effie’s signature restaurant.[8]

Acheson was married to Mary Koon,[2] a Georgia native[3] who worked as an editor at the Georgia Museum of Art.[13] They first met in middle school, when Acheson briefly lived in South Carolina with his mother.[4] They reconnected while at university in Canada, and married two years later.[4] Acheson and Koon divorced[17] quietly in 2017 and both still live in Athens, Georgia. They have two daughters,[2] Beatrice and Clementine.[4]

• Sous Vide: Better Home Cooking
• The Chef and the Slow Cooker
• A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen
• Pick a Pickle: 50 Recipes for Pickles, Relishes, and Fermented Snacks
• The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits

• Hugh Acheson Interview