Asheville celebrity sighting: Hugh Acheson, Top Chef star and James Beard award winner

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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hugh_acheson_asheville_2015Celebrity chef Hugh Acheson was spotted lunching at Asheville’s new Gan Shan Station Thursday afternoon. Acheson is a star on Bravo’s Top Chef, having been both a contestant and a judge. He is a James Beard winner for Best Chef Southeast in 2012.

Acheson is also well known his restaurants in Athens, Five & Ten and The National. Gan Shan Station owner/chef Patrick O’Cain and his fellow chef Chris Hathcock have been rockin’ the house since he opened his pan-Asian eatery right before Christmas. Get over and check him out. (Gan Shan Station just started serving lunch, as well as dinner, btw.)

More about Acheson from his website:

Hugh Acheson is the chef/partner of the Athens, Ga restaurants; Five & Ten, The National the Atlanta restaurant Empire State South, and the Savannah, Ga restaurant The Florence. 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 15, he began working in restaurants after school. Acheson’s experience includes working under Chef Rob MacDonald 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. …

Acheson’s fresh approach has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef (2002), the Atlanta Journal Constitution Restaurant of the Year (2007), a six time James Beard nominee for Best Chef Southeast (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and winner of the award in 2012. He is also a 2007 Rising Star from StarChefs.com and won their Mentor Award in 2012. Chef Mario Batali chose Hugh as one of the 100 contemporary chefs in Phaidon Press’ Coco: 10 World Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs. Hugh has also been in Bon Appetit, the New York Times, Garden & Gun, Fine Living, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Southern Living, Saveur and In 2010 Hugh competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters: Season 3. He returned to the hit show as a judge on Top Chef: Seasons 9, 10, and 11. He is the host of Bravo’s online compliment to Top Chef Masters Season 5, Battle of the Sous Chefs, and continued his judging role on Top Chef Season 12, which premiered in October of 2014.

But that’s to everyone outside of Athens. To Athens, he is the 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.

Big shout-out to loyal reader Mike for the heads-up!.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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