22 Facts About Hugh Acheson

Hugh Acheson was born on November 5,1971 and is a Canadian-born chef and restaurateur.

Hugh Acheson has owned four restaurants in Georgia, and serves as a judge on the reality cooking competition show Top Chef, and as an Iron Chef on Iron Chef Canada.

The youngest of four children, Hugh Acheson has three older sisters.

Hugh Acheson's father was a professor of economics at Ottawa's Carleton University, while his mother was a reading tutor.

Hugh Acheson's parents divorced when he was young, and he was raised primarily by his father in the Manor Park and Centretown neighbourhoods of Ottawa, 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.

Hugh Acheson took his first kitchen job when he was fifteen years old, as a dishwasher at Ottawa's Bank Street Cafe.

Hugh Acheson subsequently worked at other well-known Ottawa restaurants, before moving to Montreal, Quebec, to attend Concordia University.

In 1994, Hugh Acheson moved back to Ottawa with his future wife, Mary Koon, and began working at Cafe Henry Burger, an iconic restaurant that closed in the 2000s after over 80 years of operation.

At Henry Burger, Hugh Acheson learned about French cuisine, wine and etiquette under chef Rob McDonald.

Later in the 1990s, Hugh Acheson moved with his wife from Ottawa to her hometown of Athens, Georgia so she could attend graduate school at the University of Georgia.

Hugh Acheson subsequently worked as a sous chef for San Francisco chef Gary Danko, helping him to open his eponymous restaurant.

In turn, Hugh Acheson opened his first restaurant, Five and Ten, in Athens in 2000.

In 2011, Hugh Acheson competed on season 3 of Top Chef Masters, a reality competition show in which experienced celebrity chefs compete against each other in various challenges.

Hugh Acheson was eliminated in the first round, but subsequently returned in the second episode after another chef withdrew.

Hugh Acheson ultimately finished in fifth place out of twelve competitors.

Hugh Acheson was then invited to become a judge on season 9 of Top Chef, of which Top Chef Masters is a spin-off.

Hugh Acheson served as a judge on season 10 of Top Chef, which ran November 2012 to February 2013.

Hugh Acheson published his first cookbook, A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen, in 2011.

Hugh Acheson published his second cookbook, entitled Pick a Pickle: 50 recipes for Pickles, Relishes and Fermented Snacks, in the spring of 2014.

Hugh Acheson is a James Beard Foundation award winner as both a chef and cookbook author.

Hugh Acheson has been nominated nine times, with two wins.

Hugh Acheson was married to Mary Koon, a Georgia native who worked as an editor at the Georgia Museum of Art.