Hugh Acheson wants to meet me!

So, I have a confession to make:

I kinda follow chefs like other people follow celebrities. On my twitter feed, all the pops up are tweets about food, chefs, the food industry, farming, ingredients, restaurants, tasting menus, food markets, and my sorority (I follow a lot of sorority sisters too).

So, a few weeks ago when the Executive Chef of Five and Ten Restaurant (in Athens! And one of Hugh Acheson's restuarants), Chef Dean Neff followed me back on twitter, I got super excited. Some girls hope for Justin Bieber to retweet their tweets, I die when Andy Rappaport (Editor in Chief of Bon Appetite Magazine) replies to one of my tweets.

Once, the James Beard Foundation retweeted one of my tweets and I had to sit down.

So, when I saw on Friday that Chef Hugh Acheson was going to be doing a demo at the Athens Farmers Market (of which my family attends weekly without fail), I told my parents they just HAD to go. Now, I don't know what they said to him, but apparently-

HE SAID HE WANTS TO MEET ME! Me, a lowly culinary student and my favorite chef of all time wants to meet me.

Seriously, Mom and Dad, you are the best networking, promoting team I could ask for!

Chef Acheson is my favorite chef of all time because, well 1. He's an amazing chef 2. He is a James Beard winner and lives in Athens, so the publicity he has brought to Athens' cuisine has been amazing.

See, the thing about Athens is that there are a lot of really great restaurants. I live in Paris and I can tell you that Athens has amazing dining options.

The best Pad Thai that I have ever eaten is at Siri Thai.

The Pork Shoulder at The National (Another Acheson restaurant, Executive Chef: Peter Dale) is life changing.

When I crave Fried Green Tomatoes, I'm remembering The Last Resort's appetizer

Seafood? Square One's got your fished cooked to perfection. Their low country boil requires a loaf of bread because you just can't leave any sauce not sopped-up.

La Dolce Vita and Etienne Brasserie provide the Italian and French flavor with great spaghetti and steak frites, respectively. (They also have much more interesting dishes as well, but I highly admire a place that can present a perfected basic)

Then we have places like Weaver D's and his Automatic for the People made famous by REM that are not high dining, but still absolutely delicious and a must-go if you are in Athens.

I had sorority sisters in DC asking me about Mama's Boy's Peach Stuffed French Toast (not my favorite of their breakfasts, give me that biscuit with that raspberry sauce!)

There are so many other places and so many places that I haven't even been to yet, but Athens has great options cuisine wise. The other thing that makes me love restaurants in Athens, the great atmospheres. All of the restaurants mentioned above are different, but all of them feel comfortable, warm, and a nice place to eat. I hate eating dinner in what feels more like a nightclub than a restaurant. Those places don't exist in Athens.

So, thank you Chef Hugh for bringing the national attention it deserves to our little Athens. I've always felt like he is "our" chef. Just like we as a city claim REM, I've always claimed Chef Hugh as "my chef" when discussing chefs with friends (yes, I discuss chef's with people, they just pretend to care and listen while I talk).

Therefore, he is my favorite chef. AND HE SAID HE WANTS TO MEET ME!
Did I mention that yet??

(Chef Hugh making steak and porcini mushroom)