Linton Hopkins, the chef/owner of Atlanta’s Restaurant Eugene, is happy to be a five-time nominee for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast award. But after Monday's big gala and ceremony at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City is over, Hopkins is hoping he’ll never be nominated again.
“You can only win once,” Hopkins said. “I want to win this time. It would be fun to get up there and get a medal, there’s no doubt about it. But how do you even say best chef of this region? Look at all the talent here. To be on a list of five semifinalists from the Southeast five times is crazy.”
Besides Restaurant Eugene, Hopkins is a driving force behind Holeman & Finch Public House, and he’s part of the team behind H&F Bread Co. and H&F Bottle Shop.
We caught up with Hopkins recently and wondered what was on his mind, and his plate, as he prepared for the Beard awards, again.
Q: Are the awards really fun or nerve-racking for you?
A: It's a lot of fun. A lot of times, you don't see your friends and colleagues from around the country until you're standing around at events like this. You do get nervous when you're in Avery Fisher Hall, in black tie, and you're surrounded by all your heroes. There's Jacques Pepin and Eric Ripert and Alain Ducasse, and then your name and face flashes up on this huge screen. You forget simple things, like how to breathe.
Q: Are you looking forward to rubbing elbows with fellow Southern chefs at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival?
A: I'm doing something called Fellowship of Country Ham with Alon Shaya of Domenica in New Orleans, who is a friend. And we're bringing Allan Benton down from Tennessee, of course, because he's the high priest of country ham. We're going to have 13 different hams. We're going to slice, taste, discuss and celebrate them, then ask the fundamental question: What is country ham?
Q: What other Southern foodways are you excited about?
A: I met a gentleman, Bill Thomas, who is a neuropathologist in North Georgia. Turns out, he's really into regional foodways in Georgia, particularly the Gullah culture of Sapelo Island and the Cherokee culture of North Georgia. He is just this amazing source of information on these two cultures. Really, for me, he's helped define Georgia food, which is my big thing.
Q: And what is that food?
A: The Geechee Sapelo Island culture is a coastal cuisine of fresh seafood, like shrimp and crab, and beautiful coastal peas. And then there's Cherokee cooking, which is about foraging for things like ramps and greens. Right now, that's transforming a lot of the plates at Eugene, which are becoming wilder and more expressive of foraging. We're also making this Geechee-inspired shrimp powder that's almost like shrimp salt. It's absolutely delicious.
Q: You have so many other things going on, with the Bread Co. and the Bottle Shop, and Holeman & Finch. How does it all fit together?
A: There is no running another Restaurant Eugene for me. Restaurant Eugene takes all of me. It's dynamic and creative, and it changes fast. I couldn't do two of those. Holeman & Finch may be a pub, but it's just as intense. But everything links together. It's all about a better experience for our guests. Holeman & Finch is a better bar. Having fresh bread makes the experience at both places better. Having the bottle shop augments having better wine, spirits and beer, and links us to the neighborhood.
Q: Would you open another place?
A: My wife, Gina, would get very upset with me, but I would love to open a little bookstore that has a little cafe in back. If I sell enough bread, maybe I can afford to open a little bookstore.
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