Metro Atlanta and Georgia have a rich culinary history, as evidenced in part by the number of chefs, restaurants and food writers who have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation over the years.
Here, a look back at James Beard Award winners with Georgia ties.
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
Chefs
Chef Terry Koval of Decatur restaurant The Deer and The Dove and B-Side won for Best Chef: Southeast in 2023. He was the lone Atlanta finalist, though many local chefs and restaurants made the semifinalist list. Koval, who previosly worked for Atlanta restaurants including Canoe and Wrecking Bar, is working on opening amaro bar Fawn in downtown Decatur.
After five years in a row vying for the title of Best Chef: Southeast, Miller Union chef and co-owner Steven Satterfield finally took home a coveted Beard medal in 2017.
Before Satterfield’s award, the last time Atlanta was recognized for its cooking was 2012, and it resulted in a tie — Hugh Acheson and Linton Hopkins both won in the Best Chef: Southeast category.
Acheson has owned 5&10 in Athens, which he opened in 2000 and also owned the recently-shuttered Empire State South. He also helped open several other concepts including the National in Athens, which he co-owned; Spiller Park Coffee, Punch Bowl Social, Spaceman and By George and the now-shuttered Achie’s and Mount Royal, all in metro Atlanta. He’s also won a Beard award for his cookbook (more on that later).
Credit: Courtesy of Holeman & Finch
Credit: Courtesy of Holeman & Finch
Hopkins won for his work at Restaurant Eugene, which closed in 2019. He and wife Gina recently reopened their popular Holeman & Finch in Colony Square after several years in Brookwood Hills. The pair also co-own C. Ellet’s Steakhouse at Battery Atlanta; Hop’s Chicken in Ponce City Market; H&F Burger locations at Ponce City Market, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Truist Park; H&F Bottle Shop; and The Buttery ATL between Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge roads.
Credit: Louie Favorite / Staff
Credit: Louie Favorite / Staff
In 2007, Scott Peacock was named Best Chef: Southeast. Peacock helmed the kitchen at Watershed until 2010 when it was still located in Decatur (it later moved to Brookwood Hills before closing).
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
In 2005, chef Joel Antunes won Best Chef: Southeast for his now-shuttered restaurant Joel.
Credit: W.A. Bridges / AJC
Credit: W.A. Bridges / AJC
Two big names in the Atlanta fine dining scene took the Best Chef: Southeast top spot in 2003.
Anne Quatrano and her husband, Clifford Harrison, won for their restaurant Bacchanalia. Twenty-five years later, Bacchanalia is still serving elevated farm-to-table fare, although the restaurant moved from the Westside Provisions District to a spot on Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard in 2017. The couple also owns and operates W.H. Stiles Fish Camp at Ponce City Market, as well as Star Provisions in West Midtown. Their restaurant Floataway Cafe closed in 2022 after 25 years.
Credit: Mikki K. Harris
Credit: Mikki K. Harris
In 1996, Günter Seeger was the first Atlanta chef to win Best Chef: Southeast for his work at the Dining Room at Ritz-Carlton. Seeger also owned Buckhead restaurant Seeger’s, which closed in 2006.
Beyond Atlanta, Mashama Bailey of The Grey in Savannah won in the Outstanding Chef category in 2022 and in the Best Chef: Southeast category in 2019. Elizabeth Terry won Best Chef: Southeast in 1995 for her Savannah restaurant Elizabeth’s on 37th in Savannah.
America’s Classics
This category, launched in 1998, recognizes “beloved regional restaurants” with “timeless appeal” that “serve quality food that reflects the character of their communities.”
Busy Bee, which opened at 810 Martin Luther King Drive SW in 1947, received the award in 2022. Busy Bee was opened by Lucy Jackson on what was then called Hunter Street, one of only two streets in the city of Atlanta open to Black entrepreneurs at the time. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights icons stopped by frequently at the restaurant to try its soul food including fried chicken, ham hocks, catfish, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread.
Credit: Michelle Baruchman for The AJC
Credit: Michelle Baruchman for The AJC
Athens soul food mainstay Weaver D’s — which inspired the name of REM’s 1992 album Automatic for the People — was recognized with the award in 2007. The restaurant threatened to close in 2013, but is still serving up fried chicken, pork chops and other Southern staples.
In 2000, Savannah restaurant Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room was also recognized in this category.
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Humanitarian of the Year
Atlanta-based nonprofit Giving Kitchen, which provides emergency relief services to commercial food service workers in Georgia and beyond, was recognized in this category in 2019. The honor is bestowed on an individual or organization whose work in the realm of food has improved the lives of others and benefited society at large.
Cookbooks and writing
Several authors and publications with Atlanta ties have won James Beard Awards for their cookbooks and other writing including:
Former Atlanta resident Bill Addison won in 2017 in the Dining and Travel award category for his Eater piece titled “I Want Crab. Pure Maryland Crab.”
Virginia Willis (who is also an Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributing writer) won in 2016 in the Focus on Health category for her book “Lighten Up, Y’all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome.”
Wendell Brock, who writes for the AJC among other local publications, won in 2016 for Best Profile for his article “Christiane Lauterbach: The Woman Who Ate Atlanta,” written for The Bitter Southerner.
Hugh Acheson won in the Best Cookbook in American Cooking in 2012 for “A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen.”
Cynthia Graubart won in 2013 for “Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking.”
Bread expert Maggie Glezer won the Best Baking Book of the Year in 2006 for “Artisan Baking.”
Former AJC dining critic John Kessler won in 2002 for his piece “Upper Crust Cooking: The Art of Using a Gratin Dish.”
Shirley Corriher won in 1998 for Food Reference & Techniques for her cookbook “Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking.”
Joe Dabney, who died in 2015 and previously served as the state news editor at the Atlanta Journal, won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year Award in 1998 for his “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine.”
Former Atlanta resident Nathalie Dupree has won three James Beard Awards for her cookbook.
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