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Hugh Acheson is the chef/owner of 5&10 and The National located in Athens, GA, Empire State South and Spiller Park Coffee in Atlanta, GA, and The Florence in Savannah, GA. 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 age 15, he began working in restaurants after school and learning as much as possible. Today, Acheson's experience includes working under Chef Rob MacDonald where he learned stylized French cuisine, wine and etiquette 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.Taking these experiences, Hugh developed a style of his own forging together the beauty of the South with the flavors of Europe and opening the critically acclaimed Athens, GA restaurant 5&10 in March of 2000. In 2007, Acheson opened The National with fellow chef Peter Dale. Adding to his list of dining establishments, Hugh opened Atlanta based restaurant, Empire State South in the summer of 2010. Hugh’s most recent endeavor is The Florence, which opened in June of 2014.Hugh's cookbook titled A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen, published by Clarkson Potter, hit the bookshelves in October 2011 and won the award for Best Cookbook in the field of “American Cooking” by the James Beard Foundation in 2012. In A New Turn in the South, you’ll find libations, seasonal vegetables that take a prominent role, salads and soups, Hugh's prized sides, and fish and meats, turning Southern food on its head every step of the way. Hugh’s pickling swatch book, Pick a Pickle, also by Clarkson Potter, was published in the spring of 2014 and is a handy kitchen go-to for canning and preserving. In May of 2015, Hugh’s newest cookbook, The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruit, was released. The book brings fresh produce to the center of the plate and offers knowledge and the inspiration to consider new directions for how we eat and support our communities through the wonderful world of agriculture.This fresh approach to Southern food has earned Hugh a great deal of recognition, including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef (2002), the Atlanta Journal Constitution Restaurant of the Year (2007), five James Beard nominations, and 2012 Best Chef Southeast.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, 11, 12, and 13 as well as Top Chef: Duels. He also hosted Bravo’s online complement to Top Chef Masters Season 5, called Battle of the Sous Chefs. But all of that is 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 daughters who are the apple of his eye. Hugh's Restaurants:Empire State South (Atlanta, GA)The Florence (Savannah, GA) The National (Athens, GA) Spiller Park Coffee (Atlanta, GA) 5&10 (Athens, GA)Hugh's Books:A New Turn in the South (2011) Pick a Pickle (2014) The Broad Fork (2015)

How many chefs can trace their first restaurant job back to a countess? Daniel Boulud, winner of half a dozen James Beard Awards and owner of multiple Michelin-starred restaurants, can. Appropriately enough for a chef who shows a reverence for great ingredients, Boulud began his life on a farm: “There was a certain connection to everything,” he recalls about growing up on a 60-acre plot near Lyon. He was surrounded by vegetables, orchards, chickens, and cows—and it was there that his grandmother first taught him to cook, at a small café attached to the ranch. For years, he’d deliver fresh milk and eggs to a countess, who eventually heard about his dream of becoming a chef. She placed a call to the chef at Nandron, a two-starred restaurant in the city, to get Boulud a job. Only three years later, at just 17, he was awarded Best Culinary Apprentice in France by the Maitres Cuisiniers de.From that point on, Boulud charged through the cosmos of France’s Michelin-starred restaurants on a meteoric rise: he worked for Georges Blanc, Roger Vergé, and Michel Guérard, some of the greatest French chefs of our time. After his first experience working abroad in Copenhagen’s Plaza Hotel, Boulud took an even further leap to Washington, D.C., as the private chef to the Ambassador of the European Commission. But Boulud couldn’t contain his ambitions within a private kitchen, so he soon made a break for NYC, where he cooked alongside Thomas Keller at the Polo Lounge.From there, it’s easy to run down Boulud’s impressive resume, from his six career James Beard Foundation awards to the expansion of his restaurant empire from Singapore to Miami, London and beyond. But you can't eat glitz and panache! Instead, find proof of his genius and culinary mastery in his refined, custardy French omelette; Basque-style cod simmered in tomato-chorizo sauce; salade niçoise drizzled with his grandmother’s garlic vinaigrette; and luscious chocolate soufflés that tremble on your spoon.French cuisine is all about technique. These dishes, in particular, can be challenging to make if each step isn't carried out just right; with written instructions alone, it can be hard to achieve the best results. That's why video instruction from a perfectionist like Boulud is a rare gift. Simply press play to plunge into his delectable universe, and you'll amaze yourself by what you can accomplish with Boulud's help.Daniel's Restaurants:DBGB Kitchen and Bar (Washington, DC)Café Boulud (New York, NY)Daniel (New York, NY)DB Bistro & Oyster Bar (Singapore)Daniel's Books:Letters to a Young Chef (2006)Daniel (2013)

Emmy Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Giada De Laurentiis has become a household name. With an impressive background of culinary training and a unique, personable charm, she is a globally revered celebrity chef who continues to prove her skill and accessibility not only with her expanding presence beyond Food Network but also with the great success of her cookbooks, brand alliances, food products, recurring role on NBC’s Today and most recently, her Las Vegas restaurant, Giada.Born in Rome, Giada grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was a staple in and of itself. As the granddaughter of film producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada consistently found herself in the family’s kitchen and spent a great deal of time at her grandfather’s restaurant, DDL Foodshow. After graduating from the University of California in Los Angeles with a degree in anthropology, Giada’s passion for cooking remained. She eventually made the decision to commence a culinary career and began her professional training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, specializing in both cuisine and pastry. She subsequently returned to Los Angeles, where her training included positions at the prestigious Ritz-Carlton Fine Dining Room and Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills. She later founded GDL Foods, a catering company in Los Angeles.Giada’s career started on Food Network in 2002 when she was discovered by a network executive upon reading an article about her and the De Laurentiis family in Food & Wine magazine. Since then, Giada has earned an Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Host and has become one of Food Network’s most recognizable faces. Her Emmy Award-winning, daytime cooking show, Everyday Italian, features quick, healthy and satisfying Italian dishes. Her primetime show, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, debuted in January 2007 and followed Giada to popular destinations in and around the U.S. as she explored the cities’ most notable restaurants and activities. Giada at Home, her hit TV series, premiered in 2008 and shows Giada in her kitchen where she plans and prepares meals and parties for family and friends. Giada can also be seen on Food Network in Giada Entertains, Giada’s Holiday Handbook, the Daytime Emmy Award-Nominated Giada in Italy, as well as judge and mentor alongside fellow chef Bobby Flay on the highly popular series Food Network Star.The foray into cookbooks was an obvious decision, allowing Giada’s loyal viewership to reference, prepare and share their favorite recipes. Giada’s first book, “Everyday Italian,” showcases many of the delicious recipes from her cooking show of the same name. Her second book entitled, “Giada’s Family Dinners,” quickly became a New York Times best-seller as did her third cookbook, “Everyday Pasta,” which was released in April 2007. An eagerly-awaited fourth book, “Giada’s Kitchen,” hit bookshelves on September 30th, 2008 and did not disappoint. In the first week of release, “Giada’s Kitchen” landed at #2 on the New York Times best-seller list and has maintained a top 10 ranking ever since. De Laurentiis’ fifth book, “Giada at Home” debuted on March 30th, 2010 and landed in the #1 position on the New York Times best-seller list. “Weeknights with Giada,” was released in March 2012 and followed the trend of all her cook books before it by landing on the New York Times best-seller list as well. Her book “Giada’s Feel Good Food” hit shelves in November 2013 and the New York Times best-seller list the same week. Most recently, she released Happy Cooking on November 3rd, 2015 which also became a New York Times best-seller. In Happy Cooking, Giada conveys how she is happiest in the kitchen and is able to balance indulgences with clean eating and keeping things easy, sharing nearly 200 recipes and helpful advice on everything from hosting a potluck or holiday meal to what to pack along for lunch every day. All of Giada’s cookbooks have been published by Random House/ Clarkson Potter.Another exciting venture Giada has sailed into is a series of adventure books for young readers which explore some of Giada’s favorite cities around the globe as well as some of her favorite youth-friendly recipes. The series debuted in September 2013 and is titled “Giada De Laurentiis’s Recipe for Adventure” published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group. The cities explored in the adventures thus far are Paris, Naples, Hong Kong, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Rio de Janeiro. Additionally, Giada is a correspondent on NBC’s Today, where she highlights current trends in travel, cuisine and lifestyle.In June 2014, Giada opened the doors to her first restaurant, Giada, on the Las Vegas Strip. The restaurant is located on the second floor of the first ever boutique hotel on the strip, The Cromwell, and features breathtaking views of the Bellagio fountains and Caesars Palace. The menu features authentic Italian cuisine with a refreshing California flare.In 2012, Giada partnered with The Kitchen Community, a nonprofit whose mission is to connect children to nutritious food, to install a Learning Garden at Foster Elementary School in Compton, California. Along with students, teachers and members of the local community, Giada planted numerous vegetables and herbs throughout the garden. The school continues to maintain the plants and regularly incorporates them into the students' meals. She also pays regular visits to the school and stays engaged in the garden’s long-term sustainability.Giada is also an ambassador for Stand Up 2 Cancer and the Melanoma Research Alliance and is involved in Alex’s Lemonade Stand which raises money and awareness of childhood cancer causes.Giada currently resides in Los Angeles with her daughter, Jade.