Hugh Acheson joins season nine of Top Chef as a series judge. A recent competitor on Top Chef Masters Season 3, Acheson is the chef/partner of Five & Ten, The National, Gosford Wine, and Empire State South. Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada Acheson started cooking at a young age and decided to make it his career. 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, as well as 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. 

Taking these experiences, Acheson 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 Five & Ten in March of 2000. Acheson has gone on to open The National in 2007 with fellow chef Peter Dale and his Atlanta based restaurant Empire State South in 2010. 

Acheson's fresh approach to Southern food has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef (2002), the AJC Restaurant of the Year (2007), a four-time James Beard nominee for Best Chef Southeast (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) and a 2007 Rising Star from StarChefs.com. Chef Mario Batali chose Acheson as one of the 100 contemporary chefs in Phaidon Press' Coco: 10 World Leading Master Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs. 

In addition to running three restaurants and a wine shop, Acheson is writing a cookbook titled A New Turn in the South: The Cuisine of Hugh Acheson. This book was published by Clarkson Potter in the fall of 2011.