Great News!

My favorite restaurant (EVER) is Five & Ten.  New York...LA...Chicago - they all have great restaurant scenes, but my absolute favorite place to dine can be found in good ol' Athens, GA.  Five & Ten will always hold a special place in my heart for opening my eyes to the world of cheese.  I've always been a cheese girl, but there was not a plethora of fancy cheeses in Savannah when I was growing up.  Off I went to college where my brother introduced my parents and I to Five & Ten.  One trip and we were hooked.  Every time my parents came to town, we went to Five & Ten (you know those dinners when the parents relieve their broke college kids from nights of Easy Mac and take them to a nice place).  I think the reason Five & Ten stuck with us (at least with my Mommy and I) was all because of the cheese plate.  Never before had I seen a cheese plate, and I couldn't imagine a better course of food.  The combination of hard and soft cheeses and the matching jams, nuts, and toasts just spoke to me.  This is food, I thought. But it's not just the cheese I love about Five & Ten.  Not once have I had a bad meal there.

The consistently delicious food is all due to Hugh Acheson, head chef.  Thankfully, others have taken notice.  And I'm not just talking about the James Beard folks (but yea, he's been nominated for those awards, too).  I just learned that Chef Acheson will be on the next season of TOP CHEF MASTERS!!!!  So set your DVRs for April 6th so you can watch my man in action.  I never got into the Masters part of the franchise before, but between the fact that my favorite restaurant's chef is a contestant and that Ruth Reichl and Curtis Stone are judges, I think this show will be added to the roster.  Good luck, Hugh Acheson!