As a competitor on the third season of Top Chef Masters and a judge for five successive Top Chef series, Acheson became widely known for his debating skills, charisma, and unibrow. That was followed by a second Athens spot, the National, and Empire State South in Atlanta. Raised in Ottawa, Acheson followed his now ex-wife to Athens, where she was pursuing a graduate degree and, in 2000, opened what would become the college town’s best restaurant, Five and Ten. As for the food itself, Acheson has come up with a felicitous theme: classic French cuisine to match the grandeur of the location. Like most hotel restaurants, By George serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it has been a blessing for downtowners in search of a luxe spot for happy hour. Murphy and George Stewart, and created for the hotel by celebrity chef Hugh Acheson. The grand marble staircase with carved cherubs, the Beaux-Arts details, and the plush little lobby communicate a sense of old-world luxury that’s increasingly elusive downtown.Ī short walk through the lobby brings you to By George, the restaurant named after the building’s original architects, George E. The entrance, rather modest for such a prestigious project, is on a side street, where an elegant, thin marquee leads to a double set of heavily polished original brass doors. Late last year, the building began a new chapter as a boutique hotel, part of Hilton’s Curio Collection.
But with the recent restoration of the Candler Building, a 17-story blunt flatiron in the same style as the Hurt (which it predates), downtown is reclaiming some of its lost luster-and has gained one of its most posh restaurants in ages.Ĭompleted in 1906 on a triangular piece of land at the northern edge of Woodruff Park, the Candler first served as the headquarters of Coca-Cola cofounder Asa Griggs Candler’s Central Bank and Trust-though it more recently gained acclaim as the scene of the bank robbery at the beginning of Baby Driver. That’s a shame for many reasons, among them the abundance of architecturally significant spaces to house such restaurants. For more than a decade, ever since the 2009 closure of City Grill in the historic Hurt Building, there have been tragically few destination restaurants downtown.
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