Chef Linton Hopkins, Holeman & Finch Public House, Restaurant Eugene, H&F Bread Co, Atlanta, GA, Georgia, Buckhead, New American, Contemporary American, Executive Chef, Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Where to eat, Where to drink, Atlanta, New York, NY, Kentucky, Food Purveyors, Shops, Markets, Farmers Markets, Where to shop, Charleston, SC, South Carolina, KY, Louisville, Nashville, TN, Tennessee

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Advice & TIps


Eat | Offal


Parts That Should Be Appreciated More | Sweetbreads

Sweetbreads are the gateway drug. Once you get people hooked on sweetbreads, then you get passed the idea of what parts are gross and what parts are okay in the world of eating. It’s a little hypocritical to think that one part is somehow superior than another, it’s all the same. If you’re going to eat animal, what is the difference from gnawing on a foot and a muscle that is in the back?


Eat | Burgers


What Makes The Perfect Hamburger



The Holeman & Finch Cheeseburger

Photo Credit: Beall & Thomas Photography



Caramelization

I like the caramelization of the meat and I like the caramelization on the crust of the bread, I think that is important.


Burger To Bun Ratio

I’m a big believer in burger to bun ratio. I think when you finish your last bite of bun, there should be a little bit of all the other elements in there. The burger is the ultimate every bite is the one bite experience.


Two Patties

I like two patties, where the cheese can melt in-between the two patties and create this wonderful cheese sauce texture in there. It’s 8 ounces of total meat, 2 four ounce patties.


Condiments

I like mustard, ketchup, pickles and onions on my cheeseburgers. We spread some butter on our bread and toast it on the griddle. I think toasting the bread is key to any great burger. It’s the whole synergy, you don’t want cold bread with your burger.


Cheese | Kraft American Cheese

I wanted this to be an iconic burger, not a chefs-truffled-gouda-brioche burger. I wanted that melt quality that American cheese has.


When I put cheddar on a burger, the cheddar sort of overwhelms the burger. American cheese really just lays in there and plays off the fat and the beef, the onion and the mustard, and it just works for me.


That’s why it’s a memory burger. Every time I eat that burger, I’m like 8 years old.

 

Photo Credit: Beall & Thomas Photography

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Q & A
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Holeman & Finch Public House | Restaurant Eugene | H&F Bread Co. | H&F Bottle Shop - Atlanta, GA


Q & A with Chef Linton Hopkins


Q. For visitors, please tell us about Holeman & Finch and Restaurant Eugene -- and describe your perfect meals:

A. Restaurant Eugene and Holeman and Finch Public House are two restaurants with terroir.


Restaurant Eugene

It’s more of our fine dining place. I liken it to jazz music -- it’s more improv. There are tastings menu and the menus change more frequently, every night in fact, with vegetables and seafood.

Holeman & Finch Public House

It’s more like rock n’ roll. Simpler chords, but just as delicious, and a little more meat-centric -- a lot of curing, parts and whole animal cooking. It’s still the great quality of ingredients, but just not the ones that are perceived as more expensive. It’s a public house, so it’s more of your everyday place.


Q. Every night at Holeman & Finch, only 24 burgers are made to be served at ten o’clock... how did this start and why?

A. We’re open until two in the morning and we figured the people in our industry may get out at starting around ten o’clock and want a place to go, so that’s when we’ll start the burgers.


We just made twenty-four a night and figured that the industry would be able to get it and some people would like it and it would help drive sales at the later half of the night. There isn’t much in terms of late night dining in Atlanta. It took off beyond our wildest expectations.


One of the reasons we didn’t put it on the regular menu is because it quickly becomes the number one item you have. I also wanted a culture where people ordered charcuterie and sweetbreads and oysters late night. Cooks don’t come to Holeman & Finch to cook just because they can do cheeseburgers. If it were just burgers, I think I would lose a lot of good cooks.

 

Recommended By

- Chef Sean Brock (Husk & McCrady’s in Charleston, SC)

- Chef Mike Lata (FIG in Charleston, SC)

- Chef Jacob Sessoms (Table in Asheville, NC)

- Chef Hugh Acheson (Empire State South in Atlanta, GA; Five & Ten and The National in Athens, GA)

- Master Sommelier Fred Dexheimer



Holeman & Finch Public House


Buckhead

New American


2277 Peachtree Road, Suite B

Atlanta, GA 30309

T: 404.948.1175


Website:

www.holeman-finch.com


Restaurant Eugene


Buckhead

Contemporary American


2277 Peachtree Road, NE

Atlanta, GA 30309

T: 404.355.0321 (make a reservation)


Website:

www.restauranteugene.com


H&F Bread Co.


Buckhead

Bakery


2255 Peachtree Road

Atlanta, GA 30309

T: 404.350.8877


Website:

www.hfbreadco.com


H&F Bottle Shop


Buckhead

Wine & Spirits


2357 Peachtree Road

Atlanta, GA 30305

T: 404.841.4070


Website:

www.hfbottleshop.com

 


 
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Recommendations


Find | Condiments



Dukes Mayonnaise | Brooklyn Brine NYC Deli Pickles | Bourbon Barrel Foods Soy Sauce | Gentleman’s Relish


Mayonnaise | Duke’s

I love Duke’s mayonnaise -- it has no sugar. It’s simple, it’s eggs, vinegar, salt and oil. For me, I trust ingredients I can pronounce. I believe you should have fewer ingredients in food.


Soy Sauce and Worcestershire Sauce | Bourbon Barrel Foods

I’ve recently fallen in love with the soy sauce from Bourbon Barrel Foods in Kentucky. It has a tannin quality that I really like. I made a bitter orange ponzu with it and it plays off citrus really well. It’s very strong, so I don’t really use it for pure dipping, but in the ponzu it really came through.


Pickles and Beets | Brooklyn Brine Co.

I call to task the big time pickle industry, because they put preservatives in pickles. The whole point of pickling is to preserve. Brooklyn Brine would be a classic for me for purchasing pickles. I just love it!


I also love their beets. I have to tell you that I grew up despising the canned beets that my mom made, straight out of the can, but now pickled beets have to be one of my favorites and I think theirs is absolutely delicious.


Anchovy Paste | Gentleman’s Relish

Gentleman’s Relish is something I love. It’s pounded anchovies with pepper and spice and butter and you spread it on toast. I’m of English heritage on my father’s side and I sort of wanted a nod to the sense of England in the South on my menu.


[See details.]

 


Chef’s Recs | Atlanta


Find | Markets & Food Stores



The Bakery at Cakes & Ale | Cake from The Bakery at Cakes & Ale | Dekalb Market

Photographs courtesy of: Cakes & Ale | unclepockets [flickr]



The Bakery at Cakes & Ale

Billy Allin has a new market attached to his restaurant Cakes & Ale.


Dekalb Farmers Market

It’s every vegetable you can imagine tied into different ethnic cuisines. You go there and you see every culture that is in Atlanta. It’s huge.


Star Provisions

It’s owned by Anne Quatrano (Bacchanalia, Float Away Cafe, Abbattoir) and they have a little lunch place there that is probably my number one spot. They have a cheese cave that is the best in the city. You can get soft serve ice cream with olive oil and sea salt and wonderful coffee, cakes and breads. It’s just awesome.


[See details.]

 


Eat | Restaurants



Deviled Eggs at Bocado | Burger at JCT Kitchen | Tomatoes at Miller’s Union

Photographs courtesy of: Boacado | JCT Kitchen | David Naugle for Miller’s Union



Restaurants I’d Take A Visiting Chef

Bacchanalia

I love taking friends here and sitting at the bar. You can order a la carte and get a great cheese place or sit at a table and have a full six-course experience. I think the place is wonderful. Chef and owner Anne Quatrano is a hero of mine for how she built a culture of farms coming to restaurants in Atlanta. In this age when there is a lot of hype around food, I think she gets it.


Bocado

Todd Ginsberg is the chef and he is extremely talented and has really good food. They are renowned for the cheeseburger, it’s delicious. It’s a double patty burger. Often I’ll get soup. I like their butternut squash soup and their salads.


Cakes & Ale

Good for reservations, but also for walking in. Billy Allin is the chef and he is phenomenally talented. He is the kind of chef that is always in the kitchen and he is really solid. He and his wife own the restaurant.


Floataway Cafe

It’s has a relaxed, every day casual nature. There is a chicken liver dish with onions and balsamic on toast. The chicken liver’s juices get into the bread, that is grilled with rosemary. It’s wonderful. Great hospitality.


JCT Kitchen

It’s open and airy and wonderful for lunch. You can get a great chicken salad sandwich, they have a great burger and beautiful deviled eggs with country ham all over them. They are just delicious. They’ve got a good bar upstairs with great drinks.


Tomo Japanese Restaurant

I’d take a chef here for sushi.


[See details.]


Chefs To Know About | Chef Steven Satterfield at Miller’s Union

I love how he thinks about food. I know how he buys all his food, so I trust all his sourcing. It’s honest, with passion and intelligence, warm hospitality and great wine. He’s got a great egg dish and a cauliflower cream that is delicious. He has wonderful sandwiches at lunch. He does ice cream sandwiches at lunch that are pretty iconic. Probably the best ice cream sandwich I’ve ever had.


[See details.]


Off The Beaten Track



Dumplings at Canton House | Korean BBQ at Honey Pig

Photographs courtesy of: Canton House | Honey Pig



Canton House

I love going to Buford Highway for good dim sum. Canton House brought in dim sum chefs from China.


Honey Pig

It’s a Korean barbecue place, but it’s not like your grandparents Korean barbecue place. You’ve got videos on the wall showing the latest music videos from Korean pop artists. Great food and traditional Korean barbecue in a fast, casual and cool setting. I get the pork belly and they bring out slices of it. They have the griddle right there and they lay it all down with vegetables and bowls of pickles and relishes, an ice cold beer and the music is great.


[See details.]

 


Drink | Bars



Northside Tavern

It’s a good blues dive bar.


Pura Vida

Paul Calvert is the bartender and Hector Santiago is the chef. Great cocktails and you can get a bunch of different tastes to eat. I always get the foie gras.


Woodfire Grill

Great wine and bar program with two great bartenders Blake and Blake, the twins... even though they’re not twins. Go to the front room, you can get a full menu too.


[See details.]


Chef’s Recs | Around The Country


Eat | Restaurants



Pig Trotters at FIG | Salad at Animal

Photographs courtesy of: FIG | Find. Eat. Drink.



Charleston | FIG

I just love FIG.


[See details.]


Nashville | City House

Chef Tandy Wilson is a great guy with great food. Similar to the way chef Mike Lata at FIG is exploring the Italian connection by using Southern ingredients, same thing with Tandy. He has a pizza oven and he works on his own charcuterie.


[See details.]


New York | Momofuku

David Chang’s food at Momofuku is very bright with herbs, judicious use of fats, and a real savory, total mouth experience.


[See details.]


Los Angeles | Animal

What I love about Animal is not that it’s all about meat, I think the vegetables and the refined sauce is what sets Animal apart for me. I had a hamachi salad that was really mind-blowing. I could have been in the best Japanese restaurant in the world. Crisp and great acid and very herbal.


[See details.]


Recipes



- Veal Brains with Black Butter


Recommendations



Details of Linton Hopkins’ recommendations for where to eat, drink and shop in Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles.


City Guides



- Atlanta: Download

- Charleston City Guide: Online | Download

- Los Angeles: Download

- New York | Manhattan: Download