Chef Linton Hopkins
Restaurant Eugene | Atlanta

Biography
Atlanta native Linton Hopkins studied anthropology at Emory University and had planned to follow his father into the medical profession…until he started working in a bookstore, where he spent his spare time reading cookbooks. Reading brought back memories of Hopkins’ grandfather, Eugene Holeman, who was passionate for all things flavorful and Southern, and inspired him to enroll at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Hopkins spent his externship at Mr. B’s Bistro in New Orleans, and upon graduation in 1993, worked as a banquet cook and saucier for The Grill Room of the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. He then joined Jeff Tunks at D.C. Coast in Washington DC, becoming chef de cuisine after four years.

Hopkins opened Restaurant Eugene, named for his grandfather, with wife/sommelier Gina Hopkins in 2004. His menu is a manifestation of his early influences – Southern products and sensibility combined with formal French training – as well as his recent culinary experiments. It's this dedication to both the old and the new makes Eugene one of the city’s centers for exciting new Southern cuisine. His pork belly, served with butter beans, flageolets or black eyed peas, depending on the night, is a tender and rich bit of traditional Southern flavor – it also happens to be slow-cooked in a thermo circulator before being crisped and topped with jus.

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Interview Cont'd
AB: Where have you worked professionally as a chef?
LH: I worked in New Orleans at Mr. B’s Bistro and Grill Room at Windsor Court, and at DC Coast in Washington, DC.

AB: Would you recommend culinary school to aspiring cooks? Do you hire chefs with and without a culinary school background?
LH: Yes I recommend it. It’s a great resource. You get out of it what you put in, and it certainly helped open doors for me.

AB: Who are some of your mentors? What have you learned from them?
LH: Gerard Maras at Mr. B’s. He taught me about foraging for wild goods, treating farmers with respect, and about volume in terms of putting out quantity and quality. Also Jeff Turks at DC Coast. He taught me about being prepared for service. He told me not to just spin the wheel, meaning don’t just add ingredients to a plate, but rather really think about what you need to add complexity.

AB: In which kitchens have you staged?
LH: I staged at Taka and learned all about the handling of raw fish.

AB: What question gives you the most insight to a cook when you’re interviewing them for a position in your kitchen? What sort of answer are you looking for?
LH: We go through a personal interview, a written test, and then we give them a mystery basket which is a vegetable plate with eight vegetables. They can have the kitchen for 90 minutes to do what they want with it.

AB: What advice would you offer young chefs just getting started?
LH: That you are going to work hard and that you have to realize you are an apprentice to the chef’s vision.

AB: Is there any ingredient that you feel is particularly under appreciated or under utilized?
LH: Jerusalem artichokes and turnips, which are perfect when cooked with butter, in a gratin, sliced thin, pureed, or paired with seafood. Broccoli puree is also good and versatile.

AB: What are a few of your favorite flavor combinations?
LH: Black pepper and fruit, game organs (liver, kidneys, heart) with mustard, fleur de sel with fresh raw hamachi.

AB: What’s your most indispensable kitchen tool?
LH: A food mill, because of the gentleness of the way it breaks down thickness in to airy lightness, to almost baby food consistency.

AB: Is there a culinary technique that you have either created of borrowed and use in an unusual way?
LH: Poaching using the milk of vegetables, like using corn milk (we scrap the cob and run it through a Champion juicer) to poach lobster or shellfish.
 
AB: What are your favorite cookbooks?
LH: Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point.

AB: Where to you like to go for culinary travel? Why?
LH: Everywhere, but especially Japan for their culinary sensibility, freshness, and simplicity, and Italy for classic combinations and their passion and vision.

AB: What are your favorite restaurants-off the beaten path-in your city?
LH: Figo Pasta for simple marinara – it’s great for kids. I also love Taka Sushi.

AB: What is your philosophy on food and dining?
LH: Everything is about hospitality. Guest come to be welcomed to a place, so I think hospitality wins every time.

AB: Which person in history would you most like to cook for?
LH: I would cook for Julia Child because I grew up with her cookbooks and love her Chicken Kiev. I’d like Pierre Gagnaire to cook for me.

AB: Where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years?
LH: I think I’ll be here at Restaurant Eugene, still working with farmers, and maybe opening another concept, like a bistro.

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