Linton Hopkins

Chef-owner, Restaurant Eugene
Atlanta, Georgia

Valuation is a word that means a great deal to chef Linton

Hopkins. He brings it up when I first meet him at a table at his

Restaurant Eugene. “Compromise is dangerous,” he tells me. “You

can’t turn a blind eye to things; it’s all about valuation.” When we

part ways a few hours later, he calls after me: “Don’t forget.

Valuation.” (My interpretation: it’s all about knowing what things

are worth.)

Hopkins, a round, bespectacled Southerner, is like a cross

between a friendly Southern farmer and a formidable French chef.

As if to confirm that latter half of his persona, he tells me that

early in his career, he would have sous-chefs measure his cuts. “A

julienne means one eighth of an inch by one eighth of an inch by

two inches.”

The friendly-Southern-farmer part of his persona comes

through in the way he holds forth on a variety of topics, including

restaurant cooking versus home cooking (“At home, you have to

clean everything yourself”), pickling (“I’m a big believer in

preservation; I want to open a restaurant with zero refrigeration”),

and taking pride in his profession (“This is a real guild; there’s a

code of honor and respect”).