Hugh Acheson — famed for his Athens restaurants Five and Ten, The National, and Cinco y Diez and Atlanta’s Empire State South — is still apparently on track to open the Florence at One West Victory in Savannah.
If you’re curious what Acheson is all about, check out this revealing interview in Atlanta Magazine. That interview includes his answer to “why Savannah?”:
Everyone always asks when I’ll open in Vegas or New York. Those are great cities, but they have great dining options already. Here, we can look in our own backyard. Savannah is an amazingly beautiful city. It can use a couple more restaurants that are serving great food. There’s not much down there that does what I do. We’re in a historical neighborhood. Back in the Day Bakery is two blocks away. There’s a lot of local genius happening in this area. We’re about a half-hour walk from the park. The tourist crowd will have to come to us. We’ve always been somewhat of a destination dining. I think people will be happily inconvenienced by the destination.
I like that: “happily inconvenienced.”