After spending his CIA externship cooking in New Orleans, Hopkins knew he wanted to open a restaurant in Atlanta that would become woven into the fabric of the community much like many of the institutions there. And he did so first with Restaurant Eugene in 2004. After years of building on a legacy of fine dining, he opened limited-service twists on two of his concepts in Ponce City Market to reach a wider range of the Atlanta community. “My goal has always been to be a participant in this great collaborative work of engaging with our food and helping define a neighborhood and a city,” he says.