If foie de canard with shallot marmalade and wild blueberry pan-cakes don't sound like Southern food to you, then you haven't been to Buckhead lately. A restaurant boom has taken this genteel Atlanta neighborhood by storm, and the elegant, intimate Hedgerose is packing some serious force, thanks in no small part to Martin Gagne.

"Gagne is a tremendous chef, and the unique personality of his food has transformed Hedgerose from a fancy but dull restaurant into a nonpareil Atlanta dining destination," John Kessler wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "What a difference a chef makes."

Gagne has spent time at big-name restaurants both North and South. He has worked under Joachim Splichal and Louis Szathmary, and past restaurant addresses include 21 East in Chicago and Opus in Swissôtel. Both restaurants received "Best New Restaurant" honors from Esquire during Gagne's tenure.

Hedgerose, opened in 1997 by Atlanta restaurateurs Gerry Klaskala, Ron San Martin, and George McKerrow, Jr. (also partners in the city's popular Canoe restaurant), occupies a 60-year-old house with intricate moldings, 100-year-old French doors, and stylish Parisian interiors. During the 1970s, the building was converted into a restaurant. It passed through several owners before it was bought by Heinz Schwab, who named it Hedgerose Heights Inn. When Schwab died, the Heights closed, and remained empty until Gagne and the three restaurateurs stepped in. The new restaurant, called simply Hedgerose, is winning praise for its contemporary American food with French undertones. Food & Wine named Hedgerose to its "Best New Restaurant" list in 1998, and the Mobil Guide awarded it four stars. The reviewers at Knife & Fork, an Atlanta-based restaurant guide, ate a "spectacular meal. The thrill has returned to Hedgerose," they wrote, "where deeply complex soups, gracious and poetic dishes shaped by an artist's hands, grandmotherly dishes redolent of flavors, precise-but-not-precious com-positions, and a deep connection to the seasons have become the norm."

At the Beard House, it's the norm too, so we expect that Gagne will feel right at home in our 12th Street kitchen.