Tag: Kara Hidinger

Owner/chef Ryan Smith recently stopped offering a tasting menu at Staplehouse. Instead, he’s serving a 14-or-15-item one at Uberto, a fine dining restaurant at Quercus, a working farm and luxury ranch resort in Gay, Georgia, for which he serves as culinary director and founding partner. Located about an hour south of Atlanta, Uberto was originally designed as the in-house restaurant for guests staying on the property. However, Smith and his wife, Staplehouse co-owner Kara Hidinger, decided to open it to the public on Friday and Saturday evenings.

It’s been 10 years. Ten years since Jen Hidinger lost her beloved husband, Kara Hidinger lost her only brother, and chefs Chris Hall, Todd Mussman, Ryan Turner, and Ryan Smith lost a dear friend and fellow chef. It’s been just over 10 years since the Atlanta community rallied around Ryan Hidinger—known for his work at Bacchanalia, Floataway Cafe, and Muss & Turner’s—after he was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer, raising $275,000 for his medical expenses at what has since become an annual charity gala called Team Hidi.

After naming Staplehouse as a finalist for the country's best new restaurant in 2016, Bon Appétit magazine announced today that the Old Fourth Ward restaurant has been crowned number one on their annual top 10 list.

Ryan’s sister Kara Hidinger, her husband and chef Ryan Smith, and Jen have been working feverishly to fulfill Ryan’s dream of opening Staplehouse. Jen says the end—or maybe the new beginning—is finally in sight. “We’re deep into construction and on schedule for the middle of summer—the end of July if not sooner,” she says. “It’s been six years since we birthed this concept out of our home. It’s formed so many different branches for such good, and it’s the heart of what Ryan and I created.”

What started as a dream in 2009 is about to become reality this year. Staplehouse, a restaurant helmed by chef Ryan Smith (previously of Empire State South), will open in the Old Fourth Ward in "the very foreseeable future," according to co-owner Jen Hidinger.