Well, that's certainly rural. I lived in the area from 1997-1999, so I'm not going to recommend specific places which may well no longer be there.
The rural aspect rules out any high end dining, but I guess that's not what he's looking for. Generally, the best food I found was in small no name restaurants where often the wife did the cooking while the husband did the serving / running to the market or vice versa.
I would suggest he avoid banquet type restaurants (unless someone else is paying). The food isn't that great and can be expensive.
I wouldn't worry. He'll find them. His students will tell him which small restaurants around the school are the best - and they will be authentically Hunanese. Hot and spicy, in other words.
Word of warning - they speak a non-Mandarin local dialect / language there, although in theory the education is all in Mandarin. (Many teachers fail the Mandarin exams.)
