Husk Nashville
 Nashville, Tennessee        Date of Visit  05/17/17        
http://husknashville.com  

Sorta fell in love with Chef Brock’s passion for every detail of Southern Cuisine after watching him on The Mind of A Chef on PBS. Fanatical attention seemed to be balanced by a sense of humor and respect for tradition. When we discovered he had opened a second Husk in Nashville, it was instantly our fancy stop for the trip.

Housed in a building with over a hundred years of experience the place is as fancy as you can get without taking away the comfort of a family meal. People arrive in suits, people arrive in jeans, and no one cares.
 



 


 
 


The Garden Next To The Stately Old Home
 


Just Up The Hill From A Bustling City
 
 

Tattoos are ubiquitous amongst the staff. I don’t know how everyone else was treated but our server and her lightly nervous training boy were the same relaxed blend of sincerely serious and friendly as home. Her description of a couple of dishes had us anticipating magic. We found some interesting wine options, full real-sugar Coke and prior to appetizers, were delivered a little nappy of warm, soft, luscious, sesame seeded, brown dinner rolls with lard/honey butter. Yes, Pah-lease!

We had decided on their charcuterie plate and the shrimp and grits. We asked our server about the funny sounding thing, Ol’ Fuskie Crab Rice. She explained the dish in way that we had to try it…and so glad we did. Chef coordinates with local farmers to preserve all sorts of old world ingredients and he talks about Carolina Gold Rice the way a high school kid goes on about their true, true love no one will ever understand. Take the prized rice, cook it multiple ways to coax out flavor and texture rice doesn’t typically exhibit, layer with sweet buttery crab, dose with dried shrimp for even deeper sea minded happiness, and Holy Neptune! It appears so simple, but is just so complicated and wonderful. Just something I had never imagined.
 


Interesting Grape Options
 


Warm With What? Lard Honey Butter?!
 

 
No Way To Explain
 

Just Go Get Some
 
 

The huge shrimp were delicate and tender and set into luscious smooth grits. The bowl was topped with some herby greens and reinforced with a shrimp foam. Delicious low country cuisine gets all fancy and stuff. The charcuterie plate was laid out with flavorful meats plus boudin balls, lomo melted into planks of toasted brioche, pickled okra, crisped cheese biscuits, and warm mustardy sauce…the combinations are beyond my calculation. Then came entrees.
 


Shrimp & Grits
 

Shrimipiness Everywhere You Look
 

Charcut For Me Platter
 

Can Literally See Both The Crunch & The Fluff
 

Sure Melt Some Lomo Over Toast
 

Even A Little New Orleans Shows Up With Boudin Balls
 

We were introduced to the idea of the dish A Plate of Southern Vegetables. Not a planned dish by the Exec or de Cuisine, each station in the kitchen prepares their own contribution to the varied 5-deep options. This was the only time during the meal I was hoping for more. One of the five mimicked another dish we had already had, a couple paled in flavor and seasoning compared to the rest of the table, a couple were a welcome addition…just compared to the rest, it didn’t quite measure up.
 


Every Station Of The Kitchen Sends A Vegetable Dish, Love The Idea, But
 

It Wasn't That Impressive Tonight
 

The Springer Mountain Farms Chicken with wild mushrooms a schmaltz biscuit and Daylilly vinegar started as a bit of a disappointment for me. All well done. Chicken perfectly juicy. But chicken. It wasn’t until I put everything together that I found all of the puzzle pieces…it’s a clever take on a Caesar salad. Lightly bitter greens, crunchy chicken fat biscuits for croutons, why in the world is there vinegar on the…ohhhhh…I get it now.
 


Chicken Was Good
 


But The Magic Was Hiding On The Other Side Of The Plate
 

I ordered the Bear Creek Farm Pork with green garlic, butter beans, and preserved tomato. Didn’t eat the beans…tried em…still suspicious they are nothing more than the mutated cousin of lima beans. The other side of the plate however, spectacular. There is something about they way they do pork in the south and there is certainly something about the way they do it at Husk. Chop, seared up to the edge of brown that is buttressed against black, topped with a thick block of fatty belly, topped with tomato and aromatics and doused with smooth gorgeous gravy. Should have come with a spotlight. Pork in all of it’s glory, lean/fatty, crispy caramelized/tender juiciness, it’s hard to think of better.
 


Something's Wrong With The Pork
 

There, That's Much Better
 

The Grilled North Carolina Catfish with a salad of broccoli and rye berries, and bright chimichurri sauce might have been my first non-fried catfish. It has always struck me as the bottom feeder requiring frying, wrong again. This was a fantastically clean and mild white fish, just flaking away and melting onto your palate. The broccoli and rye berries added a clean green nuttiness to the fish and the warm spices of the even greener sauce brought it all together. Happy.
 


Who Knew Grilled Catfish Would Taste Like This?
 

Simple Things Make For Complex Wondrous Deliciousness
 

We could barely imagine dessert but the Brown Butter Soft-Serve with B.B. Caramel, smoked cocoa nib and embered pecan panforte sounded like it was worth the risk.

Good. That’s about it. The cake had a half tar half amber texture that seemed dangerous to bite or chew. The ice cream and caramel were tasty but again, had a great deal to live up to.

If you get a chance, it’s worth the adventure to find out what gilded southern home cooking can be.

It can be Fuskie.

 


Meh

 
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  A A+ A+ A+ C A  
        Much Dessert    
 
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