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. |
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Just Up The Hill From A Bustling City |
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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. |
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Interesting Grape Options |
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No Way To Explain |
Just Go Get Some |
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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. |
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Shrimp & Grits |
Shrimipiness Everywhere You Look |
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Charcut For Me Platter |
Can Literally See Both The Crunch & The Fluff |
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Sure Melt Some Lomo Over Toast |
Even A Little New Orleans Shows Up With Boudin Balls |
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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. |
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Every Station Of The Kitchen Sends A Vegetable Dish, Love The Idea, But |
It Wasn't That Impressive Tonight |
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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. |
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Chicken Was Good |
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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. |
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Something's Wrong With The Pork |
There, That's Much Better |
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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. |
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Who Knew Grilled Catfish Would Taste Like This? |
Simple Things Make For Complex Wondrous Deliciousness |
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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.
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Meh |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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A | A+ | A+ | A+ | C | A | ||
Much | Dessert |