Husk, Charleston
The one restaurant that continues to pop-up as the the one to go to is Husk. The chef, Sean Brock, has won several awards for his food. We began at the bar next door before heading to Husk for dinner. They let you know when your table is ready. The bar has a totally different vibe than the restaurant. Kind of upscale honky-tonk. The restaurant is an elegant old house with modern simple furnishings that read the new version of the South…like the food. W
We ate upstairs. The restaurant probably holds 100 people if not more. Nothing is light on the menu. We tried a bunch of things to start. I really like how they have this when you walk in. Tells you where everything is sourced from.
First courses out was fried chicken skins with hot sauce, honey and scallions. Classic turned on its head. I just wish the chicken was crispier with more intensity of flavor.
Oysters were fire roasted and overwhelmed with tomato juice, charred romaine lettuce and bacon fat.
Cucumber salad with ramp kimchi, pickled shrimp, fermented chili and coriander. It was an interesting deconstructed plate of flavors. Not sure where the Southern thing is here except for the pickled shrimp.
Main courses came next. My friend had the grouper with charred eggplants, roasted fennel, pickled red onions, mustard greens and tangerine. A lot going on.
I had the pork chop. Really well cooked although they usually serve it medium to well done and I requested the opposite so I found the meat really juicy. This was served with sugar snaps, sweet english peas, heirloom tomatoes, ramp butter and feta. Again, a lot going on. The tomatoes were not that good and my guess is they were taken by surprise by the butter.
Our side was a mixture of peas, corn, rice and ramp butter.
We figured one dessert. My friend is in the food business so it is important to go for it all. Checking out restaurants, menus and food all the time is definitely something I love to do. It is just interesting to see what is happening in that arena. So back to dessert. This is called a jelly roll. The jelly roll part was pretty good but the coating was a mystery to us. It tasted like weird uncooked rice or some type of grain. Just weird.
So overall I have come to realize (although I already knew it) that my best bet in cities is really to go for the local spots that aren’t always the supposed best spots. I did love this closet of pickled products.
Comments (Archived):
I was a bit underwhelmed by Husk especially given some of the reviews. But they did have some killer small batch bourbons. The place we loved most in town was FIG. Worth checking out next time.
FIG was the second choice. Alas.
The jelly roll reminds me of my grandma’s sponge cake (‘Lekach’ in Yiddish), wow just realized it’s been so long since I had one…
Absolutely. Old school
.I find Husk to push just a little too hard. When it first opened, it was coloring tighter inside the lines. Now, it has gotten a little full of itself. Still, a great feed. Sort of a tourist place though I would go there in a heartbeat.The space is incredible.You were less than a hundred feet down Queen St from 82 Queen, the kind of place the posh locals go to get the best food. The best jambalaya I have ever eaten.Fig is great.I hope you walked SOB (South of Broad), perhaps the most select real estate in the “Old South” going down to the Battery.In SC and the South, in general, women still make the distinction asking “Who are her people?””Oh, sweetheart, she’s an SOB.”A house on the north side of Broad is worth 75% of a house on the south side.Standing at the corner of the Battery, looking into the harbor, you can see all the batteries that shelled Fort Sumter and started the Civil War.Hope you saw the Four Corners of Law, the Yacht Club and the St Cecelia’s Society building.The best coconut cake on the planet, the Peninsula Grill at the Planter’s Inn — corner of Market and Meeting.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Husk tries too hard. Exactly!