Chef Katie Coss
When David Howard, president of the Neighborhood Dining Group that owns Husk Nashville, was faced with the decision of who would run the kitchen at the Rutledge Hill restaurant now that Nate Leonard has departed and Sean Brock has stepped into a new role as “founding chef and culinary advisor,” he didn’t have to look very far. His choice is Katie Coss, a talented young chef who has worked for the company for six-and-a-half years and had been the executive sous chef at Husk.
“My very first day working in the Husk kitchen in Charleston,” recalls Coss, “David came up to me and said, ‘Someday you’re going to be a star!’ I thought he was crazy, because I didn’t know what I was doing at all that day. Basically, my interview for the head chef job here at Husk [Nashville] was David saying, ‘I told you so!’ When I was younger I always knew that I wanted to be a chef de cuisine or executive chef somewhere, but eventually I knew I wanted this job.”
The Oklahoma-born chef attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. (her cellphone number still carries an upstate New York area code), and interned at a resort in the Florida Keys after graduating. It was then that someone handed her an issue of Bon Appétit magazine with an article on Sean Brock. She was immediately intrigued. “I read how he was frying chicken in five different fats and making his own hot sauces. I immediately thought, ‘That is the place for me!’ Making hot sauces, jarring and canning have always been my passion, so I knew I wanted to stage at Husk in Charleston.”
Still only 20 years old, the young chef worked under Husk Charleston executive chef Travis Grimes, whom she still considers a mentor. “I worked garde manger for a year, and Travis really toughened me up. Sean Brock also taught me so much working in that kitchen. When I heard about an opportunity in Nashville, I figured that was much closer to home, so I jumped at the chance.”
Another factor that originally brought her to the Husk in Music City was the opportunity to be closer to her childhood idol, Dolly Parton. In fact, the day that Coss officially took over the kitchen, Husk general manager Rory O’Connell took down the large photo of Willie Nelson that has presided over the small kitchen at Husk since it opened and replaced it with a photo of Parton. “Rory joked that he couldn’t get a Dolly and was going to put Kelly Clarkson up there instead,” chuckles Coss.
O’Connell and Coss have another Parton connection from back when Coss was in the kitchen and Rory was a server at Husk. “One night Dolly came in to eat on my day off, and Rory called me at home to let me know,” remembers Coss. “I dressed up as a food runner and drove at full speed to get to the restaurant. I was all over the place bringing their meals to the table and checking in on them. She was everything I could imagine, just a wonderful person. One of the most genuine people I’ve ever met.”
Coss is used to running all over the restaurant, especially since the walk-in cooler at Husk is outside the kitchen down a flight of stairs. “I bought a Garmin watch to track how far I walk, and I do at least 22 flights of stairs a day and always get in at least 8,000 steps during a day of work.”
For the past four years, Coss has worked in the kitchen under chefs Brian Baxter and Nate Leonard, and she feels very prepared to lead the kitchen staff. “I’ve essentially been running it for quite some time. I’ve worked every station and know them like the back of my hand. The guys knew I’d always be the one to step in if they went down or got in the weeds. I wouldn’t have taken this position without the amazing support from my team. I trained each and every one of them on the line, and we’ve got about 15 guys working in the kitchen now. I always say it takes an army to feed Nashville.”
She is most excited the opportunity to work more closely with the farmers who supply the meat and produce to Husk. “Sean always said that the farmers were the rock stars of this restaurant. If they don’t have it, it doesn’t go on the menu!” When asked how she planned to build a winter menu when the bounty of produce coming through the back door of the kitchen turns to root vegetables and a mountain of kale, Coss responds, “We’ve been preserving and pickling like crazy around here getting ready for winter. I want the menu to say, ‘Remember summer? Here it is. We pickled it!’ I want there to always be a lot of variety on the menu and stay true to the ingredients. I don’t want to overcomplicate dishes, because these ingredients don’t need that.”
Husk has always served the amazing dry-aged ribeyes from Bear Creek Farm, known as the premium beef supplier in the region. If other jealous chefs think that they might be able to snag a few of those choice cuts now that Coss is leading the kitchen, they’d better think again. Coss is married to a Bear Creek farmhand, and the couple actually live on the farm. They met when she was working in the kitchen and he was delivering product to Husk. “He was this tall, dark and handsome guy, and I called him my boyfriend long before he was actually my boyfriend. Now we can go out on our front porch and look at the beef that will be on the plate. LeeAnn and Bill Cherry are dear friends of mine, and we’ll always get first choice of Bear Creek beef. I love it.”
While Coss hopes to expand the number of farms that Husk works with and add new items to the menu, rest assured that some dishes will remain inviolate. “The cheeseburger, there’s no other in town that good. I’m not touching that masterpiece! When I was just 21 and Sean was experimenting with his spicy fried chicken, I ate a lot of chicken. I also got heartburn for the first time in my life. The pimento cheese is a Southern staple, although I might look for some new fun items to serve with it. And the deviled eggs have to stay. Who in the South doesn’t have a deviled egg tray somewhere in their house?”
Coss is aware that lots of eyes will be on her in this high-profile job, especially as a woman running an all-male kitchen. “It’s not even about the fact that I’m a woman executive chef. That’s cool, but I’m more excited that I got this job because I worked hard, and I know I can do this. Then they said, ‘She’s ready for this job.’ I’m excited to be the first woman in the company to become an EC.”
She has high expectations for herself, and frankly, any woman leading a kitchen. “I hope I can be someone to look up to. I say you gotta be tougher than the boys and work twice as hard. Whenever I see a woman chef, I expect more of them. Besides, my guys are too terrified to act up; they know I won’t allow that. All we want to concentrate on is what do we need to do to make this a success.”
With this hire, it sure looks like the folks at Husk Nashville are setting themselves up to continue to succeed.
