Food & Wine Names Locust Restaurant of the Year

While many of us have long appreciated chef Trevor Moran’s 12South dumplings and kakigōri emporium Locust, sometimes it takes a little outside recognition to realize just how lucky we’ve been to have this massive culinary talent in town since he arrived in 2013 to take over the helm at The Catbird Seat. After a very successful stint there, Moran continued to stay close to the Strategic Hospitality family that had originally sponsored his visa for him to travel to America from his native Ireland after a time in the legendary Noma kitchen in Copenhagen. I remember seeing him playing around with his Japanese shaved ice recipe in the dining room at Le Sel and wondering what he was up to.

In 2020, we found out when Moran opened Locust, again in partnership with Strategic Hospitality, despite the fact that Nashville’s restaurant scene was still in the teeth of the pre-vaccine pandemic. Operating out of a space at 2305 12th Ave. S., Locust had an initial menu that was deceptively simple, with just a few items. By “deceptively,” I mean that within those limited offerings of dumplings, noodles, oysters and kakigōri, there was an impressive depth of thoughtful culinary genius — layers of flavors, cooking techniques, precision preparation and presentation that belied the simplicity of what was written on the single page of the menu card.

Since then, Moran and his talented staff at Locust have expanded their offerings, but only by a little bit and always with intentionality at the forefront of their decisions. It’s that sort of thoughtful creativity that earned Locust Food & Wine’s Restaurant of the Year award.

How significant is this award? While F&W has long compiled lists of Best New Restaurants and Best New Chefs, this is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, that they have singled out a particular restaurant as being the best in the country. The magazine’s restaurant editor Khushbu Shah was certainly enamored by Locust in her write-up, calling it “the most perfect restaurant for our time” and (rightfully) extolling details like the delightful complexity of the beef tartare and the almost transparent dumpling skins. I’m also pleased that she pointed out Locust’s amazing version of shrimp toast made with my personal favorite crustacean, royal red shrimp.

I’m happy for the deserved recognition for Moran (who we named Best Chef in last year's Best of Nashville issue) and his talented kitchen crew, but I also know what these sorts of awards usually do to a favorite local restaurant. At least for a while, the days of walking in and grabbing a seat on the patio for an impromptu meal are probably over, as national attention will pack the reservation book as far out as online booking will allow. The restaurant is only open three days a week (Friday through Sunday), so Tock will be tighter than a tick!

Still, it’s worth making the effort to experience the amazing cuisine at Locust if you can and congratulate the team on this remarkable achievement. The good news is that with that limited menu, you can just order the entire menu to ensure you get the full experience. And you should.