From Farm to Table to Locally Legendary: Husk Celebrates 10 Years

Ten years ago this month, Neighborhood Dining Group president David Howard was scrambling. As they prepared to open the first outpost of Husk outside of the original location in Charleston, S.C., Howard and chef Sean Brock found themselves dealing with filling out the kitchen and service staff, codes inspectors, construction delays and locking down relationships with the local farmers and purveyors who would supply the bounty of Southern ingredients that Brock planned to exalt in his kitchen.

In an interview I conducted with Howard at that time, he lamented: “When people say they want to open a restaurant, this is the stage where they have no concept of the workload, frustration and expense involved as you pay premium prices for the flurry of activity that leads to completion.” The project to convert an Italianate mansion — which over the years had served as the home of a former Nashville mayor, a boarding house, an advertising agency and a modernist cuisine restaurant — was beset with several problems and idiosyncrasies.

A small tornado blew a brick wall down in the middle of construction. The hip glass atrium the ad agency had haphazardly added on the side of the building leaked like a sieve. The only spot to add a walk-in cooler to store all that precious produce turned out to be a “walk-out” in the side yard necessitating multiple trips up and down outside stairs to acquire needed ingredients for the kitchen staff.

But on May 23, 2013, Husk welcomed in its first diners and changed the Nashville culinary scene in vastly important ways. In addition to Brock, the kitchen launched the careers of several chefs who have made major impacts in Nashville and beyond. Kiwi-born opening chef de cuisine Morgan McGlone discovered Nashville hot chicken during his stint and returned to his home region of Australasia to spread the gospel of the fiery fowl in restaurants across Australia. Brian Baxter learned at Brock’s right hand and went on to helm kitchens in Atlanta and The Catbird Seat in Nashville. Katie Coss spent her term in the kitchen adding a little feminine touch to the restaurant, including replacing Brock’s kitchen icon photo of Wille Nelson with Dolly Parton.

Husk was also at least partially the inspiration for a half-dozen culinary books over the past decade, including Brock’s South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations, which was conceived, researched and photographed in the restaurant. There were also two cocktail books by mixologist Mike Wolf and opening pastry chef Lisa Donovan’s impactful personal essay “Dear Women: Own Your Stories,” which garnered a James Beard Award and which she expanded into a book titled Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, winner of the 2021 M.F.K. Fisher Prize of Excellence. 

The leadership team at Husk today includes a holdover from Brock’s regime in GM Rory O’Connell, a transplant from Asheville, N.C., who rose through the ranks, starting as a server and moving up to head gardener and manager of the restaurant within a few years. Joining O’Connell in management is executive chef Ben Norton, a Neighborhood Dining Group veteran with experience working with Brock at McCrady’s in Charleston and leading that kitchen after Brock departed from NDG in 2018.

Together, O’Connell and Norton have maintained Husk’s laser focus on regional ingredients provided by local purveyors and the restaurant’s unique brand of informed customer service with a dedication to hospitality. They have managed to stay true to Brock’s initial vision for Husk while at the same time moving the menu forward to showcase Norton’s own culinary philosophy.

“When I was first announced as the new chef, Sean sent me a congratulatory text almost immediately,” says Norton. “Then he followed it up with sort of a manifesto that I haven’t shared with anyone. He said, ‘It’s your restaurant, and you should do what you want to do, but …’ He was doing the right thing here, and I wanted to use those same purveyors.

“He told me to stay committed to using the ingredients of the region, and that was a great framework for how to do it,” Norton continues. “It’s my responsibility and the right thing to do.”

But there was another immediate detail to attend to after the transition.

“[NDG vice president of operations] Kenny Lyons called me and said there was something we needed to talk about,” Norton remembers with a chuckle. “They had given Katie the Dolly photo as a going-away present, so we had to decide who to hang up on the wall of the kitchen.”

Norton’s choice revealed volumes about his philosophy.

“I chose Sturgill Simpson,” he says. “I think it speaks to the city, and all of the chefs at Husk have been country music fans. Sturgill is like the younger guy putting his spin on something that’s been done for a long time, and that reflects my philosophy of food. I like to present qualities that are recognizable and comfortable. I want to keep talking about Southern ingredients, but not necessarily Southern food. I like to use them and borrow ideas from other cuisines.”

Another sign that’s almost hidden from public view in the side kitchen at Husk reflects Norton’s attitude toward food, and O’Connell’s philosophy of customer interaction. It reads simply, “Give a damn!”

“I’m proud of our team’s commitment to real hospitality, informed service and a dedication to real, delicious food,” says O’Connell. “I feel we have the most informed restaurant staff in town. My goal is a restaurant that leaves memories, like the experience of walking up the stairs to this lovely old house and thinking about a meal you had in the past.”

He also takes pride in the procession of chefs that have passed through the kitchen at Husk over the past decade, commenting in particular on Brock (“a visionary with an infectious curiosity and a passion for sharing it”), Baxter (“a talented person of many layers with an impish sense of humor”), Coss (“a firebrand, a small package with a big personality and a heart of gold”) and Norton (“a badass in the kitchen and a Georgia boy who is inspired by other cultures”). O’Connell also notes that two of the competitors in the latest season of Gordon Ramsay’s powder keg of a competition cooking show, Hell’s Kitchen, spent time at Husk — including eventual winner Alex Belew.

To celebrate Husk’s 10th anniversary, the restaurant is holding a ticketed multi-course dinner event on Tuesday, May 23, featuring Norton and his compatriots from the two other Husk locations in Charleston and Savannah, Ga. Norton, Chris “Chino” Hathcock from Savannah and Ray England of the original Husk location in Charleston will each prepare an appetizer and a main course featuring some of their favorite suppliers from the past decade, including Bear Creek Farm, Villa Acres, Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, The Withers Winery, Crema Coffee and others. Husk Nashville pastry whiz Rachel Rathgeb will prepare the dessert.

The event sure looks like an appropriate way to offer a nod to Husk’s dedication to local sourcing in all of their restaurants. “It’s not just about the land, about the terroir of the area around each location,” says Norton. “It’s about the people that live there. Each of our restaurants is called ‘Husk,’ but each one of us has our own idea of food.”

That’s what makes a meal at Husk so memorable and special. As the seasons change and the available produce moves from late-winter tubers to midsummer tomatoes to the greens and gourds of autumn, no matter who is currently in the kitchen, they all refer back to Brock’s admonition to revere the bounty of the region. Even as chef Norton is preparing to pass through his third cycle of Middle Tennessee growing seasons, he’s still always excited to see what comes next through the back door of the kitchen and what he can do with it. And so are we.