SuperNormal Doles Out Happy Meals for Sylvan Park

On a late afternoon in mid-July, the heat shimmers off SuperNormal’s kelly-green turf, upon which are planted shiny white splinter-free picnic tables pierced through the center with cobalt-blue umbrellas. Industrial-size fire-engine-red fans are stationed at intervals along the sidelines of the outdoor-only dining area, bordered by a chest-high wooden fence and tall trees, which help contain the children scampering about and dogs attentively waiting for a stray bit of food to fall within their reach.

At the rear of the faux grass, a tall, white curvilinear structure is branded on one side with giant red NASA-font letters: “SN.” A comparatively small, 3D white-and-blue sign spelling out “SuperNormal” is mounted above two side-by-side windows, each with glass that slides horizontally.

The entire tableau is so evocative of a Wes Anderson set — with a bit of Pee-wee’s Playhouse thrown in — that I am a bit disappointed when the tables don’t talk and Scarlett Johansson doesn’t emerge from the window and ask if she can take my order.

SuperNormal opened on May 13 in the restaurant-populous zone of Sylvan Park, one of Nashville’s most young-family-residential neighborhoods. It marks the return of a chef who helmed the kitchens of several early Gulch restaurants under the M Street umbrella — Kayne Prime, Whiskey Kitchen, Tavern and Virago 2.0. 

SuperNormal — conceived and owned by chef Robbie Wilson and his wife Emily Perry Wilson — also precedes their forthcoming grown-up restaurant Lion’s Share, across the street at the corner of Murphy and 45th Avenue North, fondly remembered by Old Nashville as the former home of McCabe’s Pub. 

Lion’s Share was intended to open first, but shite happened, and on this Hades-hot summer afternoon, the unmistakable sounds of an active construction site compete with a peppy soundtrack piped through speakers. 

I find Yelp reviews about as torturous to read as the owner’s manual for an iPhone, but they popped up when I did a bit of previsit research on SuperNormal. Apparently, the Wilsons responded to some early complaints. I respect that in restaurateurs, at least when those issues concern service models. 

In their first several weeks of operation, SuperNormal’s customers were required to order through their phones or at the kiosk that fronted the window to the right. A text was sent when the order was ready to be picked up at the window to the left, handed over by a human.

Diners quite overwhelmingly also wanted a human to take their order, perhaps explain a few of the items, answer a question, maybe even offer a cheerful hello. When I ordered for my party of four — which included a nearly 3-year-old child — from the hard-copy menu I requested in place of a QR code, it was face-to-face with a pleasant young woman.

About 10 minutes later, after we claimed a table and commandeered a fan, a text called me to the pickup window, where a pleasant young man slid our trays stacked with boxes and beverages into my hands.

Nashville is rife with burger joints and places known for a damned good burger. The OG Wall of Fame includes Brown’s, Gabby’s, Burger Up, Dino’s, Pharmacy and Fat Mo’s. Chefs got into the act with Hugh-Baby’s (Pat Martin) and Joyland (Sean Brock). Robbie Wilson joins that camp with a succinct menu primarily focused on burgers — one a vegetarian patty — and supplemented with fries, a hot dog, an unexpected hot ham and Swiss and practically de rigueur soft-serve ice cream.

SuperNormal’s foundational item is not a smash burger, nor is it a perfectly preshaped patty. It’s somewhere in between — bigger than the bun, with a nice crisp coat and juicy center cooked to medium, at least in our experience with three burgers.

The SuperNormal Burger adds American cheese, sweet butter lettuce leaves, pickled and smoked shitake mushrooms and SuperNormal sauce, reminiscent of the famous Southern Comeback sauce, which works beautifully. Splitting the vote were the mushrooms, with one diner making a face and opining he would prefer a simple sauté and another — me — giving a thumbs-up to how the flavor profile complemented the beef.

The #1 Delicious Burger probably has fans, but none were at our table. The 50/50 beef/pork patty was piled with items that jarred the palate — American cheese, Japanese XO mayo, chili crisp, Thai basil and lemongrass pickled crudités. 

Speaking of gilding the lily, the SuperNormal hot dog is an all-beef frank just slightly longer than its poppy-seed bun, loaded up with bacon marmalade, Sriracha, cream cheese, spicy cabbage and green onion. Maybe it works, but the hot dog sampler in our group was the little person who refused all the accoutrements and opted for a Build to Suit Dog with — ahem — ketchup. The part of the hot dog I cleansed of the offensive condiment was really great, with that skin pop we love.

The sleeper hit was the hot ham and Swiss: Texas toast spread with SuperNormal sauce, piled high with thickly sliced smoked ham, brushed with butter, pressed and grilled until the cheese oozes into the ham, then wrapped up tight to keep it melty, even on a drive across town. (I went back for a second.) I am a sucker for a good ham sandwich and a good grilled cheese, and in this case, the two became a good-to-the-last-bite one.

Fries are of the hand-cut, floppy-leaning, not-too-greasy school; if you prefer your frites thin and crisp, you might pass. Get them plain, sea-salted or “extraordinarily seasoned,” which means a bit spicy, looking and tasting like they’ve been dusted with Tajín, the ruddy-colored Mexican lime-chili-pepper-salt seasoning used on everything from eggs to ice cream. 

But not on SuperNormal’s ice cream. (Though one Yelper suggested dipping a fry into the ice cream for a taste sensation.) The dense and custardy soft serve — original buttercream, malted milk chocolate or a 50/50 combo — is dreamy, swirled into a cup with the cutest winky face, topped with dehydrated marshmallow bits that improve on the Lucky Charms formula.

I don’t know that I’d drive across town for a SuperNormal burger (ham and cheese maybe) but it is well-suited for its neighborhood, and a steady stream of pedestrians — many with kids in strollers, on scooter and on bicycles — arrived despite the heat, though one wonders what the plan is when the temperature goes in the opposite direction. As a devoted recycler, I do have issues with the many boxes the food is packaged in — cute on Instagram, bad for the planet.

In this fraught era when we are bombarded with hourly alarming breaking-news reports and “unprecedented” is repeated ad nauseum, don’t we all crave a return to normal, or better yet, SuperNormal?

Though if I ever open a restaurant, you can bet I’m calling it Unprecedented.