Wanda Jackson is playing here on Thurs 9/22 if you're interested.

The Parmageddon
2 potato & cheese pierogi, fresh napa vodka kraut, grilled onions, sharp cheddar–$10.00

Yeah Stu. That's the joint. Really cool spot right in the heart of old Charleston. The bar was actually in another building next door. An old carriage house. Everything was local including the beers. Lots of Williamsburg Alewerks stuff and Thomas Creek.

No. 1: Husk, Charleston, SC

My first impression of Husk involved a bowl of boiled peanuts and a shot of bourbon. Not enough to earn the title of Best New Restaurant? Let me explain.

As a son of the South, it's always bugged me that I didn't really grow up eating classic Southern food. My family did the pimiento cheese thing, but I missed out on homemade cast-iron skillet fried chicken, peanut soup, hominy grits, braised collard greens, pickled okra (actually, okra everything), fried green tomatoes, and piles of fluffy biscuits. A few restaurants in my hometown of Atlanta prided themselves on scratch cooking, but their numbers seemed to dwindle every year. Traditional Southern food, it seemed to me, was dying.

And then a few years ago a curious thing happened: Southern-inspired dishes started popping up on menus across the country. My New York friends began asking me about country captain, Brunswick stew, and chess pie. Talented young Southern chefs, perhaps realizing they'd grown up with a food culture that was already "local" and "farm to table," returned to their roots. America's greatest regional cuisine was being rediscovered—and reborn.

This brings me back to the chef responsible for the boiled peanuts and bourbon, Sean Brock. Together with the folks from his molecular gastronomy-driven restaurant, McCrady's, Brock opened Husk in Charleston in November 2010. The historic Victorian house in which it's set is the first indication that the restaurant is a throwback of sorts. And then there are the ingredients he uses in the kitchen, which are all harvested or raised in the South. That even includes vinegar (Brock makes his own), salt, cheese, and, yes, olive oil (from South Texas, if you're wondering). Brock's self-imposed restrictions separate him from the pack of pretenders. But noble causes alone don't make a restaurant great. In this case it's the fact that Brock is a helluva cook.

A meal at Husk begins with buttermilk dinner rolls sprinkled with benne seeds (a.k.a. sesame seeds). You know how people tell you not to fill up on bread? When you're at Husk, you can ignore them. After that it's on to wood-fired clams with Benton's sausage, crispy pig's-ear lettuce wraps, and country ham-flecked pimiento cheese on heirloom-wheat crackers. And do not leave without trying the smoky fried chicken skins served with hot sauce and honey.

Brock isn't reinventing Southern food or attempting to create some citified version of it. He's trying to re-create the food his grandma knew—albeit with the skill and resources of a modern chef. As a result, he (and Husk) has become a torchbearer for an honest style of home cooking that many of us never truly tasted until now.

76 Queen Street, 843-577-2500, huskrestaurant.com

Photo: Husk's Sean Brock


Photograph by Terry Manier

Something he pointed out in Medium Raw that I'd never really considered was A. the level of actual preparation that one must do to endure one these several-dozen-course-tasting-menu experiences and B. that you are basically hammered thanks to all the wine pairings involved. Like falling down drunk.

On more of the economical side of things....anyone have a recipe for that stir fried tofu with lemongrass and red chilis they make at Vietnamese places? Love that stuff and if I found a quick easy recipe for it would probably eat it at least 4 times a week.

Calling Prince Phil...

Man, i feel like i can never get the texture of tofu right. I just don't dig it. But i'll ask some vietnamese friends.