Husk
Benne Seed Rolls with Butter
HUSK Charcuterie Plate, Dijonnaise, Cheddar Biscuits, Pickled Green Tomatoes – Fried Pork Rillette, Cotechino Sausage, Coppa, Pancetta di Testa, Fennel Salami, Ham Hock Terrine with Coffee and Sorghum
Carolina Rice Griddle Cakes (c.1875) with HUSK Pimento Cheese, Chipped Beef
Cheerwine Glazed Belly Ham, Soft Rolls, Pickled Onion and Cucumber, Smoked Duke’s
Grilled FL Asparagus, Potato, Egg, Bottarga, Crispy Pig Ear
Pit Roasted Wedge Oak Farm Chicken, Lightly Fermented Turnip, Mustard Jus
Hot Water Cornbread, Sliced Cucumbers and Raw Onion, for the Table
Bear Creek Farm Beef, Barbecued Cauliflower, Brassicas, Sauce Chausser, Szechuan Peppercorn
NC Catfish, Green Garlic Dressing, Smoked Potatoes, Nettles, Toasted Buckwheat Groats
O&S Chocolate Pie – Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Brown Butter Caramel
White Chocolate Parfait – Florida Strawberries, Buckwheat Streusel, Sorrel
Double Chocolate Cake – Hickory Ice Cream, Toasted Marshmallow, Graham Cracker
Floored by McCrady’s, but a bit less enthusiastic about a meal at HUSK in Charleston, it was with two friends that I decided to dine at Sean Brock’s second ‘homage to southern ingredients,’ and once again finding the restaurant housed in a renovated historic home the experience was unsurprisingly not dissimilar, the friendly service and lively setting bolstered by an ever evolving menus where high prices and small portions spoke to the quality of the sourcing, if not the creativity utilized in the kitchen.
Undeniably a beautiful space, the two-story home built into a hill with bar downstairs and open kitchen at ground level, it was in passing by several tables and room of aging meats that I found my friends seated on high stools and finishing their cocktails it was back upstairs we wandered, a tidy fourtop just left of the hostess stand our seat for the next 140 minutes during which the din of the dining room occasionally reached unexpected peaks while creaky floors and high ceilings acting to amplify the sound.
Quickly offered water along with a folded bill of fare that had changed only slightly from what was offered the night prior it was with great indecisions that options were weighed, a trio of buttery rolls soon joined by a stump of cured meats, pickles, and fluffy cheddar biscuits from which the fried rillettes and smoky cotechino particularly shined, though in reality not a single uninspired bite was to be found.
Continuing a trend of strong starters, round two featured stellar belly bacon atop soft rolls that would make almost any upscale bao hang its head in shame and although neither of my Southern dwelling pals appreciated the Pimento Cheese with rice cakes as much as I did suffice it to say HUSK’s “caviar of the South” is about as sharp as it gets, the asparagus in bright green broth proving a bit less bold than would be expected in the presence of pigs ears and bottarga, though certainly not lacking for vegetal flavors in any conceivable way.
At this point feeling confident that the combination of old friends and good food would make this visit to HUSK more memorable than the last it was unfortunately in entrees that the meal fell from grace, the meaty catfish recommended by our server a lone standout amidst bitter nettles and nutty groats while the sauce Chausser and peppercorns absolutely buried the beef, an overcooked breast of chicken only propped up by a bed of stewed dark meat hidden beneath a blanket of turnips lightly tinged in brine.
Entirely unamused by ‘hot water’ cornbread that likened a wet sponge both in texture as well as taste it was with hope for a reprieve that sweets were selected, and although the lauded Grit Pudding is apparently only available at lunch it was with good fortune that all three desserts proved as delicious as those found in South Carolina, the Chocolate Chess beneath peanut butter and caramel every bit as decadent as its ingredients would suggest while a square parfait was silk amidst strawberries and sorrel granita, the chocolate cake topped with smoky ice cream and toasted meringue serving up the flavor of S’mores without the campfire and mosquitoes, just the way I’ve always wished it could be.
