Queen of the Food Age: June 2011

I love Husk. It's my favorite restaurant ever. Like. Ever ever. To preface this, I will say that my first visit to Husk kind of rocked my world. I always knew I wanted to go to culinary school and learn more about cooking, but this meal completely cemented that route in my head. Never before has a single meal changed the course of my life, until the day I dined at Husk. I worship Chef Sean Brock. The way he runs Husk, the way he crafts his dishes. The man, to me, is a genius. A god, even.

If he started a cult, I'd be the first to drink the kool-aid... and it'd probably taste like Pork.

Seeing him lose against Michael Symon on Iron Chef America broke my heart a little bit (I still maintain that that one female judge had the hots for Mr. Symon, and that's why he won. Women. They're so predictable.)

The First Time:

My first visit at Husk, I was with Ben and Tommy. This was the first and last time I had good service at Husk. Our waitress was a lady who had a law degree but couldn't find any law jobs, so started waiting tables at Husk as a backup. Maybe not everyone's dream, but I'd love to wait tables at Husk. Fancy people go there. I love being fancy.

We went all out. It was amazing. First, the benne seed rolls and the pork fat butter, which come with your meal.

I think Ben and I ate at least 3 baskets of benne biscuits in addition to everything else.

Next, appetizers. We all split the crispy pork rillettes which are basically a fried meat ball made out of pork belly. Crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside. Which is kind of weird for meat, but, trust me, it worked. It was amazing. The only things Ben and I were able to say during the entire meal were "Oh god. This is so good." "Thank you Tommy for bringing us here." All the while, Tommy sat there with his salad, basking in the glow of our affection for and gratitude to him for bringing us to such a magical and delicious place. I lament the fact that I was too busy savoring these tiny little pieces of heaven to take a picture. And then, all of a sudden, they were all gone.

I ordered my own personal appetizer of the golden cauliflower soup with duck and goat cheese, which was possibly one of the best soups I've ever eaten. Seriously. If you ever go to Husk or McCrady's, get whatever soup is on the menu. I promise you it will be amazing.

Every time I make soup, I think to myself What Would Sean Brock Do?

After the soup, I ordered the catfish BLT which was, once again, one of the most amazing sandwiches I've ever had in my life. Now, before you write me off as being lame for just ordering a fish sandwich (and I hope you said that in your best Ladies Man voice), the waitress recommended it, and so did some guy sitting next to us, I just couldn't say no.

Stop trying to eat your screen.

Ben got the cheeseburger, and before you write him off for being one of those lame American boys who always orders a cheeseburger, be aware that this is one of their specialties and it is damn good. The chipped fries are delicious as well. Crispy on the outside, potatoey on the inside, just like a good fry should be.

Although he is a lame American boy in most other senses.

Being the gluttons that we are, when the waitress asked the inevitable question, "did you guys save room for dessert?" The honest answer would have been "No. We stuffed our faces with ever morsel you laid before us and our stomachs are already bursting at the seams." What we actually said was "Yes! Please bring us a menu!" Which she was only too happy to do.

Looks like mush, tastes like delicious

Ben ended up with the heirloom bread pudding while I opted for the inverted black bottom pie (unless you look at the receipt, which shows that I ordered a Plack bottom pie. I have no idea what that could be).

Plack Pie Heaven.

I have a feeling that you don't believe me when I say that my receipt said "Plack Bottom Pie" so here is proof. Don't doubt me again!

Yes, I did take a picture of my receipt. #iFeelNoShame

The Second Time:
The second time I dined at Husk was with Lily and my dad for lunch after The Incident (it's kind of like Fight Club. I don't talk about it). Anyway, I wasn't nerdy enough to remember to take a picture of the receipt (or any other pictures for that matter), so I'm going purely off of memory here. To start off with, I ordered the pork rillettes, not realizing that these were regular pork rillettes, and not the crispy ones. So I was a bit disappointed when something like paté arrived at our table. Nonetheless, it was still delicious when spread on toast.

I'm still not really sure how I feel about spreadable meat.

For the meal, I got the burger, Lily got a pork belly sandwich, and Papa Bear got the shrimp and grits. Everything was delicious, even though pork belly makes me nervous, the Husk version was delicious. For dessert, I got the Plack bottom pie again, and dad got something else, that I'm sure was delicious, but I cannot remember what it was.

All in all, a delicious second visit.

The Third Time:
The third time I went with La immediately following our dance class. I'm pretty sure it was during restaurant week, which really made no difference since we were there for lunch. If I was on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and Regis Philbin said to me "For ONE MILLION dollars: What did Lauren get when you went to Husk for lunch?" I'd lose all the money. I'd go down in flames on national television. I seriously have no friggin' clue what she ordered, once again I forgot to take pictures. I'm full of failure, I know. It was probably something lame like a salad.

Lauren's idea of a good time. Watch out! She's wild and crazy!

I, on the other hand, ordered the chipped lamb BBQ sandwich which was without a doubt the best lamb I'd ever eaten. It wasn't fatty like most lamb is, and it just melted straight in your mouth. The BBQ sauce was subtle, not too overpowering, and was a good balance of tangy, spicy, and sweet. It was seriously amazing. Lauren passed on dessert because she's lame (see picture above). Meanwhile, I splurged on the "Coffee and Donuts" which is a coffee cake donut and Krispy Kreme ice cream. Apparently the pastry chef at Husk knows how to smoke ice cream. Whatever it is he does works, because it tastes like you're eating the real thing. I've had Krispy Kreme donut milkshakes before, and they're nothing compared to this. Luckily the portion size was small enough to prevent me from hating myself after the meal for eating so much.

This is why I'm proud to be an American.

The Fourth Time:

The most recent time I visited Husk was with my mom and her friend Jenn. We went for brunch and I was in a hurry trying to fit it in during my lunch break from work. As I said before, I am picky when it comes to breakfast food (I like my eggs scrambled and with cheese. And that's the only way I will eat them. I've tried. I really want to like fried eggs, but I just don't). So brunch is usually hit or miss with me. I was hoping, since it's Husk, that the meal would be a hit, especially since I'd talked up the restaurant so much to my mom.

Source: How To Make Eggs For The Queen Of The Food Age

The service in the restaurant was atrocious. It was hardly packed, there were a number of empty tables, and yet it still took the waiter ten minutes after we'd sat down to even come and give us water. Another fifteen minutes after that to ask about appetizers. Ten minutes after that to ask about Entrees....... did I mention my lunch break is only an hour long and that it'd taken us ten minutes to get there? I think you can see how this is going to end for me.

OFF WITH HER HEAD

The Food: We got the biscuits and gravy and the crispy fried chicken skins to start with. The biscuits and gravy was amazing. Probably the 2nd best I've ever eaten in a restaurant (the best would be at the Lost Dog Cafe. The best overall, not at a restaurant would be my Uncle Ed. He uses unusual meat). We were a little disappointed with the chicken skins. The way the waiter described them made them seem as if they were going to be like a pork rind, but instead they were like a chicken skin, dipped in batter and deep fried. Slimy and crispy, but still very chewy. And there were so many in that little bowl. Way more than we needed/wanted to eat.

I spy with my little eye, something that's greasy and disappointing.

For the main course, my mom and I both got confit duck "Monte Cristo" with gouda and a fried egg with sausage and potato hash on the side. I liked everything but the fried egg. I could eat duck confit every day of the week. Tina was less than impressed with hers. I was pretty disappointed with the breakfast. Tina said that it was "awful," but I wouldn't go that far--it just wasn't up to par with my Husk standards. Jenn got Beef tenderloin, sunny side up egg, and the sausage and potato hash on the side, and I'm pretty sure she ate all of it.