There’s only one state where you can savor mustard-slathered barbecue, Frogmore stew (a seafood boil), rich she-crab soup, rice-based perloo, and desserts featuring juicy peaches: South Carolina. At the heart of this culinary tapestry lies the charming port city of Charleston. Amidst pastel-colored antebellum houses and cobblestone streets, restaurants serve up dishes steeped in American South traditions and coastal flavors. To experience the pure, unfiltered taste of the Lowcountry, one restaurant called Husk is committed to only using ingredients sourced from the South.
Sitting downtown on 76 Queen St. in a restored Victorian house, Husk was founded by chef Sean Brock in 2011. You might recognize the James Beard Award-winner from season six of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” or when he introduced Anthony Bourdain to Waffle House in an episode of “Parts Unknown.” Growing up learning Appalachian recipes and preservation techniques, Brock’s upbringing in rural Virginia influenced him to center on cooking Southern cuisine in his professional career. Reviving old recipes and regional ingredients became his focus, and Husk was a way to showcase this mission.
The current executive chef Raymond England keeps this regional approach of farm-to-table alive. The menu at Husk changes daily, so you’ll never have the same experience twice. Curious where your shrimp and grits came from? The restaurant features a large chalkboard explaining where everything has been sourced from.
Southern ingredients and dishes at Husk
With a long growing season and access to the ocean and many rivers, the South is a cornucopia of incredible ingredients. So, it’s not too far-fetched that Husk only allows ingredients grown, hunted, or harvested in the South into its kitchen. One Charleston-based supplier the restaurant works with is Crosby Seafood, a family-owned business that catches fresh fish daily. Storey Farms on Johns Island, South Carolina, provides eggs from free-range chickens. These are featured on the Husk’s current menu in the starter of deviled eggs, bacon jam, calvander (a type of cheese similar to Asiago), and jalapeño.
Wondering what other Lowcountry delicacies you can sample at Husk? Don’t worry, you can certainly get your oyster fix here by simply ordering the first course of wood-fired oysters. To sample more of the Lowcountry’s other famed fresh seafood, go for dishes like wreckfish ceviche or seared diver scallops with charred spring onion grits. You’ll have to come back on a Sunday morning to sample the brunch loaded with Southern classics. Think buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy (a classic Appalachian breakfast), shrimp and grits, and fried chicken with okra, all served alongside a bloody Mary with homemade pickles.
If you find yourself in the South, but not in Charleston, Husk luckily has other locations in Nashville, Tennessee, and Savannah, Georgia. If you can’t get enough Southern food fix, check out Anthony Bourdain’s favorite restaurants in the South. And, yes, Husk was one of them!
