The South flies under the haute culinary radar but the rewards are proving to be worth the adventure. Restaurants like McCrady’s and Radius 10 (Nashville) are quietly developing a modern regional identity – borrowing from Alinea and WD-50’s it-could-be-anywhere cuisine – but retaining a southern flare and finish. And what better place than in the south where the hospitality runs circles around even the most expensive European restaurants?

To get it out of the way, McCrady’s blew my socks off. My expectations were high – Opinionated About raved about the restaurant last October, various online fora reports were exceedingly positive, and I knew Chef Brock moved in circles whose food I respected. In terms of “wanting to return”, only Manresa and Urasawa would rank higher than McCrady’s right now (in the US, that is.) Yes, it was that good ¹.

Read the rest of this entry »

I promise there will be a steady stream of reviews shortly ¹. For now, I’ll link to some interesting restaurant posts I’ve read over the past month.

Momofuku Ko by The (amazing) Girl Who Ate Everything – they might be the last (and definitely the best) pictures of a Ko meal since photos are now prohibited. It’s (obviously) not a policy I agree with. I’ll stick to Momofuku noodle bar or Ssam for my NYC trip in August.

Combal.Zero by Opinionated About – I’m sure most of you read the OA blog too but I’ll link to it anyways – modern Italian food – that even Steve likes. Will Obama pick Jeb Bush to be his running mate?

Read the rest of this entry »