Exclusive details about Husk Greenville as much anticipated restaurant opens this week

The much lauded restaurant that has helped elevate Greenville as yes, that foodie town, now has an official opening date. Husk Greenville will open Tuesday, Nov. 28.

With the restaurant’s original announcement has come a slew of emotions, anticipation, discussion and curiosity, much of which will be quelled when the doors open.

But, there remains a mystique that surrounds Husk, the eatery that approaches sense of place dining with what could almost be classified as a fierce passion. This is something the Husk team acknowledges, relishes and continues to work hard to preserve.

The opening does not signify an end, but the roots that are being dug within the Upcountry community, said David Howard, president of The Neighborhood Dining Group, which owns Husk Charleston, Husk Nashville, McCrady’s, McCrady’s Tavern, as well as the casual Mexican-inspired concept, Minero in Atlanta and Charleston, and Husk Greenville and Savannah. Husk Greenville today will be different from Husk Greenville tomorrow.

“It’s more than a restaurant to us,” Howard said. “What we would like to think is that we are having an impact on history with our commitment to the South and ingredients and culture and hospitality.”

Executive chef, Sean Brock, along with chef de cuisine, Jon Buck and a full team of other Husk alums, has spent countless hours infusing the Husk message into the staff of around 65 that will populate the Greenville location. That education has included days of 4-hour-long trainings covering everything from table settings, serving protocol and types of wine glasses to individual presentations from local producers who will be supplying the restaurant.

The restaurant will open with just dinner for now, but will add lunch service in the New Year. It seats 120 in the downstairs and upstairs dining rooms, and 18 at the custom designed bar. Bar manager, Kevin King, of Husk Charleston, has collaborated with bar manager, Regan Cannon on an approachable but interesting menu of creative non-alcoholic cocktails, custom cocktails, wine, unique spirits and beer.

Husk was slated to open in fall 2016, and then in October of this year, but the building renovation, along with business and personal matters arose. The Neighborhood Dining Group oversaw the very intense reimagining of McCrady’s into two concepts, including the counter, which changes its 14-course tasting menu daily, something Brock calls “my career-long dream.”

And Brock himself went through a deep internal renewal that involved recovering from addiction and battling an autoimmune disease that left him unable to see clearly, or to use his hands properly. The chef underwent numerous eye surgeries and spent time studying at what he calls “human university,” learning to take care of himself from the inside out.

Brock is open about his personal transformation, particularly as it pertains to this opening. Husk Greenville is the first restaurant he has opened since his new life, and it feels intensely different.

“It’s funny, everybody is like you’re opening two Husks this year, you must be so stressed out,” Brock said with a gentle chuckle. “I’m actually the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I’m the calmest, clearest, happiest, filled with joy I’ve ever been.

“So this opening, I don’t know before I was miserable and now, I’m just grateful and thankful and calm, and reflective.”

As with the other two locations, the local restaurant will change its menu twice a day to reflect the freshest ingredients and the moment when they are at their peak, however that process will likely not come to full fruition until the New Year, as the restaurant finds its rhythm, Howard said.

What Greenville guests can expect is intensely thoughtful dishes that have been cultivated from the seed up, and infused with flavors that continue on even after the last bite, and a menu that conjures and challenges food memories.

For all its variability, within are some rules, Brock said. The menu will generally contain 8 – 10 first course items and around six entrée items. Always included will be a regular country ham offering, pimento cheese, a salad offering and almost always shrimp and grits. Here, it just comes served with house ground, local corn, homemade hominy miso butter and a house cured shrimp sauce made from in the Japanese fish sauce style and an umami-packed shrimp oil made from grilled shrimp shells.

Everything at Husk is done with intention to elicit the deepest flavor, no more, no less. The kitchen follows the basic treatise of generally using no more than three components per dish and of touching the ingredients as little as possible in order to best preserve their integrity, Brock said.

“You pick a lettuce and you eat it in the field, it’s unbelievable, it’s alive, it’s vibrant. It still tastes like sunshine and soil,” Brock says. “And every hour that passes, that starts to fade away.”

Currently, Buck and team have relationships with around 15 local producers who will service the restaurant throughout the year, providing everything from eggs and pork to radishes and greens, and will inform the twice daily menu changes that will happen every day.

Each day brings new possibilities.

“I think if we can say OK this is what we think this place tastes like today, and it’s delicious, then the prize that comes along with that is communal connection occurs,” Brock said. “Our goal is to figure out what it tastes like to eat in Greenville on a specific day and have everyone at the welcome table.”

Husk Greenville is located at 722 S. Main St., Greenville. The restaurant opens for dinner service, at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 28. The restaurant will serve dinner 5 – 10 p.m., Sunday – Thursday and 5 – 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday. The bar opens at 4:30 p.m. daily. The restaurant will add daily lunch service beginning in 2018.

Prices range from $9 - $16 for appetizers and $25 - $35 for entrees.

Reservations are available now and can be made through the Husk website, http://huskrestaurant.com.