If you have picked up a copy of the April issue of Nashville Lifestyles, then you have already seen our ranking of Nashville's best restaurants 2019.
We're counting down our list revealing 1 of our top 15 picks every day. We hope you use this list as a guide whenever you find yourself asking the question: Where should we go to eat tonight?
Emily Dorio
Chef Julia Sullivan’s resume could have taken her anywhere. The Culinary Institute of America graduate honed her craft at New York notables Per Se, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Franny’s, and Haven’s Kitchen. But she chose to come home to open her first restaurant—and for that, we are wildly grateful.
With her co-founder Allie Poindexter, and in partnership with Strategic Hospitality, Sullivan meticulously created Henrietta Red, a place that embodies a neighborhood oyster bar, as well as a forward-thinking, fine-dining establishment.
Henrietta Red is a beautiful restaurant; its style and offerings speak to the chef’s persona: feminine but unfussy, studied yet unpretentious, authoritative yet ebullient. It brings a raw bar with a preeminent oyster program to our land-locked city. (Consider 15 varieties, hailing from the Pacific Northwest, to the north Atlantic coast with an emphasis on farm-raised Southern oysters, all served with bright mignonettes, lemon, and cocktail sauce.) There’s also superb seafood and fish. (The plate of seared scallops in parsnip puree sparked with dark cherries is a revelation.)
Sullivan’s vegetable-driven, wood-fired dishes, are also eye-openers. Say yes to Brussels sprouts and hakurei turnips in Calabrian chili butter. Or, an oyster mushroom steak nestled in roasted garlic puree, strewn with pickled fennel and toasted sourdough crumbs.
Such fare is supported by Poindexter’s curated wine list and the staff’s dedication to hospitable service, down to every detail.
In 2018, both Sullivan and Henrietta Red achieved far-reaching acclaim: Sullivan was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs and Henrietta Red, a James Beard semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant.
It was much-deserved notoriety—but didn’t change the experience. Two years into service, there is consistency of vision and execution. Sullivan, Poindexter, and team are ever dynamic, the food and beverages are spot-on luscious, and the overall experience leaves us elated, thinking, “When can we go back?”
1200 4thAve. N., 615-490-8042; henriettared.com
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