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Locust

Nashville

A stripped back dumplings and kakigōri joint with wild flavour combinations

Chef CV: If Nashville has culinary royalty, Trevor Moran is part of that family. The Irish chef worked at Noma in Copenhagen for four years and then came to Catbird Seat, one of Nashville's restaurants big on culinary creativity. Moran stayed in town after his Catbird residency to open Locust, focusing on dumplings and kakigōri (Japanese-style shaved ice) and setting his own rules for his own place.

If you can't get a table: Reservations open the first of the month for the following month and tend to sell out immediately (for both lunch and dinner, this is somewhere lunch is a scene), but patio space for charcuterie and drinks on the weekends is first-come, first-served.

All about the focus: The Locust menu is stripped back, not out of limitation, but out of intent. Whether it is the aptly named Too Much Caviar, the razor clams or the lamb dumplings, each dish is complex and simple. Staff bring dishes to your table with equal balance. They're enthusiastic about the food and the ingredients and your experience, but not overly expository. They know you want to get eating.

You get what you get, and you don't get upset: The Locust team is terrific at making flavour combinations you haven't considered before and at delivering an aesthetically perfect table (you will want to take a picture of that toast, go ahead). So, there isn't a lot of room for dietary restrictions and the options for vegetarians are limited.

Not just about the customers: Locust is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yes, it could fill tables in Nashville's popular 12 South neighbourhood other nights. But Moran wants his staff to have lives outside the restaurant and to be able to spend time with their families and get a good night's sleep.

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