BACKGROUND:
Nashville is perhaps the epicenter of the Southern food scene. And arguably, one of Nashville’s best is The Catbird Seat. Catbird opened in 2011 and was designed as a culinary laboratory with constantly changing chefs. Currently, they are on their fifth head chef, Brian Baxter, who previously worked at McGrady’s, Husk, and Bastion.
I stumbled upon Catbird while talking to a local Charlotte chef, who said that Catbird was his favorite restaurant in America at the moment. That’s high praise for any restaurant, especially one not in Chicago, New York, or San Francisco. I was going to Nashville in November on a work trip, so I convinced my work colleagues to pony up some money and try the restaurant out.
Going with work people, not food people, was quite an adventure. There were eight of us, and six of the eight had never been to a tasting menu restaurant. This brought me back to my first tasting menu experiences at the original Momofuku Ko. It was a whirlwind, and I wasn’t quite sure what happened, or if what I had was good, but I knew it was an experience. A tasting menu is not a traditional meal, and in a lot of ways it’s the opposite of what a lot of people typically think of as a “nice restaurant”: you don’t order, the plates are small, you don’t share, it’s new flavors that are meant to get you out of your comfort zone, not necessarily heavy on meat, etc. A tasting menu is an experience that, for most people, necessitates some education and training. It was interesting to me to see this dynamic play out in front of my eyes, with some people hating the experience and others loving it. It was a good reminder to me that there are “live to eat” and “eat to live” people, and to reach the “eat to live” people at a tasting menu restaurant is a tough ask. If I were to do it again, I would have explained what a tasting menu was beforehand and make everyone swear an oath on a stack of Guy Fieri’s Trashcan Nachos that if they came, they were going to give it a chance and not complain the whole time that everything was too salty and the servings were too small. When you go to a dinner and people are outwardly not enjoying it, it brings down the whole mood and experience for everyone. Did I enjoy the meal? Yes, but definitely not as much as I would have if everyone knew what they were getting into.
EAT THIS:
Catbird offers two seatings with a 10-12 course tasting menu for $145/person. The late seating offers an extended course option for an extra $50/person. Catbird offers four distinct seasons running three months each. We attended Fall, which runs from roughly October to the beginning of January.
Fall Vegetable Crudité
with black chesnut hoisin
The first two bites were plated on a wood plank, letting us know, if we didn’t already, that it’s autumn time. First bites are so important, because if they suck it is hard to recover, as you always remember the first bite. Both of these were light and refreshing palate cleansers but also delicious bites.
Lion’s MaNE Mushroom
Dressed in nasturtium kosho, shisho
A beautiful looking bite and a tasty one - who doesn’t love a lion’s mane mushroom?
Royal Red Shrimp & Collard Green Dumpling
with the pot liquor and toasted nigella seed oil
The next small bite was the collar green dumpling - a clear homage to local ingredients being prepared with Asian techniques.
Oyster Pie
with pickled dulse and beer cream
Multiple people asked what to eat on this plate. Note to my fellow diners: you probably can’t eat an oyster shell. But the question did bring up a good debate - should you plate dishes with inedible features on them? I personally lean toward “no.” I think you should plate a dish exactly how you want people to eat it and leave all the crap off.
Crispy Grits, preserved horseradish, swordfish “Ham”, green garlic tamari
As Scarlett O’Hara might say, I have NEVER thought of having grits with horseradish and ham, but my gawd this southern lady has felt things eating this bite that she has never felt before. Get my fainting salts.
Spiny Lobster, tiger’s milk, maypop
I am a SUCKER for dry ice food. Dippin Dots - love. Tiger’s Milk - love. The cold of the bite with the melting and creaminess once it’s in your mouth. Chef’s kiss. Who doesn’t love that?
Coal Roasted maitake mushroom
with uni and rose bearnaise
The uni flavor really shined through on this dish - the rich umami flavor really highlighted the subtlety of the maitake.
Charred Brassicas
with fermented tomato and preserved lemon
If you don’t do a charred cabbage/lettuce dish on your tasting menu are you even doing a tasting menu, bro?
Hakurei Turnips
with turnip top butter, smoked trout roe
This one was special. The trout roe with the turnips and butter just tasted amazing with so many levels of complexity flavors and textures.
Fairy Tale Pumpkin
makrut lime from our garden, red curry
Tropical flavors added a special flare to what most people think of as a winter gourd. I loved the contrast of flavors and where this dish took me in my mind. Perhaps to someplace in India on the coast on the one day of the year they get snow.
Spot Prawn
green apple, chrysanthemum
The transition dish to the protein heavy portion of the menu. I am a big fan of raw prawns/shrimp. Always have been since I was six years old and we would go to Nakatos and my mom would let me order the shrimp off the sushi boat menu.
Scallop
Pumpkin butter, preserved gooseberry
Berries seemed to be the connecting theme of the meal. So many dishes contained variations of berries in unusual presentations that it was clear the kitchen wanted us to know about the berries. I’m a big berry fan, and I loved the sweetness that they added to the scallops.
Octopus
parsley root, sauce grenobloise
I mopped up that sauce like an octopus crawls around the bottom of the ocean looking for food. I guess that was the point of the dish.
Barbecued Pork Ribs
butternut salad
LOOK AT THE PEANUTS ON THIS FATTY PORK RIB AND IMAGINE YOU ARE BITTING INTO THAT JUICY, SAUCY, FALL OF THE BONE BEAUTY. Just try not to cry tears of joy.
21 Day Dry Aged Duck
porcini, pickled huckleberry, and sauce chevreuil finished with a paste made from blackberries
This was a two-parter, with the dry aged duck with blackberries (thematic element alert) and then the duck pie. 1. Lamb. 2. Duck 3. Pork (belly specific) are my current ranking of meats. Happy to discuss my rankings over a rack of lamb.
Duck Pie
This new iPhone really does great pouring pics. Kudos Tim Cook. The only problem with this duck pie was it was meant to be shared with another person, and I didn’t want to do that. At this point of the meal the newbies were too full to eat it anyway, so more duck for me. Thank you.
Killed Lettuce
You hand dipped the lettuce in the dressing. This one was clunky and hard to handle. The only miss of the night for me.
Yeast donut
foie gras, cherry
This was my favorite dish of the night. The foie really balanced the sweetness and tartness of the cherry (thematic element alert) to make for the perfect bite.
Stewed berries
chamomile, burnt vanilla
THEMATIC. ELEMENT. ALERT.
Burnt Brioche
peanut praline, saba
This was a grown up PB&J sandwich. For those of you who love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this would have been your dream dish. I’m not the biggest fan of grape jelly, so it wasn’t my favorite but it was perfectly executed so I’m not going to let my crap palate ruin this for all of you.
Beef Fat Butterscotch
Chocolate & Hazelnut
Two perfect bites to end the night. Homemade caramel and a homemade Ferrero rocher were the perfect sweet bites to leave us wanting more.
DRINK:
There are a few options. You can do a wine pairing, non-alcoholic pairing, or drinks by the glass. I opted for the non-alcoholic pairing, because I’m the first pregnant man in the history of humanity, and ps my wife is tired of people asking every time she goes out and doesn’t drink if she’s pregnant. As a veteran of non-alcoholic pairings, this was one of the most inventive and enjoyable i’ve had. Here are a few of my favorites:
Tea
This tea was given to everyone right after our first bites. The tea had been seeping before our eyes on the way into the dining area.
Red Whyne
hibiscus, pinot noir verjus, beet, cherry, cranberry, black+green+white peppercorn, mint
This was a kombucha that was meant to taste like red wine to be paired with the duck and pork belly, and by golly if they didn’t pull it off.
Ps that camera and the guy wearing a baseball hat in the restaurant is my good friend Scott Scarano. He wants you to know that his previous best restaurant was Applebees.
Root
sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen, vanilla, birch + maple syrup, apple cider vinegar.
I love root beer – it’s one of my favorite flavors. So, a root-beer flavored kombucha is just for me.
ATMOSPHERE
My ideal dining experience is a small counter surrounding the kitchen where you can see all the action. The setting took me back to Kitchen Table in London, the original Momofuku Ko, and our very own Counter- right here in Charlotte. I can watch the show of the cooking and plating all night, plus the constant interaction with the chefs make the night even more personal and fun.
Always say it’s someone’s birthday, even when it’s not (aforementioned Scott)
That’s it folks - the kitchen and chef’s table surrounding
The head of the beverage program - I don’t remember your name but you were amazing
NASHVILLE HOTSPITALITY:
Every server/chef/bartender/hostess at Catbird deserves a gold star for putting up with our crew, who I am pretty sure experienced their exact definition of a “nightmare” that they fear as far as a party of eight going to a nice restaurant. So bless them, and thank you for putting up with us. I promise you that when I come back it will be just me and Yvonne and we will not scream at you.
Frankie’s Notes:
The ven diagram of people who do CrossFit seven days a week and people who understand a good tasting menu is very small if non-existent; Nashville is so hip in the national restaurant scene that it almost seems like not enough people/pugs are talking about it; Hattie B’s has the best hot chicken I tried and I tried them all. They may not be the original but damn it’s good; Accountants know how to party, just not this accountant because I am a true A-type like the Jerry accountant in Soul.
Rating:
A sign of a great restaurant is that even if your company is kind of weird, and you’re having a strange dining experience, the restaurant and food will still shine through. Catbird is a top restaurant, and if it were in a New York or Chicago it would have a lot more notoriety. If you are visiting Nashville, it’s a must visit if you can score a table.
5 OUT OF 5 WITH 2 MICHIGAN PUGS
