"Chef Sean Brock says Audrey, the restaurant he named after his maternal grandmother, is the restaurant he will cook in until he retires. Yes, he has other restaurants in Nashville (more on those in a minute), but if you haven’t ever had Brock’s cooking, it is Audrey’s kitchen that most represents who he is, where he’s from, and where he’s going. The native Virginian first came to Nashville two decades ago, and at Audrey fuses his Appalachian upbringing and ingredients with the techniques he’s learned since. Audrey is at once refined and casual, where you can have a $200 bottle of wine while eating greasy beans and sour corn. Audrey is about the experience as much as the food, so leave time to listen to staff stories about the ingredients and the preparation, with details on the crops that Brock has brought back to popularity. Leave time, too, to wander the building (also home to June, Brock’s more experimental restaurant, and the bar). The walls feature Brock’s own folk-art collection." - Margaret Littman
