219: Julia Sullivan, Henrietta Red (Nashville, TN)

Research trips for this work are a whirlwind, trying to take in as much about an area's restaurants as I can. But during my recent trip to Nashville, we ate at Henrietta Red twice, so that should tell you something. Its chef, Julia Sullivan, is a Nashville native and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and in its first year, Henrietta Red was a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation, with Julia also named Food & Wine's Best New Chef. In 2019, she was a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast, then received a finalist nomination last year. It's obvious that she is passionate and driven, but she is also grounded, and she sets one helluva table that I can't wait to return to for a third time.