Critics’ choice: Celebrations of the South

Husk Charleston, S.C.

“Husk was hailed as possibly the most important restaurant in the history of Southern cooking, even before it opened,” said Sam Sifton in The New York Times. Whether or not that will prove true, closely watched chef Sean Brock has “declared allegiance to a new style of Southern cooking,” insisting that “every grain, protein, green, and spice placed on a plate” must come from below the Mason-Dixon line. Every detail has been considered at Husk, located in a “beautiful restored 1893 Queen Anne home” in the center of this “gem” of a food town. In its pretty bar, the bartenders carve “fine country ham” to serve with the top-notch bourbons. Brock’s strict rules for his kitchen result in “simpler, more stew-centric foods” than he’s been known for, including “a mean shrimp and grits.” It’s studded with smoky sausage, bits of caramelized roasted tomato, braised fennel, and “a triumphant topping of pig’s ear, braised into submission, sliced into a kind of porcine chiffonade, and fried.” If Brock’s aim is local cooking at its best, this dish is “the promise of Husk revealed.” 76 Queen St., (843) 577-2500

Abe’s Bar-B-Q Clarksdale, Miss.

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Come to this “proto-fusion” diner at midday on a Sunday and you’ll find the “social din can be deafening,” said John T. Edge in Garden & Gun. Some diners are rehashing last night’s Ole Miss game; “others deconstruct this morning’s sermon.” Opened in 1924, Abe’s has brought together this Mississippi Delta town by embodying its melting-pot past. When the restaurant’s namesake, Abraham Davis, arrived as a teenager from Lebanon, the city was an immigrant magnet. Over time, he created a culinary U.N. that his son carries on. Mexican tamales and Lebanese-style stuffed grape leaves “have long shared the menu with peerless American burgers, layered with slices of cheese, ladled with chili, capped with a hash of vinegar slaw.” And no place named Abe’s Bar-B-Q would be complete without a barbecue pit. The pork butt here reaches its full potential only “after a crisp on the flattop, as slices of pork burble in a puddle of burgundy-colored sauce.” 616 State St., (662) 624-9947

Mondo New Orleans

With Mondo, celebrated chef Susan Spicer wanted to create a place that would be a special haven for her still-recovering Hurricane Katrina–ravaged neighborhood, said Brett Anderson in the Times-Picayune. Its kitchen would offer a “world tour of flavors” at prices that respected Lakeview’s new budgetary limits while also respecting diners’ intelligence. Not surprisingly, “the public’s adoration has been undeniable from the get-go.” With a menu that includes “snacks” and pizza as well as the usual starters and main courses, Mondo has reimagined everything from the Italian trattoria to Korean barbecue. Among its homemade pastas, the ricotta-and-goat-cheese agnolotti is “particularly impressive” and is served with broiled lamb T-bones that “showcase the kitchen’s facility for bringing the best out of red meat.” An Indian-inspired entrée of “sweet, unblemished shrimp, curried cauliflower florets, and basmati rice” is a “model of delicacy.” Mondo is a triumph for Spicer. Its only potential for downfall lies in the “stress of success.” 900 Harrison Ave., (504) 224-2633