Josh Habiger is co-chef at Nashville’s Catbird Seat which Bon Appétit recently named one of the best new restaurants in America.
What was the food highlight of your year?
I think that my food highlight of the year was probably the Faviken dinner at McCrady’s in Charleston. The food was great, Sean Brock is a fantastic host, Charleston is a beautiful city, and the entire dining room was filled with chefs from around the country. We closed down a few bars that weekend.
What was the music highlight of your year?
That David Byrne/St Vincent show at the Ryman was insane. They are traveling with a 8 piece horn section and percussion. I think they played the entire album that they did together, and then also played about 5 of their own songs each. David Byrne is 60 years old and looks and sounds better than ever. He rode his bike across town to Mercy Lounge after the show to watch Antibalas encore set.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
My friend Martin plays drums for Andrew Bird and they had a day off in Nashville before their show at the Ryman (Which happened to be a day that the restaurant was closed) so I asked if we could cook for them at Catbird. We shortened the menu to about 6-7 courses and it was super laid back, but everyone was so appreciative and had a great time - it was super cool to see them in the restaurant and get to talk with them about food, especially Eugene Mirman, who was opening for Bird. After dinner I took most of them out to Robert’s Western World and they loved it.