The opening of June within chef Sean Brock’s restaurant nucleus in East Nashville completes the thought he started when he opened Audrey there in 2021. “I chose to put two restaurants in one building so I could have a place to explore all the ingredients that I adore fully,” he says.
Where Audrey feels “like a warm hug,” Brock says June is more “like a spa treatment.” The team designs eight menus per year, showcasing the microseasonality of the region through 15 to 20 different items. A meal starts with a brief discussion near the culinary lab, complete with a spa-like welcome beverage. A guide points out various items (a glistening pile of caviar, oysters brined in country ham broth, one perfect chanterelle), which later appear on your table. This visual amuse, much like the gastronomical version that occurs tableside, builds anticipation and allows table service to flow seamlessly.
The culinary lab serves both restaurants. Inside, chefs are working with aroma extraction and concentration. So, when any ingredient comes in—say, a particular variety of squash—it might be served in both dining rooms but with two totally different mindsets.
“At Audrey we ask how delicious and how loud we can make a plate of food. We want to knock you back with the intense flavors that we were able to produce,” Brock says. At June, he adds, “we want to put that same squash through a completely different creative process. We want to ask what is possible with this ingredient.”
Menus take several weeks to come together, with research and development starting on the next menu as soon as the current one is released. “I am obsessively thinking throughout the beginning, middle, and end of tasting a dish about what parts of the tongue are being activated, and most importantly, for me, how the flavor of the last dish connects to the flavor and therefore seasoning of the next dish,” Brock says.
The space, meanwhile, accomplishes Brock’s goal of creating a healthy setting for everyone in it. From designing the atmosphere with the nervous system in mind (lighting can be set to “relax” or “stimulate”) to building an upstairs room where team members can take advantage of aromatherapy, cranial electrotherapy stimulation, and guided meditation, Brock has ensured that every square inch of the space serves a greater purpose. The next step, a goal for 2023, is to focus on education. Look for kids’ classes about preserving food and more advanced, lab-based classes for adults.
“I knew if I was going to make an investment like this financially and emotionally, I needed to build a place that would contribute to my health and happiness until the day I retire,” he says. Lucky for us, it can contribute to ours, too.
What to Order at June
June’s menu changes eight times per year, reflecting the region’s seasonal shifts. Below are a few items from an early winter menu.
Pacific Gold Oyster, Country Ham, Kaluga Caviar
- The oyster arrives in a brine of country ham liquor and is served alongside a wooden tasting spoon with a heap of Kaluga caviar for a combination of bites that take you straight to the sea.
Hokkaido Uni, Pumpkin
- Pumpkin is transformed into a leather pocket into which the uni sits beneath a display of edible flowers.
Japanese Crab, Carolina gold rice, Habanada
- Set beneath a fragrant foam, the crab and rice mixture activates the “comfort taste” buds, the crab bright and tangy against the rice’s creamy succulence.
Ebeneezer cheese, Sunchoke, Hoshigaki, Alba truffle
- Presented tableside from a wheel of Sequatchie Cove Creamery’s Ebeneezer, the cheese is layered over sunchoke and topped with dried persimmon and shaved truffle for an unforgettable bite.
