The idea for Punk Wok, Clay Greenberg’s Asian-inspired pub newly opened in Sylvan Provide, had been percolating within the chef ’s thoughts for a very long time. Greenberg had even deliberate to do a pop-up at his Germantown restaurant, Silo, in mid-March of 2020.
“On March second we have been doing the meals pictures for our promotional marketing campaign,” Greenberg says. “That was the final day we have been in Silo.” Tornadoes ripped by way of Germantown within the wee hours of the third, and the restaurant took a direct hit. Then got here COVID-19.
“It was a catastrophe, adopted by months of labor to shut out that enterprise,” Greenberg remembers. “However the pandemic gave me the time to take a breath, regroup, and contemplate the subsequent factor. That’s once I determined Punk Wok ought to be greater than a pop-up.”
In actuality, the muse for the idea had shaped many years earlier. Greenberg grew up in Oklahoma Metropolis, which has a vibrant Asian neighborhood. (Vietnamese folks migrated there after the autumn of Saigon within the mid-seventies.) Additional, it’s famend for its Asian District, and boasts a few of the finest Dim Sum, sushi, Pho, and ramen within the nation. A scholar of the French Culinary Institute in 2002, Greenberg is a flexible chef, having helmed notable eating places Virago and Lime earlier than going out on his personal. He cites his eating experiences in Oklahoma Metropolis’s Asian District as profound and influential.
Over months, Greenberg designed and examined recipes for Punk Wok— drawing from the huge array of Asian dishes which have impressed him.
“I made a decision to name it an American izakaya, as this Japanese phrase for pub actually matches.” Greenberg discovered a super location in Sylvan Provide, simply blocks from his house. His cousin, architect Greg Ibanez, designed the up to date look of the area with pops of purple and black, highlighting a central bar and a size of seating alongside a sectioned mirrored wall. Seth Yazdian (The Catbird Seat, SILO,) did the construct out. Sixty-four hundred Mahjong tiles type a compelling centerpiece on the wall behind the bar, which is well-stocked with sake and Japanese whiskeys.) On the again wall is a mural with a quote from punk rocker Johnny Rotten: “Don’t settle for the previous order. Do away with it.”
Greenberg introduced on veteran chef and good friend Tony Patton to move the kitchen. Theirs is a collaborative relationship. “I got here on and plugged in to do R&D, creating some completely different takes on izakaya fare,” says Patton. “We’re making nearly the whole lot in home: pickled greens, kimchi, dipping sauces, and noodles.” The primary menu consists of small plates in three elements: Chilly, Scorching, and Wok. There’s additionally a separate sushi menu—you should definitely take a look at the maki of the day. (Vegan and gluten-free dishes are famous all through.)
The Chilly menu affords many classics: seaweed salad, Japanese potato salad, and Patton’s favourite, Tiger Tear Salad, plied with luscious Thai-grilled steak. From the Scorching part, don’t miss the Beijng Road Skewers of cumin-chili-Sichuan pepper grilled lamb. As well as, Greenberg has introduced again the Lobster Shot from his Virago time: spicy lobster-filled wontons in broth with a cucumber chaser. You’ll discover intelligent riffs, such because the pimento-cheese stuffed Crab Rangoon, Korean waffle fries layered with beef bulgogi, kimchi and melted beer cheese, and Common Tso’s Cauli with florets fried then doused in ginger soy. A butter-rich pastry encases the Ja li jao, a curried hen and potato dish. The massive wok comes into play for Hunan beef stir-fry, the meat cloaked in an assertive “however not dripping in” oyster sauce, home kimchi fried rice and Jiang-tsong hen (or tofu) with ginger, scallions, and bok choy.
Patton has additionally been creating seasonal desserts, corresponding to orange-yuzu tarts and a wonderful Apple Napoleon full of ginger pastry cream and bolstered with miso caramel. Greenberg is worked up concerning the potentialities for the restaurant and relishes being the primary sushi bar in west Nashville. At this writing, he’s planning to launch lunch service, to incorporate a Blue Bento Field of the Day.
“At its coronary heart, Punk Wok is a pub,” says Greenberg. “A neighborhood grasp. We need to make folks completely happy.”
(4101 Charlotte Ave. in Sylvan Provide, 615-649-8885; punkwok.com)
