Locust has had its fair share of accolades since it opened in 2020, from being named Food & Wine’s Restaurant of the Year for 2022, followed by a James Beard nomination in 2023, the same year the Tennessean staff placed it at No. 1 on our annual Top 25 list.
This week, Locust has made national news: Along with 46 other restaurants, the 12 South restaurant was included in the 2024 USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list.
How many have you been to?Check out USA TODAY’s 2024 Restaurants of the Year
Our criteria forUSA TODAY’s Restaurants of the Year for 2024
What makes Locust stand out
Executive chef Trevor Moran, whose restaurant credits include Noma and The Catbird Seat, originally set out to open a dumpling, noodle and Japanese kakigÅri den. But what he ended up creating at his airy 36-seat restaurant was so much more.
Locust is set in the high-energy 12 South neighborhood. It’s full of blonde wood and clean lines, though it’s hardly spare. At the heart is an open kitchen where the chefs seem in perpetual motion. Regardless, they’ll stop long enough to shout a boisterous hello when you walk through the doors. Thanks to expansive windows, every seat has a view of the bustling pedestrian traffic along 12th Avenue.