The food I ate that night wasn’t “Southern.” But the sensibilities that informed my meal were. Whole-hog cookery got its due in a dish of shredded pig ears, crowned with a sunny-side egg. Hunter-inspired creativity yielded a plate of crispy rabbit legs. Meanwhile the calorie-and-cholesterol-obsessed got their comeuppance by way of a biscuit, topped with sausage gravy and a lobe of foie gras.

Upon returning home, I learned that Shook and Dotolo are both natives of Florida. That helped make sense of some of what I tasted and some of what I intuited. And it helped me understand why, when they opened a new restaurant, Son of a Gun, they included a schnitzel of alligator, served with hearts of palm and a spritz of orange.

 

More Must Eats
Three other good Southern-ish restaurants

Momofuku Ssäm Bar, New York, ny
An East Village clubhouse for culinary obsessives, Momofuku has long served a country ham platter that showcases the best work of regional curers from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. momofuku.com

The Publican, Chicago, il
At this beer-centric spot, Paul Kahan and crew tip their toques toward the South by way of a brunch dish of country fried steak, topped with eggs and sauced with oyster gravy. thepublican
restaurant.com

Zingerman’s 
Roadhouse, Ann Arbor, MI
One of our nation’s best mail-order sources for artisanal culinary goods, Zingerman’s also runs a restaurant, where Alex Young dishes Creole fish stew, simmered in potlikker and topped with cracklings. zingermans
roadhouse.com