Wednesday, November 18, 2009, Pawleys Island – The new Chef de Cuisine at High Hammock Maverick Seaside Kitchen has injected his contemporary style into the restaurant’s fall menu.

 

“My favorite magazine is Food Arts,” the chef said on Nov. 13 at the restaurant. “It gives me insight on what chefs are doing in major cities. I love the Deep Dish section – what’s hot and what’s fading out.”

 

What’s hot now, he says, is also what Maverick Southern Kitchens, the restaurant group that owns High Hammock has always been about: using fresh seasonal produce. Much of theirs comes from Thorn Hill Farms in McClellanville.

 

Musolf is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College. While in school he worked as a line cook under Chef Frank Lee at former Maverick restaurant Slightly Up the Creek. After graduation Musolf spent six years as Chef de Cuisine at McCrady’s in downtown Charleston before moving to California and working at several restaurants.

 

Now 35 years old, he is back in the Lowcountry as Chef de Cuisine under Executive Chef Frank Lee.

 

“The whole farm-to-table concept is hot right now,” he said. “When I was in California – I’ve only been back four months – that approach was hitting hard. Chefs had their own farms – they did where I was at…When I worked at McCrady’s we were not doing that. I was getting fish from Hawaii, lettuce from Ohio…now McCrady’s has its own farm. Maverick Southern Kitchens has always been about supporting local farms.

 

As for culinary flair, Musolf admires what’s going on in Spanish kitchens.

 

“I’m into the Spanish style. They’re really on top and hot right now. I think the Spanish chefs are doing the most cutting-edge work right now.”

 

He enjoys light and healthy saucing, grilling and smoking. He even smokes his own honey with a cold smoke method where he puts hickory chips in a hotel pan, and local honey goes in a pan above it.

 

“The top layer gets smoky and then I fold it into the honey,” he said.

 

That smoked honey is used in a new $14 dinner item called simply Seared Sea Scallops, which is also served with cauliflower puree, baby carrots and chives. At High Hammock the dinner menu is arranged into Starters, Medium Plates and Main Courses, and the scallops is in the medium category. Another new Medium Plate, for $12, is Gingerbread Stuffed Carolina Quail served with celery apple puree, sage and pearl onion jus.

 

The jus adds a luscious and tempering layer of deep flavor and silky texture to the meat, which is sweetened by the gingerbread stuffing. The pool of celery apple puree the quail tops adds another layer of depth to the dish with mellow sweet smoothness. Pearl onions lend a mild crunch to the experience, and be assured it is considered appropriate to pick up that little quail leg and use your mouth to get every last bit of tender meat clinging to the bone.

 

In fact, Chef Musolf says he wants to impress upon Grand Strand residents that just because the cuisine at High Hammock is exquisite, doesn’t mean the atmosphere is stuffy.

 

“It’s still casual,” he says. “I just want to throw a little class everyone’s way. We don’t care if they come in with shorts – come as you are. We even sometimes see ball caps. We just want people to enjoy themselves with good food prepared with fresh ingredients.”

 

Another innovation on the dinner menu is a $19 main course of Herb Roasted Tanglewood Farms Chicken Breast with country ham, Brussels sprout leaves, red potatoes, melted leeks and black truffle pan sauce. The potato side dish has almost been elevated to star status with this treatment, where firm Brussels sprout leaves are made outrageously tasty with that seductive pan sauce. The combination of salty ham and sweet leeks is mesmerizing.

 

If you’re more of a lunch person, the new High Hammock fall lunch menu has a $13.50 version of that chicken dish. Another lunch entrée is Seared Sea Scallops tossed with pappardelle pasta, seasonal vegetables, olive oil and Pecorino Romano cheese, where enormous plump and delectable dry-packed Georges Banks scallops from Massachusetts are seared until they resemble perfectly toasted marshmallows. This dish is also on the revamped fall brunch menu.

 

The new lunch menu also has what is possibly the best gourmet deal in the Grand Strand. Called the Maverick Lunchbox, for $10 diners get half a sandwich (whatever the day’s featured sandwich is, and when I visited it was a turkey club wrap with a satisfyingly thick slice of fresh Cheddar); a small green salad with a choice of five house-made dressings (the Lemon Shallot dressing was vibrantly mellow); a cup of soup (Tuscan Kale and Tomato); and a wee crème brulee with a perfect balance of creamy smoothness and crispy sweetness.

 

Chef Musolf’s next project is to investigate dry curing. He’s had some success with it, and he is going to research any governmental regulations on the subject.

 

When he isn’t at work, the chef hangs out with his girlfriend Rachel Hock, a Johnson & Wales pastry chef graduate who is currently working as a bartender, and their three dogs – a pit bull and two Boston terriers. He doesn’t watch much television, but he likes to read culinary blogs and cookbooks. He’s looking forward to the new Thomas Keller cookbook called Ad Hoc at Home.

 

High Hammock Maverick Seaside Kitchen is at 10880 Ocean Highway, in the Pawleys Island Hammock Shops, and the number is (843) 979-0300.