“I’m going to make it a really good burger, though,” says the newly named executive chef at Oak & Honey. Musolf’s version, now on the menu, incorporates Wagyu beef on a house-made English muffin bun, the way he learned to make it at The Village Pub, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Woodside, California.
The event chef at Taylors Mill over the past year, Musolf had been working on his own restaurant concept that would celebrate the California-Mediterranean (Cal-Med) cuisine he fell in love with years ago. His project, planned for Taylors Mill, didn’t pan out, so when presented with the opportunity to reinvigorate the restaurant inside downtown’s Residence Inn/SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel, he jumped at the chance to bring Cal-Med flavors to a different demographic. “Cal-Med is a vintage term, but I’m going to bring it back,” he declares. “I live by those food philosophies. You open your back door and everything is growing.”
Musolf’s culinary journey didn’t begin in California, though, and his Southern roots run deep. His previous stints at The Lazy Goat and The Anchorage came as a result of time spent behind the stove in Charleston with culinary icon Frank Lee, an experience he shares with several other Greenville chefs. “I worked in crappy restaurants until I was probably 21, and the first real restaurant [I worked in] was Slightly up the Creek with Frank Lee,” says Musolf. “I knew it was different because I smelled veal stock cooking.”
Following that, several formative years at McCrady’s in Charleston under Michael Kramer, now chef and owner of Jianna, paved the way for his exploration of California cuisine. “[McCrady’s] was not Southern food. It was California cuisine. Frank Lee taught soul. Kramer taught technique,” Musolf recalls.
After Kramer moved on, Musolf was offered the executive chef role at McCrady’s. He turned it down, and instead set out to explore California’s kitchens. (Sean Brock would take the vacated exec role, revamp the concept, and win a James Beard Award in 2010.) Musolf landed in two different Michelin-starred restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area: The Village Pub, where he learned everything there was to know about charcuterie; and Trevese Restaurant and Lounge, which taught him a valuable lesson about awards and accolades. “A Michelin star doesn’t keep you open, especially when your rent is $25,000 a month,” Musolf notes.
He also opened and led culinary concepts within the Omni Hotel in Houston and Vail Resorts in Colorado. Eventually, Kramer came to Greenville to work with the Table 301 group and called Musolf back to be the executive chef of The Lazy Goat. After a few years working there and in several other Greenville restaurants, Musolf realized he was looking to create his own menu rather than carrying out someone else’s vision.
Despite the popular practice of sourcing ingredients locally, Musolf sticks to his guns on a potentially controversial decision: “Sometimes local isn’t better. I’ll get local stuff, but that doesn’t mean I might not get English peas from Idaho or salsifies from California. I’m not painting myself into a corner of Southern cuisine.”
His new Oak & Honey menu is deliberately small, with Cal-Med dishes that are accessible to diners who aren’t yet familiar with the style. “I’m working on gaining that audience first and then will branch out,” the chef says of his vision for the seasonal menu’s evolution.
Oak & Honey, 200 E Washington St, Greenville. (864) 720-2900, oakandhoneygvl.com
Notable Oak & Honey Dishes
Grilled Octopus
A Mediterranean staple, the grilled octopus will include a seasonal set—currently saffron potatoes, frissé, chorizo, and salsa verde.
Plant-Based Tagine
This vegetarian riff on a Moroccan tagine is a savory stew of chickpeas, carrots, onions, potatoes, kale, tomatoes, and butternut squash. A side of cucumber-mint yogurt adds a cooling note (yogurt can be omitted for a vegan option).
Wagyu Burger
Butter lettuce, tomato, red onion, smoked cheddar, pickles, and remoulade are piled atop prized Wagyu beef on a house English muffin—with fries on the side, of course.
Photography by Paul Mehaffey
