Restaurant 17: An Eye for Detail

At Restaurant 17, Chef Haydn Shaak turns out approachable cuisine that’s as elegant as the dining space.

That short rib on your plate at Restaurant 17 in Travelers Rest may appear simple enough, but rest assured, it’s not. The meat has been braised for hours in the whey left over from making the ricotta used in some of the restaurant’s other dishes. In a painstaking process, the whey was boiled down and mixed with a house-made demi-glace, then reduced again. The result is what Executive Chef Haydn Shaak calls “an amazing cauldron of broth.” Intense, rich, and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, the broth has been reduced from 15 gallons to 5 quarts over a couple of days. A mere spoonful on the plate is enough to embellish the meltingly tender meat.

This is an example of what Shaak calls the “rustic elegant” cuisine you can expect at Restaurant 17. “I’m a big fan of plain and fancy,” he says. “Regardless of how the dish is presented to you, I want it to appear simple. But I want it to be one of those things where you can’t put a finger on how you would get these layers of flavors or combinations we’ve created. [The cuisine] looks pretty straightforward, but then we’ll over-deliver on the execution and the presentation.”

Shaak’s first job in a kitchen was as a dishwasher at City Range in Greenville, which was helmed at the time by his father. When he left eight years later, it was as the executive chef. In those years, the nascent chef learned how to treat people, how to manage people, and how to run a business. “You can be the most talented chef, but if you don’t know how to lead and manage people, it doesn’t matter,” notes Shaak. He also learned to be humble and to accept criticism, which benefited him early in his career in situations where he was the chef but also the youngest person in the kitchen.

Later, working at High Cotton in Greenville for a little over a year, he was fortunate to claim renowned Charleston chef Frank Lee and High Cotton’s executive chef, Adrian Carpenter, as mentors. “In that short time,” Shaak recalls, “I learned so much about fine dining and proper techniques and finesse and how to be soigné, as well as respect for ingredients.”

For spring, the chef is excited about things like spring peas, ramps, asparagus, baby carrots, nettles, morels—“awesome ingredients that are only available for a short window of time.” He uses them to craft nostalgic dishes, comfort food that takes you back to your childhood or evokes a specific memory. “We take those memories and emotions and present that to the guest in a way that’s a little bit more modern and sophisticated,” the chef explains.

The villa vibe is equally sophisticated, enhanced by strings of glass bubbles flowing down from the second-story ceiling, and a stunning view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It all adds up to one deliciously lovely experience.

Recipe from Chef Haydn Shaak, Restaurant 17

Mountain Trout Piccata

Yield: 2–4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 whole local trout, halved and deboned, with skin on
• Couscous or fregola (cook according to directions on package)
• 3 whole lemons, juiced and zested
• 2 Tbsp capers
• 4 oz fresh herbs (I use parsley and chives)
• ¼ cup dry white wine, for deglazing the pan
• Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, for dredging the fish
• Seasonal local vegetable of your choice (enough for 2 to 4 people)
• 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, cubed

Method:

1. In a preheated cast iron skillet, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Dredge fish in seasoned flour and place, skin side facing down, in pan.
2. While fish is cooking, take the prepared couscous or fregola and add the zest from 3 lemons, and the juice of 2. Add the fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and any other ingredients or seasoning you may like to add. Toss in olive oil to moisten and set aside for later.
3. With trout still cooking over low heat, continue to watch the skin for a thin layer of crispness. Once the trout is visibly crispy, remove it from the pan and place it onto a plate (trout will not be all the way done).
4. Next, build the piccata sauce in the same pan. Turn heat back on high and deglaze with white wine, capers, lemon juice, and cook until slightly reduced. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.
5. Add uncooked fish back to pan, skin side facing up this time, and let the trout cook the rest of the way in the sauce. After 1 minute, remove fish and serve with the local seasonal vegetable over the couscous or fregola and spoon sauce over the fish. Enjoy!