The local dining scene has just been heating up year after year, and one of the hottest new players on the scene is Choy in Nashville, dubbed one of The Infatuation’s best new restaurants in 2024.
That’s no surprise given the star power involved. James Beard Award-winning chef Brandon Jew of San Francisco’s acclaimed Mister Jiu’s collaborated with Nashville restaurateurs Nishaan Chavda and Moni Advani on this upscale Chinese restaurant with a Tennessee twist. “We’re focused on showcasing Chinese American nostalgic flavors with modern techniques utilizing the bounty of the South,” Chavda says.
Jew’s right-hand man at Mister Jiu’s, Knoxville native Brian Griffith, leads the kitchen and is bringing all those sensibilities to the Nashville restaurant. “In cities like San Francisco, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, and even London, Chinese cuisine is showcased at a much higher level,” Chavda says. “Nashville is growing so rapidly with patrons who are well-traveled and well-educated, and we thought the people would appreciate what we’re doing.”
Read on for three dishes you can’t miss at Choy in Nashville, and make a booking on OpenTable.
Peking Duck
Choy was built entirely around the Peking Duck dish. Sourced from Pennsylvania, the ducks are first poached in a blend of baking spices, then rubbed with dark soy sauce and brown rice syrup before being dry-aged. The ducks are then hickory smoked, pulling in that classic Tennessee barbecue flavor.
When you order the duck, it goes in the oven to roast and then rests for half an hour before being carved and served. In other words: good things take time.
“It’s not traditional Peking—it’s inspired by it, but with flavors of Tennessee,” Chavda says. “It’s a showstopper, and the yield is limited because we want to treat this dish ceremoniously.”
Bucksnort Trout
Trout is Tennessee’s most popular fish, and Choy wanted to nod to that on the menu. The restaurant’s preparation mirrors the classic Chinese way of making it: It’s first wrapped in lotus leaf, packed in a salt crust, and then baked low and slow.
The presentation is just as impressive as the technique. It arrives tableside encased in its salt crust before it’s cracked open to be served.
“What better way to showcase this fish than by doing something that hasn’t been done here before?” Chavda says. “It’s a classic preparation of the fish. All are served whole, bone-in, head-on.”
Yusheng
It’s rare to find yusheng on menus in America, and the raw fish salad is already one of Choy’s best sellers. Yusheng is essentially Chinese sashimi with Cantonese origins, while incorporating Malaysian and Singaporean influences.
Choy’s version has Hamachi flown in from Tokyo paired with Asian pear, watermelon radish, toasted white sesame, and lemon agrumato. This Italian citrus oil may seem like a wildcard on the menu, but it’s a nod to Jew’s background in Italian kitchens.
“Nashville has this love of sushi right now and being able to showcase a yusheng preparation that hasn’t been done is unique to us,” Chavda says. “It’s become one of our top-selling dishes.”
Kellie Walton is a food, drink and travel writer based outside of Nashville.
