{"id":101415,"date":"2025-10-03T16:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/101415\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T16:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:21:12","slug":"irish-chefs-restaurant-ranked-20th-in-north-americas-best-restaurants-list-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/101415\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish chef\u2019s restaurant ranked 20th in North America\u2019s Best Restaurants list \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nashville-based chef Trevor Moran was back home in Dublin<\/a> recently when his restaurant Locust was named 20th on the coveted North America\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants List for 2025. As he streamed the glitzy Las Vegas<\/a> ceremony on his laptop, his staff assured him he came close to attending in person after they brought a cardboard cut-out of their boss to enjoy proceedings with them. Achieving 20th position was \u201can honour, mad stuff\u201d, he says, joking that he was relieved to have avoided the worst spots: \u201c49 or two\u201d. <\/p>\n

He also admits that he was more than a little relieved at not having missed being shortlisted for the ranking. The relevant email rested in his work inbox for several weeks before he noticed it. \u201cI\u2019m just happy we caught it,\u201d he says, more calmly than most people might.<\/p>\n

Moran exudes a low-key Zen which belies a stellar talent and career; the 50 Best judges said that if Nashville had \u201cculinary royalty\u201d, Moran would be it. They said Locust had seen Moran \u201csetting his own rules for his own place\u201d and described a menu \u201cstripped back, not out of limitation, but out of intent\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy we\u2019re full,\u201d says Moran of his \u201csmall, concise restaurant\u201d of just 10 tables serving some 350 people every week over six servings.<\/p>\n

He is not a formally trained chef (\u201cyou get notions in college\u201d), instead learning from other experts as he followed a path through illustrious restaurants. \u201cAll the best chefs I\u2019ve ever worked with have just come up in kitchens,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

After cutting his youthful teeth in Dublin spots including Brasserie na Mara (now Hartley\u2019s) in D\u00fan Laoghaire<\/a>, Co Dublin and Dylan McGrath\u2019s Mint in Ranelagh<\/a>, Moran made his way to the acclaimed Noma in Copenhagen in 2009 as a stagiaire. <\/p>\n

Two years later, he had progressed to sous chef and was on a clear upward track, but an offer from Nashville, Tennessee to head the kitchen in the Catbird Seat lured him away. Noma did not give up, however, coming back to offer him the head chef position in 2015. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a blur now,\u201d he says of the period that saw him come close to heading back to Denmark<\/a> to take up one of the most prestigious roles in the restaurant world. Ultimately though, he decided to remain in Nashville, a town where he soon realised he wanted to build a life, and which he now considers himself to be at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been in Nashville for three years but had spent all my time in the kitchen. I didn\u2019t want that to be the memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irishwoman\u2019s US restaurant named one of the best restaurants of 2025 by the New York TimesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

At around the same time, financial backers emerged and, five years ago, Locust opened its doors. It started with roughly six staff and now has 14, serving lunch and dinner three days a week: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"TrevorTrevor Moran of Locust, Nashville. Photograph: Locust <\/p>\n

He describes Locust as \u201cIrish seafood, French-leaning\u201d and serving \u201cjust things I kinda like\u201d. Typical lunch menus include hot swordfish and beef tartare, while dinner might feature whole dover sole and \u201ctoo much caviar\u201d. There will also be potato bread and butter, and chipper curry sauce.<\/p>\n

As well as lunch and dinner, it opens its patio at weekends, serving charcuterie and drinks and featuring music. <\/p>\n

Moran says that as time passes, he is \u201cleaning into\u201d things he learned as a younger chef, while working in D\u00fan Laoghaire, or from his mentor, veteran Karl Whelan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come back to you as your favourite memories and then you explore them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locust does not operate a tasting menu and Moran says it\u2019s not family-style but does like to feature \u201celaborate drops on the table\u201d that can be shared.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Georgina Campbell Awards 2025: Ireland\u2019s best fine dining restaurant, chef, hotels and more revealedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The 50 Best Restaurant judges described staff bringing dishes to the table with \u201cequal balance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re enthusiastic about the food and the ingredients and your experience, but not overly expository. They know you want to get eating,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Locust team is terrific at making flavour combinations you haven\u2019t considered before and at delivering an aesthetically perfect table (you will want to take a picture of that toast, go ahead),\u201d the judges added.<\/p>\n

They also noted Moran\u2019s attention to the wellbeing of his staff in his decision to open on three days only: \u201cYes, it could fill tables in Nashville\u2019s popular 12 South neighbourhood other nights. But Moran wants his staff to have lives outside the restaurant and to be able to spend time with their families and get a good night\u2019s sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TrevorTrevor Moran\u2019s restaurant Locust is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Photograph: Seth Herald\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Moran welcomes his latest accolade, particularly for his team, but is more than aware that these rankings can also create \u201ca pressure test\u201d as word spreads to a new clientele. He also notes that \u201cMichelin are coming to town in November\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The best restaurants around Ireland for a long, leisurely lunchOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

While he has no plans to change a successful format at Locust, Moran does have an eye to expansion, perhaps at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would be happy to take the Locust concept entirely to Ireland,\u201d he says. \u201cOr a smaller thing, a little concept, out in Howth<\/a> … or Kinsale<\/a>,\u201d he adds dreamily, teasing that he will start to explore the idea \u201cover the next year\u201d but is not actively looking at it now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nashville-based chef Trevor Moran was back home in Dublin recently when his restaurant Locust was named 20th on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[52,18,117,64254,19,17,5281],"class_list":{"0":"post-101415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-food-month","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-restaurant"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}