Colby Rasavong
Chef de Cuisine | Audrey | Nashville
May 2022
Despite growing up in his family’s Thai restaurant, Colby Rasavong didn’t think he would ever become a professional chef. It wasn’t until a high school culinary arts teacher taught him how to make biscuits that his passion for the field came to fruition. After attending The Art Institute of Tennessee-Nashville, Rasavong began his career as a garde manger cook at Kayne Prime Steakhouse. As soon as he got word that Sean Brock was bringing Husk to Nashville, Rasavong sent him a Twitter message asking for a job. One year later, Rasavong was a commis chef at Husk. He worked through every station at the regional Southern restaurant and its Charleston sister concept, McCrady’s.
In pursuit of new experiences, Rasavong moved to New York City, where he was executive chef of European-inspired oyster bar Benelux and its next door neighbor, natural wine bar Little King. By 2019, Brock sensed that Rasavong was feeling homesick and recruited him to help launch his new Nashville concepts. When the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the opening process, Rasavong partnered with The Continental chef de cuisine, Colin Shane, to host ember-grilled whole-hog pop-up, Embers Only, in the Brock restaurants’ parking lots. Brock’s flagship, Audrey, opened in 2021 with Rasavong as chef de cuisine. Rasavong plays off the restaurant’s upstairs fermentation-forward lab, allowing him to make food that remains on the cutting edge of restorative agriculture while staying true to his Laotian-American heritage.
