Emerging Brands

A fine-dining chef launches SuperNormal as the Tokyo love child of Whataburger and In-N-Out

Robbie Wilson and wife Emily Perry Wilson are taking on the fast-casual segment with a new burger concept, even as they prepare to open a new high-end concept Lion's Share in Nashville.
SuperNormal
SuperNormal is on land across from the fine-dining tavern Lion's Share, scheduled to open in September. | Photo courtesy of Nathan Zucker.
buzzworthy

Chef and restaurateur Robbie Wilson describes his brain as “like a strobe light.” 

So perhaps it’s not surprising for him to have launched a fast-casual concept just a few months before the planned opening of a new high-end restaurant in Nashville.

Wilson and his wife Emily Perry Wilson earlier this month opened the new SuperNormal, a fast-casual concept with a simple menu of burgers, fries and soft serve—except the burgers, fries and soft serve are not so simple. 

In fact, they are designed to be somewhat extraordinary. Or perhaps “super normal,” hence the name.

SuperNormal burger

The SuperNormal burger and seasoned fries. | Photo courtesy of Nathan Zucker.

A SuperNormal, for example, the signature No. 1 Delicious Burger ($12) is made with half beef and half pork, XO mayo and chili crisp, with Thai basil and lemongrass pickled vegetables.

Another option, the SuperNormal burger, is made with local Angus beef, with smoked and pickled shiitakes, crispy butter lettuce, American cheese and a signature sauce. 

There are no “January tomatoes” serving little purpose, for example, and the beef is all-natural short rib chuck and strip loin, not “commodity meat.”

Also on the menu: a (Sabrett’s Beef) hot dog topped with bacon marmalade, chili-spiked cabbage, Sriracha and yuzu cream cheese with green onions, though guests can also build their own burgers or dogs. 

And the soft serve is what Wilson says is almost like a rich buttercream icing but with the texture of crème fraiche, offered in the original and a malted milk flavor, or a fifty-fifty swirl, in a mochi-style waffle cone.

It’s all served out of a 1,100-square-foot pre-fabricated building with a bespoke curved shape (pre-approved at the state level, which allowed them to get open faster). Seating is on picnic tables outside, and even the packaging is thoughtful and fun. 

SuperNormal packaging

Japanese-inspired packaging at SuperNormal. | Photo courtesy of Nathan Zucker.

It sits on a bit of land tied to (and across the street from) the Wilsons’ upcoming Lion’s Share, the fine-dining restaurant the couple is creating in the former McCabe’s Pub in Nashville’s Sylvan Park neighborhood.

Robbie describes Lion’s Share as a “luxurious tavern,” that he hopes will be embraced as a “favorite restaurant, not a best restaurant,” because the latter connotes pretention.

“If people only come on their anniversary ever year, then we will have failed our guests,” he said.

Robbie said he has done the fine-dining “tasting menus and stuff that is over tweezered” over the years, but now he’s done with that.

In California, the Wilsons were known for the Silicon Valley restaurant Bird Dog, which they closed last year after 10 years, as well as the Michelin-listed Le Fantastique. The two had met while working for Nobu Matsuhisa, and they were recruited to revamp Mattei’s Tavern in Santa Barbara. Robbie had also worked at The French Laundry.

And Robbie is not new to Nashville, where he worked about 15 years ago with several concepts for M Street Entertainment Group (Kayne Prime, Virago and more) before an opportunity with investors pulled him to California. 

Robbie is Texas born, and Emily is from Virginia. But the Wilsons loved Nashville, and they found themselves coming back again and again.

“I love that Nashville is a lot like Brooklyn,” said Robbie. And, frankly, he added, “it didn’t seem fiscally responsible to start incubating a fast-casual concept” in the Bay Area.

For years, investors had begged Robbie to do a burger concept. And, given his fine-dining history, they probably expected him to come up with something a bit fancy, he said.

But Robbie travels to Tokyo regularly, and he has long admired the Japanese ability to take an idea and make it next level, from sushi and car making to the humble convenience store egg salad sandwich.

He sees SuperNormal as “the Tokyo love child of a Whataburger mother and an In-N-Out father.”

Robbie, of course, is not the first fine-dining restaurateur to try his hand at fast food or fast casual. 

There’s Shake Shack, of course, founded by New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. 

On the chicken sandwich side, David Chang launched Fuku; Richard Blais created Crack Shack and Marcus Samuelsson did Streetbird. 

Rick Bayless has Tortazo. And, more recently out of Nashville, Sean Brock is growing the new Joyland.

But in the vast space of American burgers, Robbie sees a “gulf of ordinary.”

He sees SuperNormal as competing with concepts like Five Guys, but, well, better. 

“We offer something that Five Guys down the street can’t do at this price point,” he said.

SuperNormal patio

The seating is family and pet friendly. | Photo courtesy of Nathan Zucker.

Under the umbrella of the newly created restaurant group, 74 and Sunny Hospitality, the Wilsons have designed SuperNormal to be scalable, with kiosk ordering and a flexible format. 

Though the restaurant has only been open about two weeks, Robbie said he’s already getting calls from developers. 

He hopes to open one more in Nashville, and then maybe take it on the road to Chattanooga, Knoxville, then perhaps Atlanta and parts of Florida.

There are no plans to franchise. (“I want to stay in my lane,” he said.) But the concept is definitely meant to be “pop music,” something with a great hook that will get stuck in people’s heads and appeal to the masses.

Whether it’s pizza, taco or burgers, Robbie said, “there’s always room to execute at a high level.” And that doesn’t necessarily mean doing something that’s more expensive, he said. 

“I know my place in life and it’s to nurture people.”

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