Today we’d like to introduce you to Mason Hereford.
Hi Mason, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up rollerblading and eating at gas stations in rural Virginia. I was pretty food obsessed but not a young cook by any means. My formative food experiences were at these country stores—part gas station, part convenience store, and part takeout counter. They sold beer and gas, lures and ammo, biscuits with white gravy and chili-cheese dogs. Top tier eats. I moved to New Orleans 20 years ago, and immediately became the door guy and cook at a bar called Fat Harry’s, that catered to drunk college kids and daytime alcoholics. It was there among the deep fryers where I became entranced by the alchemy of cooking, by how a little mustard wash, flour, and chicken could enter a vat of bubbling oil and emerge as a Chicken Finger. I moved on to a fancier farm to table joint, called Coquette, where I eventually became the chef de cuisine for 4 or so years. I learned a ton through my colleagues and through experimentation. For years, I got to experience people’s reactions to my creations firsthand, which turned out to be a pretty huge. My time there cemented my affection for the service industry–the camaraderie of the kitchen, the buzz of partying while you toiled, the way it let you hold down a “real” job that paid your rent without making you grow up. I spent the next few years helping friends open restaurants, catering on a few film sets, and a few months in my car driving around staging at restaurants and sandwich shops. I opened Turkey and the Wolf in 2016, with a team far more talented than I could have ever hoped for. It’s been a pretty wild ride since then.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Lol. No such thing as a smooth road working in restaurants I imagine, but we certainly try out best. A few of the struggles have been money, covid, searching for a path that works for everyone involved, expansion, robbing Peter to pay Paul (money), being friends and colleagues, quitting rollerblading, the comment section, learning, money, etc.
We’ve been impressed with Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We opened Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans in 2016. as an enthusiastically casual spot. The food comes on vintage Aladdin, Power Rangers, and Ronald McDonald plates we found on page 25 or eBay. People sit on chairs and at tables my mom found at yard sales. We have only ten or so items on the menu at any given time. Most of them are sandwiches, and there is no governing principle other than we serve what we think tastes good. Our hope when we opened our original spot in New Orleans was that some people would come by and try our food. Then they did and things got a bit out of hand. Before we hit the year mark, we were on a bunch of national “Best of” lists and had a good run as the media’s most overrated sandwich shop. Things were rowdy but we worked together to keep up and had a pretty dang good time figuring it all out.
Most of our original team still works together in a sense. Four of them have moved on to open restaurants that we run together, all in New Orleans. In 2025, after years of enjoying trips to Nashville and wondering if we’d ever end up here, our CDC, Will Mondros mentioned he would be down to move to Nashville and run a restaurant with us. We packed a bunch of stuff up in a truck and moved the show to the second location of Turkey and the Wolf in East Nashville. Will brought half the New Orleans menu with him up to Nashville along with a few seedling ideas, and we just sort of let the rest of the menu grow into the new neighborhood, with the same old freak flag sensibilities and focus on loud flavors, collaboration, high times, beer, and attempting to be kind to each other.
Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse is on a big open lot with a covered patio just down the street from Folk and Redheaded Stranger and a bunch of other rad spots. We have a nice big tree and some christmas lights. It’s a totally outdoor restaurant, but it’s wrapped and very warm in the winter and a breezy wind tunnel in the summer. The Icehouse has a stellar team, so wild specials are going down constantly. We love partnering with musicians for one-offs, like when Tyler Childers played a surprise show soft launching his new album, perhaps my favorite day of work ever. Not too much else to say other than that we’d love y’all come check it out for yourself. We’re still new here and we love it and we love you.
How do you think about happiness?
Rollerblading, sharing, maintaining a casual relationship with revelry, my wife and dog, progress, and shiny happy people holding hands. I also really like dining.
Pricing:
- The whole menu is $4-$17
Contact Info:
- Website: https://turkeyandthewolficehouse.com
- Instagram: @turkeyandthewolficehouse
