Sean Brock's biggest concern, he said, is that people want cornbread.
One of the country's most influential Southern chefs recently opened his first restaurant on the West Coast, and it's not the cuisine that helped make a name for himself in South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Dear might serve cornbread one day, but Brock says he hopes his sprawling new restaurant and hi-fi lounge in West Hollywood will be more experimental. Each city, he says, has a different rhythm. He intends to play in Los Angeles.
Instead of the cornbread, grits, hoppin' John and other specialties he had brought to life in kitchens like Husk, McCrady's and Audrey, Brock's menu is more esoteric, covering profiteroles filled with sweet mushroom ice cream in pineapple chocolate syrup. It's centering Californian rice in an abalone and celtuce stew. Ssam pork belly is served with figs, nasturtium and mashed avocado.
Brock spent much of his career interweaving his Appalachian upbringing with broader Southern specialties. At Darling, pronounced “Darlin',” without exception, Brock's unwavering love of fermentation figures prominently, seen both on the plates and in a pantry stocked with pickled goods and vinegars.
Abalone and Celtuce Stew with Koshihikari Rice on Darling's inaugural menu.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“To fully understand the flavor of this place [L.A.]”And that's my goal, I can't cook Southern food,” he said.
As Brock tries to feel the beat of Los Angeles in the kitchen, he feels it from behind the DJ booth.
Darling's layout is split in two: on one side, a dining room surrounded by folk art (some from Brock's personal collection) and the shelves of the restaurant's pantry, and on the other, a lounge and bar with direct view of that custom-built music booth, where a rotation of DJs, including Brock, spin 45 rpm records late into the night.
The chef started collecting records in high school and about 15 years ago fell in love with the bars playing in Japan. He said the main reason he moved from Charleston to Nashville was to be closer to the Music City scene. Over the past three years he's become even more obsessed with music than food, especially building speakers, understanding the mechanics of mixers, and taking apart high-fidelity audio systems only to put them back together.
Brock in the DJ booth at his restaurant and listening lounge in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
On a semi-recent trip to Japan he discovered Tannoy speakers and from there he fell into the rabbit hole; By the time he returned to the United States, he had already found his own set, originally customized for a producer from the legendary supergroup The Highwaymen.
Brock reconfigured his home to accommodate them, then decided to share that love with the public and turned his steakhouse, the Continental in Nashville, into a now-closed music bar. He bought a collection of 3,500 45 rpm records, organized them by decade, and listened to each and every one of them.
Beloved chef de cuisine Ben Norton, left, with chef and founder Sean Brock.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The monthly rotating menu from Brock and his chef de cuisine, Ben Norton, feels a little like music. The quickly disappearing cheeseburger, of which only 24 are made each night, is painted with what the kitchen calls a “liquid cheeseburger”: beef fat infused with tomato paste brewed over two weeks and the pan drippings from cooked cheeseburgers. It feels like layering the same instrument on top of itself on a track.
“I'm learning at a pace that's just exhilarating, and I'm learning a lot,” said Brock, a former winner of the James Beard Foundation award for best chef in the Southeast who has been featured on shows such as “Chef's Table” and Anthony Bourdain's “The Mind of a Chef.” “To be able to be at this stage of my career, three decades later, and feel like a student again? I'm addicted to that.”
A jack is used to press two saucepans to squeeze out the essence of certain ingredients, but the jewel of the kitchen is the custom-made wood-burning grill. Almost everything at Darling gets some element of fire, even the salads and some cocktails.
Darling's Listening Lounge and Bar in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The bar's program, led by Baroo and Bar Benjamin alum Jason Lee, will also change monthly. Drinks may include a vodka cocktail, sourdough cordial and charred Jimmy Nardello peppers, or rum with allspice, roasted eggplant and coconut cream.
“It's quite modern without drawing attention to itself,” Lee said.
The expansion to Los Angeles isn't just about Brock's need to experiment and reinvent itself. He says it has also helped him physically.
Brock suffers from myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes muscle pain so severe it can be debilitating. The heat and humidity, he said, exacerbate it. In Los Angeles he is somewhat freer from the effects and can concentrate more clearly on creation.
Roasted artichokes with creamed yuzu corn and Santa Barbara uni at Darling.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The Southern chef lives about 15 minutes from the restaurant and travels back to Nashville during the middle of the week to spend time with his wife and two children, ages 4 and 6, as well as his new pizzeria there.
He says the coming and going doesn't faze him. You also know you've turned a lot of heads with your expansion to Los Angeles. He won't let that faze him either.
“I jump out of bed in the morning when I'm challenged and when I'm scared…and now everyone's watching,” Brock said. “It has to be great, and I love that. That's why I'm here: because of the pressure.”
Darling is located at 631 N. Robertson Blvd. in West Hollywood, (323) 203-0236, and is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
