One Of The South's Most Influential Chefs Is Now In L.a. He's Not Making The Cornbread - Beritaja

Sean Brock’s biggest concern, he said, is that group will want cornbread.

One of the about influential Southern chefs successful the state precocious opened his first edifice connected the West Coast, and it isn’t the cuisine that helped make his sanction successful South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

Darling mightiness service cornbread someday — but Brock says he hopes his sprawling caller West Hollywood edifice and hi-fi lounge will thin much experimental. Every city, he says, has a different rhythm. He intends to play to L.A.’s.

Instead of the cornbread, grits, hoppin’ John and different specialties he’d brought to life successful kitchens specified arsenic Husk, McCrady’s and Audrey, Brock‘s paper is much esoteric, covering profiteroles filled pinch candy headdress mushroom crystal pick successful a pine-cone cocoa syrup. He’s centering California atom successful an abalone-and-celtuce stew. Ssam-like pork belly is served pinch figs, nasturtium and avocado purée.

Brock spent overmuch of his profession weaving his Appalachian upbringing pinch broader Southern specialties. At Darling — which he pronounces “Darlin’,” without neglect — Brock’s patient emotion of fermentation features prominently, and it’s seen successful some the dishes and a larder stocked pinch pickled nutrient and vinegars.

Abalone and celtuce stew pinch Koshihikari atom connected the opening paper of Darling.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

“In bid to afloat understand the sensation of this spot [L.A.], and that’s my goal, I can’t navigator Southern,” he said.

As Brock attempts to consciousness retired L.A.’s hit successful the kitchen, he’s emotion it from down the DJ booth.

Darling’s layout is divided successful two: 1 broadside a eating room surrounded by people creation — immoderate from Brock’s individual postulation — and the restaurant’s larder shelves, and the different a lounge and barroom pinch a nonstop position of that custom-built euphony booth, wherever a rotation of DJs including Brock plays 45-rpm records good into the night.

The cook began collecting records successful precocious school, past about 15 years agone fell successful emotion pinch listening bars successful Japan. The superior logic he relocated from Charleston to Nashville, he said, was to beryllium person to the Music City’s scene. In the past 3 years he’s go moreover much obsessed pinch euphony than pinch nutrient — particularly building speakers, knowing the mechanics of mixers, taking isolated hi-fi audio systems conscionable to reassemble them again.

Brock successful the DJ booth of his West Hollywood edifice and listening lounge.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

On a semi-recent travel to Japan he discovered Tannoy speakers and fell down the rabbit spread from there; by the clip he landed backmost successful the U.S., he’d recovered a group of his ain — primitively customized for a shaper of legendary supergroup the Highwaymen.

Brock reconfigured his location to accommodate them, past decided to stock that emotion pinch the nationalist and flipped his steakhouse, the Continental successful Nashville, into a now-closed listening bar. He purchased a postulation of 3,500 45-rpm records, organized them by decade, and listened done each azygous one.

Darling cook de cuisine Ben Norton, left, pinch chef-founder Sean Brock.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

The monthly rotating paper from Brock and his cook de cuisine, Ben Norton, feels a small for illustration music. The quick-disappearing cheeseburger — of which only 24 are made each nighttime — gets painted pinch what the room calls “liquid cheeseburger”: beef fat infused pinch two-week-made herb ore and the cookware drippings from cooked cheeseburgers. It feels akin to layering the aforesaid instrumentality complete itself successful a track.

“I’m learning astatine a complaint that is conscionable exhilarating, and I’m learning truthful much,” said Brock, a erstwhile James Beard Foundation Award victor for champion cook successful the Southeast who has been spotlighted successful shows specified arsenic “Chef’s Table” and Anthony Bourdain’s “The Mind of a Chef.” “To beryllium capable to beryllium astatine this shape successful my career, 3 decades later, and to consciousness for illustration a student again? I’m addicted to it.”

A carjack is utilized to property 2 pans together to compression retired the principle from definite ingredients, but the gem of the room is the custom-built wood-fired grill. Nearly everything astatine Darling gets touched by immoderate constituent of occurrence — moreover the salads and immoderate of the cocktails.

The listening lounge and barroom of Darling successful West Hollywood.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

The barroom program, led by Baroo and Bar Benjamin alum Jason Lee, is besides group to alteration monthly. The drinks mightiness see a cocktail of vodka, sourdough cordial and charred Jimmy Nardello peppers, aliases rum pinch allspice, roasted eggplant and coconut cream.

“It’s beautiful modern without drafting attraction to itself,” Lee said.

The description to L.A. isn’t conscionable about Brock’s request to research and reinvent. He says it’s besides helped him physically.

Brock suffers from neuromuscular information myasthenia gravis, resulting successful musculus symptom truthful aggravated it could beryllium debilitating. Heat and humidity, he said, exacerbate it. In L.A. he’s somewhat freer from the effects and could attraction much intelligibly connected creating.

Grilled artichokes pinch yuzu creamed maize and Santa Barbara uni astatine Darling.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

The Southern cook is surviving about 15 minutes from the restaurant, and commutes backmost to Nashville for half of the week to walk clip pinch his woman and 2 daughters — ages 4 and 6 — arsenic good arsenic his caller pizzeria there.

He says the backmost and distant doesn’t faze him. He besides knows he’s drawn a batch of eyes pinch his description to L.A. He won’t fto that faze him, either.

“I outpouring retired of furniture successful the greeting erstwhile I’m challenged and erstwhile I’m frightened … and now everybody’s watching,” Brock said. “It has to beryllium great, and I emotion that. That’s why I’m here: because of the pressure.”

Darling is located astatine 631 N. Robertson Blvd. successful West Hollywood, (323) 203-0236, and is unfastened Wednesday to Sunday from 5:30 to 10 p.m.