Sean Brock might be just as consumed with vintage Southern-flavored vinyl as he is with interpreting the original flavors of the American South. In his one-year-old West Hollywood restaurant Darling, a large listening bar is centered in the middle of the airy room, the plywood shelves filled with rarities from Dolly Parton to Merle Haggard…and sometimes a touch of Madonna.
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The James Beard-award winning chef has been featured on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” and was a host on PBS’ “Mind of a Chef,” and became known for reviving heritage varieties of quintessential Southern products like corn, rice and pork and incorporating them in deeply-considered dishes at his Charleston restaurant Husk.
In Los Angeles, he’s been exploring the lush offerings of local farmer’s markets while introducing robust Southern specialties — paired with a suitable backdrop of vintage country sounds.
“My curiosity has kind of drifted from trying to understand how food ends up on a plate and place to why music sounds the way it sounds in a place,” says Brock, who is splitting his time between L.A. and Nashville, where he currently has Sho Pizza Bar and several locations of Joyland.
By popular demand, Brock has added the kind of soulful plates he made his name with to Darling’s menu. “You can’t come out here and not cook grits. It’s been almost like a rebirth for me, with a new audience of eager listeners, people who finally get to taste the cornbread, finally get to taste the iconic country ham from a barn in Kentucky, and fish and grits, and succotash,” he says.
The celebrated chef has created a spot where music-loving celebrities can indulge their inner DJ, from Bill Murray spinning discs one night to hosting a party for Mumford and Sons or Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys coming by to check out the premium sound system.
“When I went to Japan for the very first time, I stumbled across this listening bar concept, and it became my favorite thing to do at the end of the day there. I’ve always dreamt about how can I weave my love of music and my curiosity about music into the restaurant experience,” says Brock.
“The way that I gather and seek old varieties of corn or rice, I’m doing the same thing with old seven-inch 45-rpm records from from the South,” he says.
“I grew up in bluegrass country not too far from the Carter family fold. I grew up around fiddle players and mandolin players, so that’s the natural rhythm of the place that I’m from, and being able to bring some of that music here is really exciting to me,” Brock explains. His quest for original copies and first vinyl pressings may be a little obsessive, but it’s the same kind of intense focus that led him to become a pioneer in sourcing the most flavorful varieties of country ham or heirloom corn for his elevated Southern approach.
On a recent night at Darling, Brock played Dolly Parton’s entire catalog starting with her first 1967 record up to 1987. “It was like a study,” he says, “I heard country music change for 20 years, I heard the guitar tones change, I heard the rhythms change, I heard the introduction of synthesizers and drum machines. It was really neat to feel timeline of traditional country music.”
Brock’s musical fixations include Jennings, Merle Haggard and anything with a pedal steel guitar, he says. “I have thousands of rare honky tonk 45s, and I’ve got a whole collection of music just dedicated to the pedal steel, on top of the incredible soul and funk and jazz that was also made in the South in the ’60s and ’70s.”
The chef may have a deep love for Dolly Parton’s music, but earlier in his career one of his dishes nearly injured the beloved singer. It was during his Ferran Adria liquid nitrogen experimental era, when he created a dessert with milk sorbet and fruit flash frozen with liquid nitrogen. The server left a metal spoon in the dish touching the liquid nitrogen, which will instantly freeze anything that it comes in contact with — such as a banjo-playing icon’s fingers. Brock rushed out of the kitchen and mananged to grab the dish just before she reached for it. “That would have frozen her mouth together, and who knows what would have happened,” he recalls with some horror.
With Darling’s choices like the famous limited-edition dry-aged steak burger, bbq pork chops and the smoky, luscious succotash, it’s hard to settle on a signature dish. But Brock says, “I think the corn bread tells the best story. Cornbread made by a die-hard southerner…made by somebody who’s obsessed with what is the perfect skillet of cornbread.” He pairs the cast-iron plate of crusty bread with French butter, with Ojai pixie tangerine jam adding a ray of California sun. Then there’s the compelling 5-fat fried chicken served with house hot sauce — cooked in a diabolical mixture of smoked butter, chicken fat, country ham, smoked bacon and lard.
“When you go to somebody’s house and you see a coffee can on the back of the stove full of drippings, that started to really inspire me. I wanted to see how far I could go with flavor and uniqueness,” he explains.
From housemade pickles with the fried chicken to country ham with melon and sorrel, the menu spotlights the best California produce, layered with Southern traditions. “I’ve finally gotten through a full year of the market, and so I have a much better understanding now,” he explains.
“The stories of Southern food run so deep,” Brock says. “There’s so much to share with L.A. I just get giddy about it every time I think about it.”
Darling restaurant, 631 N. Robertson, West Hollywood