Have you been jonesing for the elevated Southern food that chef/owner Stephen Jones served at his original (but now shuttered) restaurant called the larder + the delta? Well, you’ll be pleased to know his new place – now called the larder & the delta (see the difference there?) – is opening on September 18 in the former Binkley’s Restaurant space on Osborn Road near 24th Street.
Although Jones describes the charming bungalow he’ll inhabit as almost “turnkey,” he’s done a bit of painting, reupholstering and general sprucing up to make it his own. He’s also incorporated what he calls “grandma touches” such as linens and Southern pottery. There will be black-and-white prints of Jones and his family as well as the urban photography of photojournalist Gordon Parks. Seasonal flower arrangements will add another gracious Southern touch. Meanwhile, we’ll hear Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis in the background.
Just as Kevin Binkley did in this space, Jones will present a tasting menu – 12 courses, $155 per person, plus an additional $125 per person for wine tastings. As I reported back in April, the menu will offer plenty of vegetables (including collard and mustard greens) and always feature a rice-based dish. Jones is famous for his modern riffs on Southern classics, but he’ll also create Southern-inspired originals, making use of traditional cooking techniques such as pickling, curing and smoking. We’ll see the cowpea fritters of Africa, the Gullah Geechee food of the Carolinas and the Brunswick stew of Kentucky.
As at Binkley’s, there will be luxurious add-ons such as caviar, foie gras and A-5 Wagyu. The menu will change about five times a year. There will also be holiday dinners, lots of shellfish come summer and various dinners with fellow Southern chefs from around the country throughout the year.
The restaurant will be open Wednesday through Saturday, offering one seating at 6 p.m. for now, and eventually offering a second seating at 8 p.m. In good weather, dinners will start outside on the front patio with opening snacks before moving inside to the tables.
Jones promises a strong bar program and says the bar will operate somewhat independently of the restaurant, offering snacks Tuesday through Saturday and staying open until 11 p.m. on the weekend.
He tells me people encouraged him to call the food he’d be doing New American to draw a larger audience, but it’s not New American, he insists. “It can’t be called New American to appease people.” He explains that many people equate Southern cooking with soul food, and while there’s overlap, they’re not the same thing. He won’t be doing the fried chicken and mac and cheese that people associate with soul food. Is his famous Nashville hot chicken gone for good? Not gone for good, but never a menu staple.
“We want to have fun and tell a story,” Jones says. “This has been a lifelong goal and project – to change people’s thinking about what Southern food is and can be.”
