Born in Korea and renowned in Richmond, Virginia, this culinary wunderkind brings his heritage, humor and ambitions to Late Air
Written by KIKI DY
Photography by JASON B. JAMES
DANIEL HARTHAUSEN has fit a lot into his 29 years. The self-taught Korean American chef (who recently learned he’s also one-third Japanese thanks to 23andMe) spent eight years in the Richmond, Virginia, bar and restaurant scene, where he started his much-lauded pop-up, Young Mother. Soon after, he charmed and cooked his way up to the rung of celebrity, winning Dan Levy’s HBO Max cooking competition, “The Big Brunch” in 2022.
A year after securing the funding needed to start his own restaurant, Harthausen decided he didn’t want to be tied to a brick-and-mortar just yet. He still had more to explore. So, he took to the open road, living in his van, popping into kitchens from Philadelphia to Maine, before his vagabond swan song: a brief stint as a West Virginia mountain man. Along the way, he met Colin Breland — who owns Late Air, 2024 Runner-Up Best Wine Bar and Best Wine List, with his wife, Madeline Ott — at a natural wine fair. When Harthausen later saw their job post for a new chef, he came to Savannah on a lark but quickly realized the corner of Bull Street and Victory Drive is where he was meant to be.
(During off-hours, you can spot him at one of his favorite Savannah locales, like E-TANG, 2024 Winner Best Chinese, or Rocky’s deli, 2024 Runner-up Best Sandwiches. If you’re lucky, you may even catch him singing a Creed or Billy Joel cover at McDonough’s.)
Here, the chef discusses his grandmother’s coastal kimchi recipe, what went down behind the scenes of his reality TV appearance and upcoming dumpling nights at Late Air.
ON BEING SELF-TAUGHT
I never went to culinary school. I only had about three real cooking jobs for a combined total of two years, nothing resembling formal training. Being self-taught, many of my recipes and techniques come from memories of cooking with the women in my family. That inspired the name for Young Mother — my mom had me when she was 17. My other biggest influence was the last restaurant I worked at [Restaurant Addara in Richmond, Virginia]. It was a Spanish Basque restaurant and wine bar where I was actually in the front of the house. Watching the chef there and seeing what he put up and how he cooked made a huge impact on me.
ON HIS FAVORITE FAMILY RECIPE
My family’s kimchi recipe is fairly different. When you look at regions of Korea, there are so many different styles of kimchi. Our family’s is a Southern Coastal kind that incorporates raw shrimp and raw tuna. People usually use fish sauce, so ours essentially skips that part of the process by creating those flavors in the ferment. It adds another layer of complexity that I love. Unfortunately, I can’t serve that at Late Air because it’s not exactly food-safe [commercially], but it’s something I’ve been eating my whole life and will hold on to.
ON THE “BURRITO” THAT WON OVER THE JUDGES
Halfway through the competition on “The Big Brunch,” we had this challenge to make a hangover brunch meal, and I made a burrito thing that ended up being what they liked the most. I called it the Oka-rrito because it was an okonomiyaki [a savory Japanese teppanyaki pancake dish]. I made the pancake, filled it with Korean barbecue, rolled it up and made it look like an okonomiyaki. They lost their minds over it and loved it. I was like, “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever made.”
ON BRINGING KOREAN INFLUENCE TO LATE AIR
Korea is actually one of the biggest natural wine markets in the world. My theory is that they’re already accustomed to that type of palate because they use so much fermented food. So, we’re thinking about Late Air as a Korean wine bar. The idea is to exemplify the culture and flavors of Korea in this context. There are obviously some extremely niche Korean ingredients that I can’t get my hands on here quite yet, but I’ve been building relationships with vendors here and appreciate the amazing produce in Georgia. We’ll also launch a Wednesday Korean dumpling night because I love making dumplings. They’ll be simple, thin skinned and served with chili oil. When we’re out, we’re out.
Padrón Peppers
From Late Air head chef Daniel Harthausen
YIELDS TWO SERVINGS
- toum (recipe below)
- 1/4 cup mojo de cilantro (recipe below)
- neutral oil, such as a canola/olive oil blend
- 12 padrón peppers (shishitos work as a substitute)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc
- 1 cantabrian anchovy
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- pinch of urfa pepper (optional)
- lemon zest
- Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry vinegar
Warm a medium sauté pan over medium heat, then add enough oil to coat half of your pan.
Add a pinch of salt to the oil in the pan, then add the padrón peppers. Sear the peppers for about one minute on each side.
Push the peppers to the side to expose a portion of the pan, add the anchovy and break apart using the back of a spoon.
Add white wine and let reduce to about half of its volume.
Add the mojo de cilantro, butter and olive oil, and simmer for about 2 minutes.
Reduce the heat and add the lemon juice. Salt the sauce to taste, then toss the peppers in the sauce.
To plate: Add the toum to the bottom of a plate. Place peppers on top of the toum. Spoon sauce from the pan around the toum and on top of the peppers. Garnish with urfa, black pepper, finishing salt, PX sherry vinegar and lemon zest.
Toum
- 2 bulbs of garlic cloves, split in half with the germ removed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup ice water, divided
- 3 cups neutral oil
- 1 egg white
Add peeled garlic and salt to the food processor, and pulse until finely minced.
Add lemon juice and process until a smooth paste forms.
Add egg white to the paste.
Slowly add neutral oil in batches, alternating between oil, lemon and water while the food processor is on. Salt to taste.
Mojo de Cilantro
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1/2 tablespoon whole cumin, toasted
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 1 orange, juiced
Add garlic to the food processor until finely chopped.
Add cilantro and cumin and process until cilantro is chopped.
Add oil, water, sherry vinegar and orange juice and pulse until combined. Salt to taste.
