Lily Hall's Brother Fox restaurant to bring wood-fired cooking to Pensacola next month

Words like "charred," "coal-roasted" and "charbroiled" make frequent appearances on the Spanish-inspired Brother Fox menu, a new restaurant slated to open inside Pensacola’s Lily Hall lodging house this February.

Although the lodging house was designed to be a unique destination for travelers, Pensacola-raised executive chef Darian Hernandez is determined to team up with Lily Hall's founders to ensure the restaurant stays close to Pensacola’s roots.

As a nod to the building’s origin as the Old Mount Olive Baptist Church in 1928, there will be sharable, larger plates available on the menu designed to encourage communal dining experiences.

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"This concept in Pensacola was something I felt like was very unique from the start. Even just the old church, kind of restoring that vibrant community," Hernandez said.

The restaurant, designed to host about 100 guests across the intimate dining room and ethereal outdoor garden space, will be open to even those without a reservation to stay at Lily Hall.

Hernandez hopes the restaurant takes on an identity of its own where locals can find themselves sipping sangrias on the AstroTurf lawn or snacking on a Spanish small plate.

Born and raised in Pensacola, but cooking in restaurants across the country, Hernandez said he has a sense of ownership and pride in giving the space new life and creating a unique culinary experience for the people that live in his community.

The developers of Lily Hall, Nathan and Jennifer Weinberg, Troy Stackhouse and Steve Mabee, were likeminded in their search of finding the right person to lead the culinary team, making sure whoever they chose was in tune with the existing community.

“The group is from Nashville, but the owner is very adamant on, ‘I want to pay respect and pay homage to Pensacola and bring in somebody who understands the scene and understands this community and definitely wants to build it up,’” Hernandez said. “So, I think it plays a big difference in the approach of the restaurant and making it something that is for everybody.”

In Hernandez's role, he will work closely with Nashville-based restaurant operator Terry Raley to develop new menu items and manage back-of-house operations, along with Pensacola-based sous chef Amber Halverson who opened Pensacola’s Alcaniz Kitchen & Tap.

"Our concept is vested in our approach, above all our influences, and that is our insistence on wood-fueled cooking," Raley wrote in an email. "Using a primitive technique to elevate a uniquely contemporary menu, from cooking our vegetables in the coals of the hearth, charring fruits for sauces, and ultimately coal-roasting our seafood and prime meats."

Hernandez will be bringing the big-city techniques he has refined in restaurants from Miami to New York City, including multiple Michelin-starred restaurants like Thomas Keller’s Per Se. But he is bringing his knowledge to the ground-level so that the menu items are dishes everyday people can recognize and feel comfortable ordering.

The menu is also a tribute to historic Pensacola and its early Spanish settlers, where many of the dishes will be prepared over the open fire. Dishes will be centered around fresh ingredients, local sourcing, and the only fried item will be the pommes frites.

"Our Market Fish will evolve and change daily, but fish will be wood-fired, simply, with citrus oils and herbs so that we get the most natural expression of each catch," Raley wrote.

“I think one of our showstoppers is going to be our marinated asada for two," Hernandez said. "That is going to be marinated for a few days. We're going to throw them on the live fire grill, smoke it in oak. And then we're going to slice and serve that with flour tortillas. It's going to be something that you could share. You are going to get a sense of bounty when you when you get these dishes.”

Locals will appreciate other regional dishes that made the menu's cut, including a whole red snapper, local bread with black garlic butter and one of his favorites — a Spanish take on a low country boil starring Florida Gulf shrimp with chorizo and marbled potatoes.

“Some of my early memories growing up here (in Pensacola) — after church, we are going to Joe Patti’s,” Hernandez said of the dish's influence. “You're getting almost everything that you would get when you go to a picnic or you’re with your family. The pot has corn, potatoes and shrimp on there. We're basically just making that a composed, Spanish-inspired dish using Spanish ingredients. So, things like that I'm really excited about, and how much we can really play with it.”

Raley said although the restaurant is a nod to Pensacola's Spanish origins, it is in a category of its own.

"The concept nods to Pensacola’s unique Spanish history, though we are not a Spanish or tapas restaurant per se. Think Low-Country Boil 'a la Espana,' which incorporates Spanish chorizo, and the way that Darian is utilizing chiles and other means of spice heat to augment his Carne Asada," Raley said. "There is a lot going on, but I think its our approach above all else, over any particular genre of cuisine, that makes us unique."

Lily Hall is gearing up to open in stages, but Hernandez believes the kitchen staff will begin training in February and open soon after.

Also opening soon next door will be the restaurant’s counterpart, a dark and moody speakeasy named Sister Hen.

More information and updates can be found on the Brother Fox, Sister Hen and Lily Hall Facebook pages.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola-born chef to lead Lily Hall's new Spanish-styled restaurant