Back in June, Chef BJ Dennis hosted a one-off brunch party at Republic Garden & Lounge. We’ll be honest, the partnership with the venue came as a surprise to us. What was the private chef and local guru of Gullah Geechee cuisine — a guy who in April was the first guest chef of Sean Brock at The Stables at Husk — doing cooking at a club best known for hosting the cast of Southern Smarm, I mean Charm? Well, we’ve come to find out that Dennis is, in fact, consulting on a new menu for the venue.
“He has a great reputation and does great things,” says Evan Powell, Republic’s GM. “We thought it would be a great opportunity for him and for us.”
Powell says Dennis’ menu is still in the incubation stage, but plans to announce details in about a month. As loyal followers of the chef’s Instagram feed we suspect it will be a welcome redux. (But if he could please include the homemade chicken, sausage, tomato jam, and crowder pea on cornbread dish pictured below, well that’d be just great.)
In the meantime, you can get a bite of Dennis’ work pre-Republic menu release at Commune’s upcoming Sol Legare fishing dock dinner. The Sept. 18 event features Dennis and Jon Amato of The Park Café partnering on a four-course meal.
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