Chef Davante Burnley Hosts Experiences

DAVANTE BURNLEY FINDS inspiration in the colorful and rich Southern cuisine of his ancestral roots.

Not only does he put his own spin on soul food, he also hosts other chefs coming into his kitchen to work their own magic. The classically trained executive chef of Host, a recently opened restaurant in downtown Utica, acts as the host to visiting chefs, helping to deliver their concepts.

He finds the role his restaurant plays as an incubator—its goal is to help chefs and small business owners “reach the next level”—particularly meaningful.

Burnley considers it “a cool opportunity” to see how the restaurant’s rotating resident chefs work while he learns their cuisine and techniques. He finds the role his restaurant plays as an incubator—its goal is to help chefs and small business owners “reach the next level”—particularly meaningful.

“I am doing what I want to do,” says Burnley. “This is it.”

“I have learned a lot from the resident chefs that we have had the pleasure of having here at Host,” he says. “It is really giving me opportunities to hone and sharpen the skills that I have developed as a chef over the past 15 years from working at a variety of different restaurants.”

Burnley began experimenting in the kitchen at age 4, with his mom and grandmother inspiring his future recipes. After attending culinary programs in high school, Burnley took his first culinary job at age 15 at Hotel Saint Regis in Detroit’s New Center. During that time he entered culinary competitions, leading him to receive scholarships to attend the culinary school at The Art Institute of Michigan.

Burnley spent the early part of his career moving around and keeping it going at restaurants in hotels and country clubs locally and throughout the United States, whipping up Southern classics and showing off his skills to create Southern fusion menus consisting of dishes such as a Creole version of mussels.

When he heard Savannah Blue, a restaurant featuring contemporary northern soul food, was looking for an executive chef in 2017, Burnley jumped at the chance. He got the job. He also has experience being the guest chef himself through The Exchange, a multi-course dinner pop-up series he co-founded with Justice Akuzue, who provides the wine pairings. Burnley also participated as one of 10 chefs who prepared dishes for the “Forbes 30 Under 30” Midwest summit in 2019.

He is known locally for his fusion cooking, pairing Asian flavors with traditional African American or Creole flavors in luxury Southern dining experiences, being featured on news platforms and for founding his own culinary business, Chef Squared Private Chef Group. He is also an activist, who was a vocal supporter of increasing Detroit’s minimum wage.

Last September, Burnley helped launch Host as the first resident chef, redefining customers’ mindsets with creative dishes like smoked salmon toast with multigrain sourdough, lemon-whipped ricotta, honey and crispy kale.

“One of my featured Southern dishes that I like to do in the summer is the vibrantly grilled red snapper with black-eyed peas and corn succotash,” says Burnley. Other popular dishes include his takes on fried green tomato soup, smoked whitefish, chicken and silk drop dumplings with wild mushrooms and spring peas, and sweet potato Creme Brulee. In the end, he says, it’s rewarding, just being able to provide delicious food.

“Customers love how I reflect my personality in the food,” says Burnley. “My food tends to have big, bold and game-changing Southern-style flavors, and being eclectic allows me to fuse different cuisines and round them all together.”

“My food tends to have big, bold and game-changing Southern-style flavors, and being eclectic allows me to fuse different cuisines and round them all together.”

Burnley appreciates collaborating with the resident chefs at Host, and learning more about cuisines that he’s unfamiliar with to create a visually stunning, flavorfully complex menu. He also appreciates Host’s open kitchen concept where customers get to know the chefs’ personalities and, for him, get a sense of the love and passion that he puts behind every bite of food that he makes.

HOST: 7759 Auburn Rd., downtown Utica; hostutica.com

Mike Lerchenfeldt is a Metro Detroit-based freelance writer and English / language arts teacher.