Brock will serve his signature "Hickory Grilled Burger" paired with tallow fries for $19. The burger features smoked kewpie, dried tomato, Vidalia onions, and Tennessee buttermilk cheddar. The dish aims to pair well with Ray's house cocktails like the "Stevie Ray" (tequila or mezcal with pineapple, lime, and agave) and the "Miami Vice" frozen cocktail.
And it's safe to say foodies in Miami are already excited.
The Virginia-raised chef has made his name reviving traditional Southern culinary traditions, hunting down heirloom ingredients like Carolina Gold rice and Jimmy Red corn while bringing back techniques like open-fire cooking and fermentation.
He's appeared on The Mind of a Chef and Netflix's Chef's Table. Brock also won the 2010 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast and earned another James Beard Award in 2015 for his cookbook Heritage. His second book, South, became a New York Times bestseller in 2019.
Ray's Bar Meets Southern Flavors
Ray's Hometown Bar opened its Miami Beach location last December inside the lifestyle hotel Freehand, four years after debuting in New York City's Lower East Side. The two-story space, with wood-paneled walls, a disco ball, and a pool table, captures the feel of small-town American bars. Authentic Hospitality, the group behind Broken Shaker and Pebble Bar, runs the concept.Chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske Valtierra, whose restaurants include Wildair, Bar Contra, and Brass, created the menu for this location. Ray's regular menu leans into elevated bar classics like buffalo wings with blue cheese, loaded nachos with pickled jalapeños and queso, and their house "Ray's Burger" topped with cheese, onion, pickles, and special sauce. Appetizers include French fries, onion rings with smoky chili mayo, and a soft pretzel served with mustard and queso. The cocktail menu plays up the Ray's theme, with drinks like the "Ray's Old Fashioned" made with Old Forester bourbon, and the "Ray Charles" mixing Jack Daniel's with lemon and honey.
Ray's Hometown Bar x Chef Sean Brock. Thursday, May 29, from 7 to 10 p.m., at 2727 Indian Creek Dr., Miami Beach; freehandhotels.com/miami.
