Brian was born in Ohio, raised in a tiny town outside Atlanta, and spent his summers between two camps of his extended family: cattle ranchers in Colorado on the one hand, and fishing enthusiasts in the Florida panhandle on the other. He went to culinary school in Charleston, worked for Hugh Acheson for a spell, and left to finish ripening under the balmy California sun, where stints at Michael Cimarusti’s Providence and Joe’s in Venice set him up for his first forays into running kitchens.

Folks started noticing Brian’s food back in 2012, at the popular pop-up he ran in Venice called Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. The food was rustic, vaguely though not dogmatically Southern, and emphatically hand-crafted. From there, the pair went on to open The Hart & The Hunter at the Palihotel in West Hollywood, which garnered buzz for its unfussy, ingredient-focused takes on heritage American cooking. Brian went on to helm the hearth at Hatchet Hall in Culver City, where he stayed for the following six years, expanding and deepening his repertoire to the delight of diners and critics alike.

Brian left Hatchet Hall in the height of the pandemic with his sights set on building a restaurant he could truly call his own. Dunsmoor is just that.