Daniel Harthausen
Late Air | Savannah, GA
NOVEMBER 2024
Daniel Harthausen didn’t eat out much as a kid. Even though his grandparents owned restaurants in Korea, his mother was an excellent cook who preferred to make thoughtful, home-cooked meals for Harthausen and his family. It wasn’t until college, when he picked up a shift at the on-campus cafeteria, that Harthausen got his first taste of the kitchen. He dropped out of school, moved to Richmond, and started working at Lemaire at the Jefferson Hotel a few months later, learning fine dining techniques in the French brigade-style kitchen. Then, at The Black Sheep, he learned how to run a small kitchen and stay organized, taking note of their systems along the way.
In 2014, when he was 21, Harthausen started popping up at breweries and in parking lots, selling dumplings to unfamiliar diners. He was offered a residency at a local bar, but when the bar closed, he had to shut the pop-up down. Disheartened, Harthausen stopped cooking and pivoted to front-of-house roles. He worked his way up from busser to manager at a few local restaurants before joining the team at Addara, a Basque wine bar, as bar manager. Keeping his eye on the line and learning from Chef Randall Doetzer, Harthausen started to fall back in love with life in the kitchen and, a year later, launched a new pop-up called Young Mother, which started as an a la carte experience, but soon turned into a five-course tasting menu at Addara.
Harthausen went on to win Max’s The Big Brunch and set his sights on opening a restaurant of his own. At 27, though, he took a step back from the concept and realized there was still more to learn, both in and outside the kitchen. After connecting with Colin Breland and Madeline Ott, Harthausen came down to Savannah and joined the team at Late Air. At the stylish wine bar, he is serving enticing yet polished wine-friendly plates, forging relationships with local farmers, and creating new learning opportunities for him and his staff. Through dishes like his North Carolina blue crab with water kimchi, yangnyeom, radish, apple, and toasted sesame oil, Harthausen is building a menu that draws on personal flavors and a wide range of cultural influences.
2024 StarChefs Charleston-Savannah Rising Stars Award Winner
