In a true full circle moment, San Diego celebrity chef Brian Malarkey is taking back his former Herringbone restaurant in La Jolla and will remodel and rebrand it into a French-inspired fusion restaurant & bar tentatively named Le Coq.
After coming to national limelight by making it to the finals of Season 3 of Bravo's hit culinary competition Top Chef, Brian Malarkety went out on his own in 2010 and opened the hugely successful flagship location of Searsucker in San Diego's Gaslamp. Malarkey's fabric-named brand of restaurants, Enlightened Hospitality, went on to open Burlap in Del Mar in 2011, Gingham in La Mesa in January 2012, Gabardine in Point Loma in Spring 2012, Herringbone in La Jolla in Spring 2012, other Searsucker locations in Scottsdale, AZ and Austin, TX, and a second Herringbone in Los Angeles in late 2013. In 2014, Malarkey and then-partner James Brennan sold their majority interest in Englighted Hospitality to Hakkasan LTD. After four years working with the company, in 2018 Malarkey announced the end of his relationship with Hakkassan Group. |
| Brian Malarkey & James Brennan at Herringbone Grand Opening in 2012 |
Brian Malarkey and his business partner Christopher Puffer are taking back the 7,500 square-foot Herringbone from the Tao Group and will soon begin rebranding the beautiful restaurant space in downtown La Jolla. While the concept is still very much in development, rumor has it the restaurant will be a French bistro & steakhouse concept named Le Coq with a menu of globally-inspired fusion dishes and dry-aged meats. Herringbone will serve its final meals on New Years Eve, December 31, 2022, and at that point Malarkey is expected to perform an interior remodel with Le Coq bar & restaurant anticipated to reopen in summer 2023.
After the greatly-successful rebirth of the Malarkey empire with the launch of Herb & Wood in Little Italy in Spring 2016, the recently-single Malarkey has continued to grow his culinary empire over the past few years. In September 2019, Malarkey and Puffer opened the $5.5 million Animae, an upscale French-meets-Japanese and Southeast Asian fusion restaurant located in the 15,000 square-foot ground floor space at downtown San Diego's uber-luxury high rise condominium building Pacific Gate by Bosa. Malarkey also opened Herb & Sea in downtown Encinitas in fall 2019. Puffer Malarkey Holdings also operate Herb & Ranch, a multi-concept food hall in Orange County. The Herringbone rebrand concept will reportedly be Malarkey's last restaurant.
Herringbone is located at 7837 Herschel Avenue in San Diego's La Jolla neighborhood. For more information about Chef Brian Malarkey and his restaurants, visit brianmalarkey.com.
