Flossmoor Social, the newest restaurant in Flossmoor, has some star power behind its menu. Chef Jerome Brown is the chief culinary officer for the parent company, 7th Floor Hospitality. And running the kitchen is a rising star in his own right, Danny Bullock.

Bullock’s journey as a chef has taken him to Michelin star restaurants, to work overseas, to work for professional athletes and to a period of teaching in the culinary program at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.

But it began in his mom’s kitchen.

“I was her prep cook while I was maybe 5 or six years old,” he said. “I was comfortable cutting vegetables, prepping things.”

Bullock comes from a big family, so cooking for large gatherings was an important part of his childhood. 

“Everyone in my family either can play an instrument, sing or cook,” he said. “We would go to church on Sunday, then come home, have a big feast.”

He also spent summers with his father’s family in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he learned to hunt and fish in addition to cooking. His whole childhood was preparation for his career, he said. After high school, he was reluctant to head to a traditional four-year college. His mother told him he could get a degree from a culinary school to  prepare to be a chef.

“I said, ‘Well, sign me up for that,'” he said. “I wanted to cook on movie sets, on yachts, and I wanted to travel.”

He went to Kendall College of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management at National Louis University, where he studied in the personal chef and catering program. Afterward, he landed a job at a Michelin-rated restaurant. 

“That was the highest level of fine dining, and that was my first cooking job,” he said. Starting out at the top was challenging, but he stuck with it, and the experience led to opportunities that helped him fulfill his dreams.

He did stints at The Four Seasons and at the Ritz Carlton, where he learned not only about cooking at the top level but about the restaurant business. Eventually, he decided to strike out on his own.

In 2015, he launched Chef Danny Bullock Inc., which he still runs. The company specializes in private events for a clientele heavy on professional athletes.

“I’ve been the chef for a lot of Bulls players, Bears players, White Sox players, Black Hawks,” he said. 

In 2020, he launched Bull Young Bourbon, making him the first chef to have his own bourbon line. His spirits, produced in Bourbon County, Kentucky, are shipped nationwide and are available at Flossmoor Social. 

He served for three years as chef for a basketball team based in Israel. That allowed him to do the traveling he dreamed of, visiting 18 countries during that time.

Then he decided to take a new turn in order to be nearer to family — he lives in Glenwood but grew up in Olympia Fields — and to do something to give back to his community: Teach. He was part of the H-F High culinary faculty during the planning for the program’s improved facilities, which opened in 2024.