| Tweet |
In the past year, new upstart restaurants have made waves on the island and some old hands are new again.
Click here for a rundown.
New kid in town
Flying Fish Seafood
32 Office Park Road (across from Park Plaza)
Serving lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday
686-3100
Even though Hilton Head is saturated with seafood restaurants, this newcomer is starting to stand out, partly because it doesn’t require waiting in a super long line. Flying Fish Seafood combines a seafood market with delicious take-out and casual dining.
The restaurant opened this spring in the Courtyard Building, 32 Office Park Road, located in between Park Plaza and Hilton Head Plaza.
“We consider ourselves primarily a seafood market with take-out dishes, but we also do casual dine-in and actually most of our business comes from that,” said owner Barry “Doc” Weaver, a retired dentist and real estate developer. “The menu is a little different and, boy is that hard to do with more than 300 restaurants on the island.”
Weaver patterned the restaurant off Pinky Shrimp’s, an exclusively take-out joint in Long Beach, N.J. He and his chef developed a few tricks for ensuring entrees travel well instead of getting soggy like many seafood dishes tend to do when they’re put in Styrofoam containers.
The market features a mix of wild-caught seafood, farm-raised fish, Lowcountry marinades and side dishes, including curry chicken salad, a killer barbecue bean recipe and comfort foods like mac-n-cheese, broccoli salad and corn soufflé. Flying Fish offers family feasts that are perfect for people who prefer to leave cooking seafood to the experts.
In addition to all of the standards, Flying Fish serves up Po Boy sandwiches, “tipsy” scallops prepared in a champagne citrus reduction, lobster and shrimp pot pie and addictive fish tacos.
The restaurant really throws down the gauntlet with “The Mega Monster,” a pound-and-a-half of fried cod, shrimp and clam strips covered with steak fries and onion rings on a large Cuban loaf. If you’re able to finish it in one sitting, Doc rewards you with a special T-shirt. Many have tried, but no one has walked away with the coveted prize.
New with a view
JP’s Beach Café at Aqua
10 North Forest Beach (behind The Sea Crest)
Serving lunch and dinner daily
341-3331
www.aquagrilleandlounge.com
There’s a new place to eat and drink on the beach that’s casual fare as only a fine dining restaurant can pull off. The family that owns Aqua Grille & Lounge recently opened JP’s Beach Café, located a couple hundred feet from Coligny Beach Park, the epicenter of the island’s tourist district.
Its opening fulfills the dreams of the late Jeffrey Paul Katon, who died in August 2006 in a car wreck near Palmetto Dunes. At the time, Katon had just opened Aqua, which has since become a very popular fine dining restaurant. His plans included opening a banquet facility for weddings (his family opened it in 2007) and the beachside bar and café, which opened Memorial Day weekend.
“We’re really proud of what he did,” said his brother Chris Katon, who now manages the business. “It was obviously a family tragedy, but the fact that everyone has pulled together to complete his vision has really meant a whole lot.”
JP’s has a raised seating area that overlooks the ocean and a pool. Part of the café is covered with a clear roof that blocks the sun. “It acts like a pair of nice sunglasses,” said Chris Katon.
Other improvements to what used to be just a simple snack bar include flat-screen televisions and free Wi-Fi. The café’s menu features appetizers, salads and gourmet sandwiches like the lobster grilled cheese, salmon BLT and crab cake sandwich. The bar offers up a variety of frozen drinks and has some good brews like Fat Tire on tap.
Old is new
The Chart House
2 Hudson Road
Serving lunch and dinner daily
342-9066
www.chart-house.com
In its heyday, The Chart House was the place to eat on Hilton Head Island for two decades before it closed about six years ago. The Palmetto Bay Marina restaurant has since been torn down.
For years, only memories have remained. At a recent reunion of former employees, locals reminisced about its prime rib and salad bar, the legendary “Mud Pie” dessert and bumping elbows with elite athletes and movie stars. That list of celebrities includes Michael Jordan, Chris Farley, Muhammad Ali, Billy Jean King, Ted Turner and seemingly every golfer who played in the Heritage.
The Chart House re-emerged last month, opening in the former location of Charley’s Crab, 2 Hudson Road, which boasts stellar views of Skull Creek. Both restaurants share the same corporate ownership, which made the transition quite quick. The Chart House on Hilton Head is one of the chain’s 27 locations, but its connection with the island’s early days makes it feel truly local.
Menu highlights include New England clam chowder, prime rib, shrimp and grits, Lobster Francese, macadamia-crusted mahi and, of course, Mud Pie.
Old chef, new joint
Roastfish and Cornbread
70 Marshland Road
Serving lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday; brunch on Sundays
342-2996
www.roastfishandcornbread.com
Chef David Young became well-known as the cook with the Rastafarian hat behind the grill at the Sea Shack. But it’s not that experience at such a popular restaurant that makes him a rising star; the reason he’s so good can be found in his family tree.
Young, a 39-year-old native islander, learned how to cook by watching his great-grandmother, Mary Cohen, who was an expert at using the Lowcountry’s bounty of shellfish and fresh produce. The family has worked the waters and land around Hilton Head for generations, long before the term “farm-to-table” became fashionable.
Last Thanksgiving, Young opened his first restaurant, Roastfish and Cornbread, named after a song by Lee “Scratch” Perry, one of the artists who influenced Bob Marley. It’s a very fitting name for a restaurant that finds its roots in the cuisine of the people who first settled here.
“We just try to keep it as fresh and possible,” said Young, author of the cookbook “Burnin’ Down South.” “It’s better to run out of something and have to make more than having six pans of cornbread in the cooler. There are a lot of restaurants opening and they all have similar menus. I didn’t want to be part of the same.”
Roastfish and Cornbread is known for its beef brisket, whole-roasted flounder and plethora of side dishes. Many of the vegetables are organic and it is one of the few places on the island that has an entire vegetarian menu.
New chapter for old cuisine
Rendez-Vous Café
Gallery of Shops near the Sea Pines Circle
Serving lunch Monday through Friday; dinner Monday through Saturday
785-5184
www.rendezvousofhiltonhead.com
The Rendez-Vous Café is back for an encore. After selling his popular French restaurant in 2003, Chef Serge Prat re-opened in his former location in the Gallery of Shops near the Sea Pines Circle in May 2009.
Prat, who served as executive chef of New York City’s famed Rainbow Room in the 1960s, prepares classical French cuisine that’s not overwhelming to the uninitiated. He first moved to Hilton Head Island in 1977 to open The Gaslight Restaurant and then the Oyster Bar in Pineland Station two years later.
The Rendez-Vous first opened its doors in 1995 and enjoyed a solid run prior to its hiatus. Signature menu items include veal sweetbread, calf’s liver, Dover sole, frog legs, escargot and classic French onion soup. He also serves Beef Wellington and coulibiac de saumon (salmon in puff pastry) by request. Don’t worry … the menu’s in English and a knowledgeable wait staff can bail you out if you need help deciding.
“It’s a typical French bistro,” explained Prat.
But it’s one that fits the people of the Lowcountry. “I think it’s more quaint than a classical French restaurant in the city — not so pretentious,” he said.
The Rendez-Vous actually is a little slower in the summer because it’s so popular with locals who only spend the winters here. Still, old customers rediscover the restaurant on a nightly basis.
“Everyday someone tells me ‘I’m so glad he’s back,’ ” said waitress Julie Bell.
This is the first in an occasional series on restaurants in Bluffton and on Hilton Head. E-mail suggestions to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
