Isaac Jimenez is building a counter in Bluffton around masa. His concept, Cintli, cooks heirloom corn with lime the old way, through nixtamalization, to make the base for everything else on the menu. It is a specific, unglamorous kind of ambition, and it says a good deal about where the local food scene has gotten to.
A few years ago a chef with that idea would have opened in Charleston or Savannah. Now the openings are landing in Bluffton and on Hilton Head. Here are eight of them.
- Local Pie brought its wood-fired pizzas to the New Riverside development on April 15, its second location in a fast-filling part of Bluffton.
- Greenhouse opened in Old Town Bluffton with a seasonal, farm-to-table menu and a small bar, in a room built for a quiet dinner.
- Casablanca added Mediterranean cooking to a scene that has long run on shrimp and grits.
- Sumo Sushi & Hibachi fills the fast-casual Japanese slot, with made-to-order rolls and hibachi.
- Cocos Lokos builds coconut drinks, tepache, and fruit cups to order, using coconuts brought up from Mexico.
- Lowcountry Crawfish Company sells seasoned crawfish by the tray and live sacks for a boil at home.
- Cintli, still in development, is Jimenez’s corn-driven project described above.
- The list keeps growing, so expect it to be out of date by fall.
Why now
The simplest explanation is population. Greater Bluffton is adding residents faster than almost anywhere in the state, and developments like New Riverside arrive with the density independent restaurants need to survive. The range of what is opening, from Mediterranean to masa to hibachi, is the clearest sign of the shift. This is no longer a one-note beach-town menu.
While you wait for a table
The established restaurants still anchor the scene. For local cooking tonight, FARM Bluffton and Nectar Farm Kitchen in Old Town are safe bets, and Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks is the one for a plate of shrimp over the water. They are all in the Lowcountry restaurant directory.