Lowcountry Cuisine Charleston 2020 Spring

LC 10 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.MountPleasantRestaurant.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com lowcountry cuisine JACKRABBIT FILLY Park Circle Shuai and Corrie Wang didn’t move to Charleston with the intention of opening their own restaurant. Luckily, life had other plans. Their first foray, Short Grain food truck, earned them a spot on Bon Appetit magazine’s Top Fifty Best Restaurants list, Eater’s Young Guns and Best Chefs lists, and a James Beard nod. In November, the two made the transition to their brick and mortar home in Park Circle, and Jackrabbit Filly (a combination of the couples’ Chinese zodiac animals) was born. The fare at Jackrabbit Filly is dubbed as new Chinese American; dishes are driven by Shuai’s passion for the recipes handed down from his mother and grandmother but aren’t limited to Chinese food, giving the couple the freedom to celebrate all cuisines. The duo set out to show Jackrabbit Filly patrons that Chinese food is so much more than beef and broccoli, or “bok choi everything” as Shuai puts it, and they’re doing it by utilizing as many local products as they can get their hands on. Holy City Hogs provides succulent pork for dumpling fillings, fish is sourced from Abundant Seafood for tartare and stews, and vegetables are changed out seasonally to reflect the crops being grown by small local farms. When it comes to the diversity of the cuisine in Charleston, Shuai has an interesting viewpoint: “People always say there isn’t enough ethnic food here or that it isn’t diverse, but I don’t think that’s true. Charleston, and the King Street with six rotating kitchens that give chefs an opportunity to test out their culinary concepts. A mere three months after meeting with owner Michael Shemtov (Butcher & Bee, The Daily), they packed their bags and headed South. Lynda said, “ We always had great food when we visited Charleston, and the food scene was growing at such a pace we felt it was finally time to see if Charleston was up for the challenge of welcoming two crazy Cubans from Miami.” And welcome them, we did. After a six-month stint at Workshop, the two garnered the success they needed to transition to their own restaurant. Spanglish serves up traditional Cuban dishes with a modern touch in a space that blends bright, casually cool Miami with a homey, welcoming soul. The menu is heavily influenced by recipes that have been passed down through the generations, however ditching canned and bottled ingredients for house-made marinades using locally sourced, sustainable ingredients is a key update in their take on Cuban fare. Pork and ham take center stage on any Cuban menu, and Spanglish settles for nothing less than the best, sourcing their meat from Peculiar Pig in Summerville. “The product is fantastic but also the way their pigs are raised and kept — people laugh because the pigs look so happy and they are roaming free. It’s no wonder why the best lechon [pork] I have ever had has been since we have started using this local product. If anyone asks me what my favorite dish is, I always go for the lechon asado without hesitation,” said Lynda. Tomas and Lynda know that their restaurant plays an important role in introducing Charleston diners to more diverse cuisine, and are doing their part to push the movement forward by opening up their kitchen to other young chefs for pop ups in the hope that they can give others the opportunity that Workshop provided for them. South itself have so much history in its cuisine, and we love that about here. We didn’t open Jackrabbit Filly because we thought Charleston was missing this, we opened it so we can share what we love with everyone here.” Meals are prepared with local ingredients. New Chinese American fare at Jackrabbit Filly.