Palmetto Bluff is a four-year-old planned community near Hilton Head Island, built on the banks of South Carolina’s May River, which locals say has both stone crabs and blue crabs. It is part of the township of Bluffton, which is famous among food enthusiasts for its oysters.
Fittingly, local food is the focus of Christopher Blobaum, chef at the River House, the fine-dining restaurant at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff, the community’s luxury resort.
The Iowa native has spent much of his career in California, most recently at the Wilshire in Santa Monica, and the focus on local and seasonal products naturally rubbed off on him.
Moving to South Carolina has been an adjustment he says, not because South Carolinians aren’t interested in local, seasonal products—who isn’t?—but because the local and seasonal products are different. So the chef has spent six months, since he arrived, sampling the local shrimp, oyster and crab.
“A shrimper will throw a net in the water, pull out 10 pounds of shrimp and say, ‘There you go,’” Blobaum says.
He plans to put soft-shell crabs on the spring menu, along with local Sapelo clams, which are available in both the spring and fall.
“They kind of run with the water temperature,” he says.
Blobaum also got on the board of directors of the local farmers market to stay on top of produce. That means root vegetables in the fall and winter, whose flavors will get more intense as the weather gets colder. He’s looking forward to the watermelon, corn and Vidalia onions this summer.
He has befriended local foragers who are providing him with “the most amazing chanterelles you’ve ever seen.”
He also likes to support local organizations, so he buys his pecans from a local Methodist men’s group that sells them to raise funds. In addition to getting used to local ingredients, Blobaum also had to get used to local custom, because South Carolinians don’t clamor for salads or protein bars.
“I think there’s still some tradition of eating here,” he says. “People enjoy the pleasures of food and drink.”
They also enjoy fried chicken.
“When I first came here a lot of people asked if I could make fried chicken,” he says, so he made it for them as a special request, but before too long he relented and put it on the menu. His version is boneless, seasoned with smoked paprika and served with mini biscuits and strawberry marmalade.
Although it was his top-selling menu item for a while, sales have ebbed a bit, and now his best-selling main course is grouper.
AT A GLANCE Concept: modern low-country cuisineOpened: 2004Location: Bluffton, S.C.Check average: $65Customer demographics: tourists and business executives, Palmetto Bluff residents, wedding guests and a few visitors from nearby communitiesBest selling item: Carolina grouper with chestnuts, cippolini onions and baby Brussels sproutsMenu-maker: executive chef Christopher BlobaumOwner: Auberge Resorts
The Inn at Palmetto Bluff is part of the Auberge group of resorts, and the Palmetto Bluff community doesn’t merely include the usual golf course and spa, but also an equestrian center, a canoe house for boating and a conservation center. About half of Palmetto Bluff’s 20,000 acres have been set aside not to be developed, and conservation center staffers are studying the habits of local wildlife. That has included fitting some of the resident rattlesnakes with transmitters that allow the center to monitor their activities.
Only about 40 houses are currently occupied by residents, although others are rented to guests of the Inn, which also has a couple dozen bungalow-like “cottages” for guests.
Many of the River House’s customers are visiting business executives whose companies have organized retreats at the resort.
The inn also has become a popular venue for weddings, including that of South Carolina native and celebrity chef Tyler Florence.
| •Beginnings• | •Entrée selections• |
| She Crab Bisque Blue Crab & Corn SuccotashTwelve Dollars Crispy Sweetbreads Mango Carpaccio, Pea Shoots, Black-berry Vinaigrette Ten Dollars Pan Seared Quail Braised Blueberries, Port ReductionSixteen Dollars Coastal Shellfish PlateCarolina White Shrimp, North-Eastern OystersMaine Lobster, Spicy Cocktail Sauce Nineteen Dollars Grilled Scallop Ceviche Lime Caramel, Coconut CilantroVinaigrette, Pickled Onions Fourteen DollarsSummer Melon & ProsciuttoArugula, 25-Year-Old BalsamicSixteen DollarsHeirloom Tomato Salad Basil, Burrata MozzarellaOlive Oil Crouton Sixteen DollarsButter Lettuce Carolina White Shrimp, Avocado,Baby Beets, Radish & Persian Cucumbers Ten DollarsTorched Romaine White Anchovies, Spaetzle CroutonsShaved Parmigiano, Caesar Dressing Eleven DollarsRoasted Baby Beet Salad Wilbanks Tupelo Honey Vinaigrette,Herb Salad & Pecans Ten Dollars | Sweet Corn Risotto Caw Caw Creek Bacon, SpinachTwenty-Four Dollars Butter Poached Lobster Lobster & Haricots Verts Hash,Leeks, Riesling Butter Fondue Thirty-Eight DollarsWild King Salmon Chanterelle Mushrooms,Pearl Onions, Romano Beans, Basil & Olive Oil Thirty-Four Dollars Hook & Line Sea Bass White Elf Mushrooms,Lima Beans, Papardelle Pasta, Tomato Broth Thirty-Six Dollars Pekin Duck Breast Baby Bok Choy, Dixie Speckled Pea & Duck Confit Ragoût Sage Orange Reduction Thirty-Two DollarsKeegan-Filion Fried Chicken Creamed Corn, Mini Honey BiscuitsStrawberry & Smoked Paprika MarmaladeTwenty-Seven Dollars Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin Grits, Roasted Plums, Kale,Rosemary Jus Thirty-One Dollars Grilled Strip Loin Horseradish Mash, Roasted BabyBeets, Chocolate Stout Demiglace Forty-Six DollarsFilet of Beef Fingerling Potatoes, Baby CarrotsPinot Noir Sauce, Chanterelle MushroomsForty-Two Dollars |