Brasserie La Banque is set to open on July 2 at 1 Broad St., the latest restaurant to occupy the space following the closure of One Broad and the basement Bakers Bar. This venture will be the second new Indigo Road Hospitality Group to open this year, following Kingstide’s Daniel Island debut in March.
Reservations are available now via Open Table.
Though Kingstide was already under construction prior to the start of the pandemic, Brasserie La Banque was a more unexpected undertaking. “For the longest time, I would walk by this space and say, ‘That building wants to be a French brasserie,'” said Indigo Road managing partner Steve Palmer. “The building reminds me so much of Paris the way it sits on a wrapped corner.”
After One Broad announced its permanent closure, Palmer sought out the building owner and started making plans for the space.
Brasserie’s executive chef, Jeb Aldrich, went to culinary school in Charleston and launched his career while working at Peninsula Grill in 2001, where he met Palmer who was working as the general manager at the time. The two remained in touch over the years, and Aldrich eventually began working for Tiny Lou’s in Atlanta — a restaurant in the city’s popular Clermont Hotel that Indigo Road was managing.
Aldrich expressed interest in returning to Charleston, and Palmer mentioned his idea of a French restaurant in Charleston, which blossomed into the brasserie.
“I went to Johnson & Wales here,” said Aldrich, “I started my career here, so to come back and open a restaurant is full circle for me.”
Brasserie La Banque is meant to be a casual eatery serving lunch, happy hour, dinner and a late-night menu in the downstairs bar previously occupied by Bakers Bar.
The menu will include raw bar items like oysters and tuna escabeche, classic French hors d’oeuvres beef tartare and foie gras torchon, along with fish and meat entrees like steak frites, poulet rouge, bouillabaisse and more. The dessert menu will consist of four sweet treats highlighting dishes like a 30-layer crepe cake and profiteroles.
The late-night downstairs bar will serve food and drinks from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., featuring a simple menu with a meat and cheese board, five or six dishes and two or three desserts.
“That menu will be a little more playful and give the cooks a chance to be creative and have fun with the ingredients,” said Aldrich.
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