Nathan Hood was raised on Isle of Palms, but he spent his free time in historic Mount Pleasant, steps away from where he now helms the Post House kitchen.
“I literally grew up in the Old Village, and now my kids are playing in the same marsh and creeks that I did,” said Hood, who assumed the role of executive chef in February. “It’s a fulfillment you didn’t even know existed until you watch your kids do it.”
After working in kitchens in California, Connecticut and even Hawaii, Hood’s return to Charleston is a full-circle moment. At 15, he started washing dishes and peeling shrimp at Long Island Cafe before a friendship with the children of Frank Lee, the long-running Slightly North of Broad chef, who eventually helped him get his foot in the door. The chef even taught him a few things along the way, Hood said.
“I started learning the brigade system, and just how cool that operation is,” said Hood, referring to the regimented French system in which cooks perform tasks at given stations. “It’s like stepping into a different world.”
It was a world where Hood felt at home, so much so that he took on a second job at the Old Village Post House, where he worked the lunch service before heading downtown to S.N.O.B. for dinner.
A lot has changed at the 125-year-old establishment, thanks to Basic Project owners Ben and Kate Towill, who totally revamped the inn and restaurant before reopening in August 2020.
“It’s pretty insane to be back in that building. It was good back in the day, but if you wanted to eat good food, you went downtown,” said Hood, who moved back to Charleston shortly after the onset of the pandemic. “We came down just to visit, and that’s when I really saw how well they redid everything. I went in to say hi to [former executive chef Evan Gaudreau] in the kitchen, and he was like, ‘You should really meet these guys.’”
A meeting one week later with Ben Towill led to a sous chef position, which turned into a promotion to executive chef when Gaudreau left. Since taking over, Hood has made his mark on the kitchen, too, starting with weekend brunch. There’s a benedict, quiche and shakshuka on the mid-morning menu, but the fish sandwich is the brunch dish Hood is most proud to serve.
“Every time I’ve been away from Charleston, I’ve just really wanted a fried fish sandwich,” said Hood, but “every time I came home, there wasn’t a really good [one].”
On those days, Hood would pick up a piece of grouper from Abundant Seafood and cook one up at home. His Post House iteration — fried in a “hybrid beer tempura batter” and placed inside a Brown’s Court bun with lettuce and an acidic green tomato tartar sauce — evokes memories of a family fish fry after a day on the water.
“We have people come back every Saturday and Sunday just for the fish sandwich,” Hood said.
While the “backbar cheeseburger” is a favorite on the medium-sized Post House dinner menu, seafood is the real star, as Hood’s experience cooking with the Lowcountry’s bounty is put on display. Lately, fresh pasta is popping up on the menu, a skill Hood — who spent time in San Francisco at Quince, a three-Michelin-starred California-Italian eatery — is able to showcase thanks to a new pasta extruder and semolina flour imported from Italy.
As the new Post House approaches its one-year anniversary, the restaurant has become a place where Old Village families wander down the street three times a week, sitting down at a table next to a couple from New York who drove across the Ravenel Bridge from their downtown hotel. Hood feels at home in the space, even more so now that his brother Davis has joined the team as sous chef — how about that for full circle.
“We keep the menu small and then change it up all the time. It’s really fun to have bosses that love that stuff,” Hood said. “The idea of the food is a coastal tavern, and the idea of a tavern is not pretentious, super approachable … for everyone.”
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