Sometimes in a long relationship, disenchantment sets in. But sometimes, a kind of magic keeps a relationship fresh and eternal.
Charleston’s relationship with SNOB (Slightly North of Broad) seems to be an eternal one, as the restaurant prepares to celebrate its 30th year. Founder Frank Lee said the magic is that the restaurant has real relationships with its customers, not just transactional ones.
Lee left SNOB in 2016 to care for his wife, who’d developed dementia, but kept in touch with many SNOB guests, many of whom became friends.
“That’s what SNOB is all about. It’s a restaurant, sure, but the business of the restaurant should be about the guest, not about the owner or the chef,” he said. “So many of us at SNOB have developed friends and families out of our interactions with our guests, and they come back again and again because it’s a place that radiates warmth and hospitality.”
Chef Russ Moore took the reins from Lee, and noted that it is rare for one restaurant to have had only two executive chefs for 30 years, but that the consistency is part of what makes SNOB what it is.
“It brings continuity when you don’t have a bunch of chefs trying to reinvent the wheel,” Moore said.
The restaurant has become known for its shrimp and grits, made lighter than most with a tomato-shrimp stock base, as well as its Reuben; beef carpaccio, barbecued tuna; and sour cream apple pie. Many classic dishes are in rotation during the week of Dec. 4, when the restaurant celebrates its anniversary.
Trust in the tweak
Despite SNOB’s longtime traditions, Moore said the restaurant gets tweaked every year. In 2015, Halls Management Group took over the restaurant. Moore said they meet annually to discuss how to reinvest in the restaurant, including buying new kitchen equipment and refreshing the dining room.
“It’s very easy to have a restaurant for 30 years and say, ‘It is amazing, don’t change a thing,’” Moore said. “It’s almost riskier to say let’s tweak it a little bit or refine it a little bit.”
Moore said the loyal customer base is the main reason the restaurant survived both the real estate crash of 2008-2009 and the Covid pandemic.
“When other restaurants were flickering, people trusted us,” Moore said. “People didn’t want to take risks, but they still had confidence in the restaurant.”
Lee said Halls also takes care of its employees, offering immediate full or partial payment of their health care premiums, depending on position. But, the care began before Halls took over.
Lee said he used constant two-way communication with his staff, and he hosted a “Culture Hour” every Saturday when the restaurant was closed for lunch, during which he’d introduce the staff to opera or great jazz.
From Lee’s tutelage came a line of successful chefs. Moore is one Lee mentions as a special protégé, but he also trained the Grocery’s Kevin Johnson, Chris Stewart of the Glass Onion, chef Chelsey Conrad, who worked for a while at the former Butcher & Bee, and many others.
Lee admitted he was wrong about the restaurant name, championed by his partners Richard Elliot and David Marconi.
The East Bay Street restaurant stands where two restaurants in a row failed, and the location was considered slightly cursed. The last thing it needed was an offensive name. SNOB stands for Slightly North of Broad, a cheeky reference to the fact that the upper crust lived South of Broad Street.
“The name was Dick Elliot’s idea,” Lee said. “I thought it would be the kiss of death. You know, those South of Broad, we affectionately called ‘The S.O.Bs.’ I thought it was a little much, but Charleston embraced it and found the humor in it and loved it. It also provides a catchy acronym.”
Ultimately, though, Lee said it’s not the name or the location that made SNOB last 30 years.
“It’s not just a transactional business,” Lee said. “It’s fun and sexy to make a profit, but a real restaurant is a place where your clients … can relax and enjoy the civility of the table, put aside their differences and troubles and be taken care of.”
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