“Coterie, as a word and as a thought, means like-minded people with shared interests and goals, coming together,” said Jeremy Buck, owner of Warren Street restaurant Coterie. Founded by Buck and his wife Jital Vaghela in 2020, Coterie serves up modern American fare in the space formerly occupied by the longstanding Italian restaurant, Pane e Vino.
When it opened, Coterie served modern Indian cuisine, drawing inspiration from Buck and Vaghela’s extensive international travels. When current chef Damian Sandoval came on board this past fall, though, the team decided to re-route, now focusing on a broader range of cuisine inspired by Sandoval’s own background and experience.
“We were just so blown away by his combination of flavors and what he was doing that moment that we’re like, ‘OK, we’re gonna let him do whatever he wants,’” Buck said of Sandoval’s culinary prowess. “And now [the food] is not specifically Indian. So, we’re saying modern American, because it’s kind of a mix of everything, with Southeast Asian and Latin influences.”
Originally from Chicago, Sandoval worked at celebrated Mexican restaurant, Mi Tocaya Antojeria in Logan Square, and at North Pond, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lincoln Park.
Sandoval moved to Charleston several years ago and spent time working at Xiao Bao Biscuit and Obstinate Daughter before coming on board at Coterie.
Sandoval said his inspiration for Coterie’s menu is pretty simple: “It’s what I’d want to eat. My thing is, would I want to eat at a restaurant I work at?”
Perfect pairings
Buck said another of Coterie’s culinary aspirations was to improve the landscape of the city.
“We’ve lived and eaten and worked all over the world at this point,” he said. “And we want to bring some of that here.”
As an accomplished mixologist, Buck brings international flair to Coterie’s cocktail list. After working for a number of bars and restaurants in New York, including now-shuttered Rotiserrie Georgette (where Buck was nominated as “New York’s Best Bartender 2015: Upper East Side” by Time Out magazine), he took a job in Mumbai, opening and running a first-of-its kind cocktail program at restaurant Miss T. He’s led pop-ups and classes in Singapore and Hong Kong and even met Vaghela in Hanoi, where both were traveling for work (she’s an international apparel design consultant).
“I believe we probably have, if not the best, one of the best cocktail programs in town,” said Buck. The proof is in the pudding, or in the case of a recent visit to Coterie, in the “nabob,” a collaborative cocktail created by Buck and Hong Kong-based bartender Gagan Gurung, made with Tanqueray, house-made onion parmesan cordial, grapefruit bitters and fish sauce. A fun play on the classic Gibson, the savory and sweet concoction is unlike any other drink this well-versed cocktail drinker has ever had.
In addition to operating as a bar and restaurant, Coterie is also home to Idle Hands Coffee House, a coffee shop that’s open from 8 a.m. (8:30 a.m. on the weekends) to 3 p.m. daily. The concepts are currently kept separate — you can’t order from Coterie’s menu at Idle Hands, but Buck foresees some fun coffee cocktails at Idle Hands.
Coterie is open for “pocket friendly” happy hour every day from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and dinner daily starting at 5 p.m.
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