Mex 1 is fresher than ever, thanks to a restaurant-wide upgrade on the heels of its 12th anniversary.
The flagship location of Mex 1 Coastal Cantina opened in West Ashley in 2012, bringing a SoCal vibe to St. Andrews Blvd.
Charleston City Paper writer Eric Doksa had this to say of the new spot in 2013: “The restaurant may not be near the water, but the surfer vibe is at high tide.”
Mex 1 opened a second location on Sullivan’s Island in 2016. A third location opened in 2018, in North Mount Pleasant, but it recently shuttered so that the team could focus on their busier restaurants.
“We’ve done our best to keep up and evolve,” said Mex 1’s marketing and beverage director, Morgan Hurley. He said that over the past 12 years Mex 1 has made subtle changes but nothing as dramatic as its recent move: bringing on a new culinary director, Ruddy Bollat, and new director of operations, Michelle Longo.
“We wanted to bring Ruddy and Michelle on board for a fresh set of eyes,” Hurley said. “As an established brand, we need some creative energy and some innovation. How do we stay relevant for the next 10 years?”
Fresh, fun, filling
Longo and Bollat started at Mex 1 this past summer and Longo said that Hurley and Mex 1 owner Dave Lorenz gave the pair time to settle into their roles — and into the Mex 1 lifestyle.
“It’s flavorful, it’s bright. Everything is super fresh,” Longo said. “I think, kind of understanding who Mex 1 was, the lifestyle behind all of that [helped Bollat] run with the menu.”
Bollat said that he’s brought small touches to the existing menu, elevating flavors with previously underutilized Mexican spices. He’s also incorporating some fusion cuisine with items like an ahi tuna taco topped with ginger.
And for all the crispy brussels fans out there — Bollat has a particularly flavorful version of the dish, deep fried to perfection and topped with tangy pickled onions.
Mex 1 has introduced some new weekend game day specials, too, such as wings, sliders and fajitas.
“We had a good menu,” Hurley said. “But it wasn’t really good.” The team identified Mex 1’s top sellers, like its chicken tacos, and worked to improve the existing recipes rather than replace favorites with something entirely different.
Bollat changed the restaurant’s street corn recipe, too. By fire roasting it and adding a chipotle mayo, he elevated a food item that Hurley said the team didn’t even know needed elevating.
“I’ll never forget we tried it [against the old recipe] to see the difference,” Hurley said. “And we were like, ‘We’ve been serving this for 10 years?’ It’s small things like that and that aha moment. We were so stuck in, ‘We don’t need to change that.’ … So how do we make it better?”
As with any restaurant, progress isn’t possible without a strong team working behind the scenes.
“We’re like-minded, so we’ve been feeding off of each other,” Longo said of the relationship among her new coworkers. “We’re all kind of pushing up and having fun at the same time. It feels exciting.”
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