Stanhope takes his cooking magic to Sullivan’s Island

There are several reasons why James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Stanhope is about to become a part-owner of Sullivan’s Seafood & Bar on Sullivan’s Island, but the one that’s not making headlines is the one that shows the magic of hospitality, he says.

“When you’re a student of hospitality, you sometimes go above and beyond for people and you wonder how it’s going to translate,” he said. “I was talking with Jeremy (Graves, one of the owners at Sullivan’s) who wanted me to buy into Sullivan’s Seafood & Bar and he remembered a white truffle omelet I made for him, and then a birthday dinner with FIG classics. That was almost a decade ago.

“You just commit to your craft and hospitality and you never know when that one meal you cook somebody is going to turn into a partnership that can change your life for the better. That’s sort of the romance of the story.”

Stanhope, who won his award while at FIG downtown, will be leaving Lowland restaurant in the Pinch Hotel for the beachy appeal of Sullivan’s. He said he intends to change the name back to its original Sullivan’s Fish Camp to reflect what he hopes to do there – lean into the fish camp vibe of food reflective of the waters surrounding the restaurant.

“We are so close to Shem Creek and places that bring in incredible shellfish, and we have amazing pockets of agriculture,” he said. “I want to pump as many vegetables as I can onto the menu and show the lighter side of what fish cuisine can be.

Not that Stanhope intends to stomp into the restaurant like a culinary Bigfoot.

“The first phase of me being there is not like kicking in the door, guns blazing. I want to support the team and learn the systems. I want to put my voice in and lean into that community through the menu. My first goal is to lean into the fish camp concept and what it can be, and to bring back the name Sullivan’s Fish Camp,” he said.

A tough choice to make

But why leave Lowland after less than two years, when he’s spent much of that time reshaping that restaurant?

“The reality is I wasn’t looking to leave,” Stanhope said. “We were just getting good at what we do. There was a steep learning curve because we retrofitted our concept into the building that was already there.

“The design was quirky, so it was a lot of problem-solving and a lot of cooking by math: we have this many people, this many items we need to do, this many hours. What can we possibly do with that? We got good at working with that space with the kitchen and walk-in upstairs, the menu got more personal, and the service staff was catching on to the philosophies we wanted to create.”

The experience at the restaurant improved, he said.

“I was proud of what we were accomplishing, but then this offer came from local people I admire and trust and it presented me with the opportunity to be an owner and to really, truly be in control of my own destiny.”

The decision was difficult for Stanhope, who said he turns down offers frequently.

“This was a big decision for me. I talked to a lot of people in my life, people I look up to in my industry and outside of it,” he said. “The overwhelming feedback was, ‘Jason, are you going to be happier?’ They all said that if you are going to be happier, the other things like the money and the pride, will come.”

Ultimately, Stanhope said, what would make him happy was a job that allowed him to better balance restaurant life with family life and to achieve his dream of owning his own place.

“Looking at my boys and my family, I think in the near term and in the long term, this just sets us up to be in a better position to have the life we want to create. And the partners are amazing. I trust and respect them.

“Everybody says, ‘Jason, why don’t you just do your own thing and open up your own spot,’ but, while we don’t live lavishly, we’ve built a life that includes a mortgage and kids. I don’t have the option to sleep on my friend’s couch and eat ramen for three years while I pay my investors back.”

Stanhope said his wife, Anna Kate, jokes that what really made the decision was the huge kitchen.

“Ben and Kate (Towill, the previous owners) did an amazing job with the aesthetics, but also the functional design of the kitchen gives me the ability to get creative and do some fun stuff outside of just service. That’s exciting,” he said.

“It’s exciting to go into a space that has so much history and good will and affection from the community,” he said. “We’re not trying to fit a restaurant into an existing space, we’re letting the space be what it wants to be.”

Stanhope said he plans to be at Sullivan’s by late spring or early summer.