Warren Johnson, partner and cheesemonger at Mount Pleasant’s Saint Urban’s, spent nearly two years tracking down a specific olive to use for the wine bar’s martini. You read that right: Almost two years.
After first tasting Spanish Perelló olives when visiting friends in London in 2024, he knew he’d found the secret ingredient to make his best martini. The quest not only took him across the pond, but through hoops like sourcing and tariffs. But the search paid off. Saint Urban’s martini has achieved cult status in drinking corners across the Lowcountry.
Building the wine bar
The European-inspired wine bar in I’On Square has offered a curated approach to wine, cheese and charcuterie since opening in July 2023. At only 350 square feet indoors, as well as sidewalk and patio seating, every decision and offering is deliberate and thoughtful.
Johnson was in the restaurant business in Charleston and Los Angeles decades ago. The Covid pandemic shifted his perspective and brought him back to the world of hospitality.
“My business partner, Chad Besenfelder, and I have both traveled extensively and wanted to create a space reminiscent of our experiences in Italy, Spain and France,” Johnson said. “There wasn’t a place like it in Charleston, so we created it.”
Saint Urban’s is named for the patron saint of vintners, and the menu changes weekly based on what is available and in season. When it comes to cheese, you might find a Brillat-Savarin from Burgundy or a soft, ashe-ripened Robiola from Boxcarr Handmade Cheeses in Cedar Grove, N.C. The charcuterie is a rotating selection of salamis, jamón, mortadella and pâtés. You’ll also find French bread pizza on Tuesday nights and mortadella sandwiches on Thursday night.
“Our wines are very clean, mostly old-world and our cheeses are primarily from small farmhouses stateside,” Johnson said. “Our charcuterie offerings are sliced to order and include mortadella, salami rossa, various pates and tinned seafood. Everything that comes through the door is hand selected.”
Tinned seafood ranges from trout filets in olive oil from Portugal to chargrilled razor clams from Spain. 25 different luxury chocolate bars and truffles are sourced globally, and Saint Urban’s is one of only 50 restaurants to carry Mexico City’s acclaimed Casa Bosques Chocolate, made from heirloom, Mexican-grown cacao beans. These — along with the olives — are available in the retail section of the wine bar.
But enough about the food. Let’s get to the main course of the story: An ice-cold, dirty martini.
An olive’s origin
“I wasn’t looking for anything when these olives came into my life,” Johnson said. “I arrived in London after an exhausting first year in business, got to my friend Jason and Miako’s place around 1 p.m. and desperately needed a drink. We grabbed a couple of tins of Perelló olives at an amazing wine shop nearby.
“Back in their garden, I tasted these olives for the first time and just about lost my mind. I was there for three weeks and ate a tin a day. It was embarrassing. After I finished my first glass of wine, I immediately went inside and made a dirty martini. It was life-changing. I knew I needed these olives at Saint Urban’s.”
But getting the olives to the United States was no easy feat.
“Given that the olives had never been to the States before, the process of getting them here was a lot trickier than I thought it would be,” Johnson said. “Aside from the uncertainty of fluctuating tariffs, the importation of a new food product required the help of friends in the business, an entirely new ingredient panel and lots and lots of patience. I’m obsessed with sourcing and getting the best-of-the-best into Saint Urban’s. This was my toughest yet, but the martini, oh the martini!”
The martini
So for Johnson, what makes the perfect martini? It’s a combination of finesse and the sum of its parts, he said. There is a slight hint of chili in the Perelló brine, and the acidity makes your mouth water, he noted. The wine bar’s $17 martini is also very, very cold.
“I like to ice skate on top of a martini,” Johnson said.
Currently, Saint Urban’s goes through about 100 cans of Perelló olives each week between cocktails and retail sales.
While it’s clear Johnson and Saint Urban’s take the martini very seriously, they also know how to have fun with it.
Every Wednesday, the wine bar hosts “Weenies + Tinis,” a beautiful partnership between the martini and pigs in a blanket.
“My grandparents on my mother’s side’s definition of dinner two to three nights a week was two to three martinis and pigs-in-a blanket,” Johnson said. “Times have obviously changed, but it’s a perfect combination and a fun high/low experience.”
If you haven’t yet been to Saint Urban’s, Johnson said he and his team are ready to welcome you with open arms and a perfectly chilled martini.
“My staff and I encourage guests to treat Saint Urban’s as a second living room,” Johnson said.
“It’s a cozy place to hang. Have a seat and we’ll take it from there.”
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