Bluffton caboose BBQ restaurant gets a new owner

Ted Huffman isn't serving his Bluffton BBQ out of the red caboose in old town Bluffton anymore. But a new restaurateur will be soon, and that's left Huffman unhappy.

Bluffton BBQ closed at its 1271 May River Road location May 1. Since then, Paul Riganas, owner of the two Squat 'n' Gobble restaurants, has purchased the caboose and plans to open Choo Choo BBQ in the next few weeks.

"(They're) going to open another barbecue place and (ride) my coattails," Huffman said.

Riganas, who is renovating the caboose-shaped structure, says his menu will be different. There will be barbecue, but Choo Choo also will offer chicken and fish, he said.

Riganas has a golf cart so he can deliver food throughout the old town area since picnic tables are the only places to sit at the caboose.

The restaurant market in Bluffton is so good that Riganas said he wouldn't move to Hilton Head Island if someone gave him a free restaurant.

Huffman said former caboose owner Jimmy McIntire raised his rent before selling to Riganas. Both Huffman and McIntire said they knew it was Huffman's goal to build a restaurant in the Calhoun Street Promenade.

But, "I wanted to stay in the caboose as long as I could," Huffman said.

McIntire would only say Huffman could have stayed in the caboose as long as he wanted to, but chose not to.

Huffman's barbecue will ultimately end up in a place with walls and tables. Construction will start soon on a 1,000-square-foot "funky little rib shack" in the Calhoun Street Promenade, he said.

The new digs, which should open by late summer, will be indoors and allow Huffman to serve adult beverages and expand his menu.

In the meantime, Huffman will ply his smoked pork at the Bluffton Farmers Market on Thursdays, at Third Friday events along Calhoun Street, and if he can get the permission and permits, on-site at the promenade before opening the restaurant.