Oyster bar in Bluffton Promenade banking on ‘show kitchen,’ mollusk diversity

Jimmy Soules says he’s fast becoming an oyster expert.

Soules stood in front of his soon-to-open restaurant, The Oyster Bar, in Bluffton Promenade on Monday and talked about mollusks.

“You could call it ‘West Coast versus East Coast,’ ” Soules said about the concept of The Oyster Bar. “There are people who live in places like Palmetto Bluff who are from San Francisco and (have) eaten Kumamoto oysters. … There’s a lot of different oysters out there, and we just wanna give you the ability to try different ones.”

The Oyster Bar, located at 15 State of Mind St. — next to Agave Sidebar, another of Soules’ eateries — is an “upscale boutique” that will feature a “show kitchen.” Soules hopes to open for business on April 18. He’s banking on customers who want to watch their oysters being shucked and their food being prepared — and who just want to learn a little more about mollusks.

The concept for The Oyster Bar has been in the back of Soules’ mind since 2014, around the time he and a partner opened The Bluffton Room.

“If you had the ability to see a little bit of the market — again, we’re not a restaurant that’s doing a little bit of everything,” Soules said, explaining he saw an opportunity for a niche-style restaurant.

“I like being specialty driven. We do seafood. We do have a steak. ... I don’t want to have a restaurant that has 90 menu items.”

Soules walked inside The Oyster Bar, which has upstairs and downstairs seating for over 80 people. A picture of the May River will soon wrap around the interior walls of the restaurant. A chalkboard hangs on the back wall and, on this day, featured nine different types of oysters — some from the Lowcountry — as well as steamed seafood.

There were no fried entrees.

“We’re more like the ordinary (oyster bars) in Charleston, where it’s a little bit more upscale on the inside,” Soules said. “We’re not pushing (shells) into a trash can or ... a hole or anything like that — it’s not where you hose down the oyster bar. It’s more exhibition, it’s more fresh. ... We don’t do hushpuppies. We do cast-iron skillet cornbread.”

And caviar, three different kinds.

The Oyster Bar is open Sunday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. It will feature $1 oysters every day from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The various oysters will be displayed in glass cases. Soules said customers can use apps like Oysterpedia to learn more about the East and West Coast offerings. That’s one way Soules has educated himself.

Soon, the restaurant will have an in-house guidebook about its oyster options.

Just in case you’re not an expert.

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Oyster bar in Bluffton Promenade banking on ‘show kitchen,’ mollusk diversity."