Lucky Rooster reopening with new owners, chef on Hilton Head. What you can expect
Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar, a fixture on Hilton Head’s fine dining scene, is officially reopening with new owners this week.
The restaurant closed last year amid S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s orders related to COVID-19 and social distancing for businesses.
David Leffew and his wife Carrie Leffew of Hilton Head, along with family member Tom O’Brien, purchased the restaurant from founder Clayton Rollison.
The new owners say the concept of the restaurant, which first opened in 2013 as “an American bistro with a Southern soul,” will stay the same.
“We want to continue to make food that is elevated and provide a dining experience that people will remember,” David Leffew said.
Still, customers can expect new executive chef David Landrigan, formerly of Circa 1875 and La Scala Ristorante in Savannah, to put his own spin on things.
“We really want to take advantage of the ingredients and the items that made this area famous,” David Leffew said of the new menu, which he says was designed with a Southern metropolitan vibe in mind.
“It’s not going to be things you’ve never had before or that you’ve never heard of before, but it’s going to be done in a way that everything is authentic and everything is from scratch,” he said.
Rollison had completed a top-to-bottom renovation on Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar in December 2019 with new slate blue paint throughout, new flooring, improved lighting and more comfortable booths. The patio had been updated earlier that same year.
“The Lucky Rooster that people remember will be the Lucky Rooster that people see,” David Leffew said.
Leffew most recently worked as food and beverage director at Sonesta for six years but he has spent a 20-year career in hospitality.
In a call on Tuesday, Rollison, who is working as a consultant and lining up “a few new projects,” endorsed the changes the new owners are making to the restaurant.
”Lucky Rooster was a thing that I had in my brain, and it was cool to see it come to fruition and materialize,” Rollison said. “It’s pretty awesome that they want to continue.”
Rollison also closed his second restaurant, Lucky Rooster Market Street at Coligny Plaza, last year during the pandemic. That space is now home to Nood Good Mood Food ramen shop.
The menu
Dinner choices on the menu at the new Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar include steak frites with au jus and fries cooked in duck fat ($34); seared Carolina sea scallops served with seasonal mushrooms ($36), shrimp and grits featuring local head-on shrimp ($27) and even the Lucky Burger ($14).
The bottom line goal is that simple dishes will explode with flavor because of the ingredients and the technique with which they are prepared, David Leffew said.
Appetizers such as crab cakes, tuna tartar and stuffed eggs are generally in the $15-23 range. There’s also a range of salads and five decadent-sounding desserts, like a sundae made with ganache-stuffed bombolini or bourbon pecan pie.
For now, Lucky Rooster is serving dinner from 4 to 9:30 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday, with Sunday lunch/brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Eventually, David Leffew expects the restaurant to expand to brunch, lunch and dinner seven days a week, but more staff will be needed before that can happen, he said.
The brunch/lunch menu includes traditional items like steak and eggs ($20) and or an omelet with gruyere ($12) but also more unique offerings such as Buffalo Chicken Benedict ($15). There’s also a lineup of salads, sandwiches and soups such as oyster stew or gumbo.
The restaurant can seat about 130 people inside and 50-60 on the patio. Reservations are recommended but not required.
Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar’s grand opening is Thursday, April 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. with live music from The Riverbend Trio on the patio and food and drink specials.
If you go
What: Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar
Where: 841 William Hilton Parkway in South Island Square on Hilton Head
Hours: 4 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday for dinner; 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for Sunday lunch/brunch
Phone: (843) 715-3215
Website: www.luckyroosterhhi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/luckyroosterhhi
