New Hilton Head barbecue restaurant opens at Coligny Plaza. Check out the menu
From the black and white photos pinned to the walls to the recipes used in the kitchen, the new Forrest Fire BBQ restaurant in Hilton Head’s Coligny Plaza is meant to make diners feel like they’ve stepped into a family cookout.
At this cookout, though, the person in charge is an experienced restaurant chef putting his own spin on the barbecue menu.
Chef and pitmaster Scott Forrest Bodkin, a Lexington, Kentucky, native who has lived on Hilton Head for more than a decade, said if there’s one word to describe him, it’s “nontraditional.”
Perhaps creatively traditional would be a more apt description.
Bodkin has adapted his grandmother’s red barbecue sauce recipe as one of the mainstays at Forrest Fire BBQ.
“It’s chunky,” he said, “a bunch of chunky onions with tarragon vinegar and bay leaves, and just the smell of it really reminds me of home.”
Red sauce is not only one diners can choose from, though. There’s also Slowcountry Gold, or “yella sauce,” and Kentucky Black, all made in-house from scratch. If those don’t rate, each table has a bottle of green pepper hot sauce.
The dessert menu also harkens back to an earlier time. Choices include a square of birthday cake topped with frosting and sprinkles or a personal-sized Jello mold.
“It’s like the essence of my childhood and, you know, the Thanksgiving, the Christmas,” Bodkin said of the Jello.
Added Lee Lucier, one of the owners of Forrest Fire and the chef behind the restaurants Local Pie and Fish Coastal Casual: “The interesting thing here with the menu is we have that fine dining background; we have that scratch cooking background, so we can apply that to the sides — the sides are amazing — but then also it comes into the simplicity of what we’re doing ... for our main offerings, for the barbecue.”
Don’t mistake simplicity for being plain.
“You have your traditional potato salad, egg salad, collards, fresh fruit, beans, mac and cheese,” said Lucier, “but Scott’s really taken all of those and put his signature aspect to it.”
For example, Crack-Mac is macaroni and cheese made with shell-shaped pasta and sprinkled with crushed pork cracklins for extra crunch. The baked beans include five varieties of fresh beans, bacon and spicy seasonings. The egg salad is made with smoked eggs for extra flavor.
Bodkin also is taking no shortcuts with the main courses.
Instead of using one type of wood, he uses a different combination — cherry, apple, pecan and hickory are in his fiery arsenal — on each of the restaurant’s meat offerings. Brisket and pork butts will cook overnight for about 15 to 17 hours; ribs and chicken start in the early morning.
Those offerings form the base of the menu, but the idea is that choices will be ever-changing. Tri-tip, prime rib or even whole fish are among the possibilities on any given day. An electronic menu board will list options available until they are sold out.
Along with Lee Lucier, Forrest Fire’s owners are JR Richardson, Leslie Richardson and Heather Lucier as part of the Mothership Restaurant Group.
Forrest Fire is located in a space that was once a banquet area for Fish Coastal Casual. One section of the newly designed restaurant includes a full bar. Diners will order at the counter and may eat in or take their meal to go.
“It’s a quick game in and out,” Lee Lucier said. “We’re seeing a great amount of people who are working during the day coming in because it’s easy service ... instead of the traditional see the hostess, get the server, place your order, make your drinks, get your food, and we really think barbecue should be easy and comfortable.”
Your expectations should be higher than fast-food, though.
“It’s scratch cooking. Nothing really comes out of a box,” said Lucier.
“Except the shell pasta,” Bodkin interjected with a wry smile. “We don’t make the pasta.”
Said Lucier: “What we’re trying to do is just good, simple food done right.”
At a glance
What: Forrest Fire BBQ
Where: 1 N. Forest Beach Drive, next to Fish Coastal Casual in Coligny Plaza on Hilton Head
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from noon until sold out; bar open until 9 p.m.
Phone: 843-342-3473
Website: forrestfirehhi.com
Facebook: facebook.com/forrestfirehhi
Instagram: instagram.com/forrestfirehhi
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 3:19 PM.
