Cactus Street Cantina debuts Mexican with a Hilton Head Island twist. Is cactus served?

Many best friends wish they could spend more time together. For two Hilton Head women, that wish was bigger: To spend more time together in their own restaurant, and they set their sights on Main Street Village.

Lauren Jordan and Tracy Wilson, with a third partner in veteran chef Adolph Aguilar, opened Cactus Street Cantina on Oct. 2 in the middle of the north end shopping and dining area.

“We’d always talked about having our own place, and we’d always talked about what a great location Main Street was,” Jordan said.

Jordan, a transplant from Australia, and Wilson, a transplant from Kentucky, have decades of local restaurant experience. Jordan worked for Captain Woody’s for 23 years, most recently as general manager of the Bluffton location, and Wilson, after a stint in banking, was general manager of Captain Woody’s on Hilton Head for 10 years.

Earlier this year, Jordan saw a post on her neighborhood Facebook group saying Gr8 Bites restaurant was moving out of Main Street Village. (Gr8 Bites reopened in Northridge Plaza in January.)

“Honestly, it was just really fate,” Jordan said. “I called Tracy. I was like, ‘This might be our time.’ So it was really just timing, I think, more than anything.”

The women applied for the space in Main Street Village and, at first, were rejected, but three or four weeks later, they got a call back saying a deal on the space had fallen through. Were they still interested?

The answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

In the interim, they had looked for a different location for their restaurant without success.

“We just couldn’t picture it anywhere else,” Jordan said. “It’s not meant to be on the south end. We wanted it to be a local neighborhood kind of restaurant or bar.”

So far, their target audience is responding.

“People are coming in, and they know people here already and are running into people all the time. It’s kind of like that’s what the neighborhood was wanting,” Wilson said. “And it’s kind of nice when that comes together.”

After securing the space, Jordan and Wilson settled on the idea of serving casual Mexican fare.

“I love margaritas,” Jordan said.

That decision settled, the women approached Aguilar, a experienced chef and caterer, and he bought in as a third partner in the business.

“He’s just so talented, and he’s got people that he’s worked with over the years that have come on board with him,” Jordan said.

In addition to kitchen staff, Aguilar added his creativity with flavors to the menu.

“I think people have been surprised when they come in here,” Jordan said, explaining that the menu is not just standard Mexican fare.

The menu

“It’s not just corn chips and queso dip, you know what I mean?” asked Jordan.

But, if queso is your craving, they’ve got that too. Cactus Street’s version includes chorizo and poblano peppers.

“We wanted to go with traditional flavors, but then we also wanted to add some things … more of an island twist,” Jordan said.

To that end, the Mango Madness Quesadilla combines grilled poblano peppers, diced mango, cream cheese, and fresh jalapenos. The Caliburrito is stuffed with thinly sliced carne asada, Cheddar, pico de gallo, guacamole, crema and french fries before being seared in a crispy “Dorado-style.”

Everything on Cactus Street Cantina’s menu is freshly made; the bread for the tortas and the corn tortillas are made in Bluffton.

And the restaurant lives up to its name with a classic Nopalitos Salad made from prickly pear cactus. Diners can add shrimp, carne asada, chicken, tuna or Beyond beef if they like.

“It’s really fresh tasting,” Wilson said.

“I think the menu appeals to everyone,” Jordan said. “We’ve got things that can be pretty basic, then we’ve got the ceviche and then we’ve got traditional tortas.”

Happy Hour is daily from 4-6 p.m. The menu includes $5 margaritas made with fresh squeezed lime and several $7 food options, such as street corn or Boom Boom Shrimp tossed in ponzo sauce.

The more health conscious can opt for cauliflower rice in Cactus Street Cantina’s bowls, and there are multiple vegetarian and gluten-free options as well.

The restaurant is donating 10% of the sales of its bowls to a different charity each month; October’s beneficiary is Hilton Head Humane Association.

Eoin O’Driscoll, who works in real estate on Hilton Head, stopped by to pick up a take-out lunch recently. He said he’d had the restaurant’s chicken burrito before and it was so good that he ordered it a second time.

“Hilton Head is such a good community, especially when you’ve been here for a long time,” Wilson said. “So many people are supporting us.”

While tourists are finding Cactus Street Cantina, its owners are gratified by the number of locals dining in and ordering take-out.

Said Jordan: “People have been coming in here, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, we so needed something like this on the north end.’”

If you go

• What: Cactus Street Cantina
• Where: 1407 Main St. on Hilton Head Island
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday
• Phone: 843-715-2246
• Website: cactusstreetcantina.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/cactusstreetcantina
• Instagram: instagram.com/cactusstreetcantina

Lisa Wilson

The Island Packet

843-560-9027

Lisa Wilson is senior reporter for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette covering restaurant and retail business openings and closings along with occasional breaking news. The newsroom veteran has worked for papers in Louisiana and Mississippi and is happy to call the Lowcountry home.