R Kitchen

Ok, so I’m torn about writing this post because I want R Kitchen to stay a hidden secret, but at the same time I want to shout my love for this wonderful restaurant from the rooftops.

The first time I came to R Kitchen, it was for Lauren’s birthday in December and we were both a little unprepared for what was about to happen. To begin with, it’s less of a restaurant and more of a place where you just hang out while a friend cooks you dinner. The space is super small, we’re talking like 12 people can fit into the restaurant tops. Chef Ross Webb offers up a stellar 5ish-course prix fixe meal for $25, and you sit at the counter and watch him cook. It’s like dinner and a show!

The first meal, our culinary adventure began with a delicious local corn succotash made with shrimp and a bunch of other delicious vegetables. Chef was also nice enough to make Lauren’s without shrimp since she doesn’t eat it (although that really would’ve just meant more for me).

I was hooked after the 1st course, but it took Lauren until the second course, the wilted kale and chick peas, to really fall in love. I’m always afraid of kale, because 90% of the times I order it, I receive bitter, chewy, shrubbery. Chef Ross’s kale was something else entirely. Garlicky and tomato-y and In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have known it was kale.

He also did a special surprise course of smoked salmon and bacon deviled egg, which was pretty delicious. And I hate eggs. So that’s really saying something.

Our first main course was the steak and potato hash. My steak was prepared perfectly and went really well with the potatoes, which were soft and crispy and wonderful.

The final (and best) main course was the fried pork chop with dirty rice. I can’t remember what made the rice dirty, but I do remember that I loved it. The pork was awesome; the breading was crispy, and whatever the sauce was was nice and tangy and tied the whole dish together perfectly.

Our “dessert” course was brie and honey with some grapes. Lauren was crying at this point because she was so full, so I ate both hers and mine and it was glorious. I love brie.

The second time I went was with my mom. We had early reservations and were the first people in the restaurant. We were very excited.

Our first course for the evening was smoky mac and cheese. It was amazing and I loved it. I especially loved when they got out the blowtorch to burn the cheese and breadcrumb topping a bit and give it that extra smoky flavor.

The second course was a take on a thai coconut soup using a traditional coconut broth, which Chef Ross added crab to. I thought it was really yummy without being overly “seafood” tasting, which I was a little worried about. It also had this cracker thing in it, which gave it a really nice texture.

After this course, we had a little meat plate with some salami and prosciutto. It was good, but not spectacular. I did really like the mustard that accompanied it.

The next course was a really fresh salad made with local Johns Island beans and pieces of ham. Normally I’m not a huge fan of ham, but if this salad had a fan club, I’d run for president.

The first main course was a “pork & mole” that Chef Ross served over a bed of angel hair pasta and topped with avocado. Tina doesn’t really like meat sauces, but I thought the pasta was really good. It had a different flavor than what I was expecting because of the mole sauce, but it was very hearty and homey tasting.

Our final course was steak and risotto’d potato. Tina was freaking out about asking to get her steak cooked well done, but Chef Ross was more than happy to do it for her. He laughed and agreed that he doesn’t understand why chefs get so irritable about serving steaks at anything above a medium. I think that’s when Tina officially fell in love.

Chef Ross was nice enough to pose with us for a picture in between all of his cooking. What a great guy. Thanks for having us, we can’t wait to come back!

R Kitchen
212 Rutledge Ave
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 789-4342