A Small Restaurant Grows Big Ideas

Skirt Table - Helen Mitternight

Executive Chef Jill Mathias of Chez Nous says that the tiny restaurant isn’t for everyone and she’s just fine with that.

For one thing, the place closes for a couple of weeks in the summer. In fact, by the time you read this, Jill and her husband, who recently left Chez Nous to open tapas bar Malagon, may be traveling to Rome and the South of France. Jill will be clutching a notebook to record anything that inspires her and revisiting the sources of the food she offers at Chez Nous, mostly French with influences of Italy and Spain.

Chez Nous sits in a tucked-away alley and Jill’s attention to authenticity makes it feel like the alley starts in the Holy City and ends in the City of Lights. Upstairs and down, the historic Charleston house seats only 36, with another 20 on the patio if the weather is nice. Diners can easily eavesdrop on neighboring tables and the intimacy can make you feel like you’ve stumbled into a French bistro, far from the Charleston tourist trade.

Another contrarian practice is to offer only two appetizers, entrees and desserts every night. The limited menu, which changes daily, is scrawled in Jill’s sometimes illegible handwriting.

“We joke all the time about my handwriting,” she says. “[Chez Nous] is not for everybody. It’s simple, homey, rustic. For some people, it’s outside of their comfort zone that they don’t get to have more choices for dinner. Most people love it, but there’s always a handful who don’t.”

The menu, drafted on Sundays for the upcoming week, is dependent on what local purveyors have. Sometimes, for example, berries that were planned for a dessert change depending on what’s ripe that week.

The kitchen is minuscule—there isn’t room for a walk-in refrigerator, so supplies go into either a reach-in cooler, a reach-in freezer or one of two low-boys. But, Jill says the space limitations restrict how much food she can buy in a good way—Jill is dedicated to eliminating food waste.

“It affects how we plan the menu,” she says. “If we have a braised meat, we know that later in the week we’ll have that meat in a ravioli or a ragout. Or, if we have salad one day, we’ll do a different thing with the greens the next day. We very rarely have proteins left over, so a lot of it is usually produce-driven.”

As Jill gets ready for her vacation, she encourages her staff to take the time to learn and be inspired as well, and she intends to bring the knowledge she gleans back home with her to share.

“I can’t be upset with their performance if I’m not giving them the tools to be successful. I want them to keep growing in that sense.”

That opportunity for growth is what’s keeping Jill at Chez Nous. But the growth she’s seeking is educational; she’s happy with the intimate size of Chez Nous.

Chez Nous is at 6 Payne Court in Charleston.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS McCrady’s Tavern closed at the end of July. The closing of the property closely associated with celebrity chef Sean Brock, who decamped to Nashville, is one more sign of change in the wake of Brock’s departure. The adjacent McCrady’s, the fancy tasting menu restaurant, will stay open.

Duck ramen? Pad Thai? Paella? Check, check and check at Dashi, open now at 1262 Remount Road.

Handcraft Kitchen & Cocktails is open in Mount Pleasant at 735 Coleman Boulevard. Small bites and craft cocktails are the specialties.

Michael’s on the Alley has closed. The space will open in the future with a new concept, according to Holy City Hospitality, which owns Michael’s and the other restaurants on Hutson Alley.

CHEF AND STAFF MOVES Basic Kitchen has a new chef, Robin Hollis. She’s keeping a lot of the favorites from the healthy menu, but she’s adding some new dishes like roast chicken with sweet corn polenta, cherry tomatoes, shishitos and chimichurri, and waxed beans with arugula and toasted sesame dressing.

EVENTS We’re singing for joy because opera-singing chef Robert Dickson, owner of the former Robert’s (closed in 2010) is back to host three dinners, Sept. 13-15, at St. James Church on James Island. The dinners are a fundraiser for the church’s choir. Only 40 people per night will get a six-course dinner. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased by calling 843.714.9502.

MENU AND VENUE CHANGES When you eat a salad, do you feel like you’re not quite…Southern…enough? Problem solved! Now you can get a salad with croutons made of… wait for it… BISCUITS! Verde and Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit are teaming up for a limited time to present the Hot Little BBLT, a salad that has lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, bleu cheese, bacon, buttermilk dressing and croutons made of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits. The concoction is available as a salad or a wrap and it helps reduce food waste by turning excess biscuit dough into croutons (you mean people don’t just eat their leftover biscuit dough?).

When a basic frosé isn’t enough, check out Mex 1 Coastal Cantina. They’re adding a split of prosecco or sparkling rosé to the blend of rosé, rosé vodka and strawberries.

It’s hot. Who wants to cook? The seafood fine dining Establishment is introducing in-home dining and catering. Menus are custom and were designed after a conversation with executive chef Matt Canter and events coordinator Shane Diviney.

Highwire Distillery, home of Hat Trick Gin and heirloom corn bourbon, is growing. The distillery is moving to 311 Huger Street in early 2020. They’ll be hiring more people and expanding the amount of room they have for tastings. They’ll also have an outdoor area and room for more production.

Late-night munchies? O-ku is bringing back its late-night menu every weekend from 11 p.m. – 1 a.m. All the munchies are $10 or less.

KUDOS Monza Pizza Bar on King Street was named #50 in the Top 50 Pizzerias in North America by a panel pulled together by the prestigious James Beard Foundation. It’s the only one in the state to make the list.

skirt. | august 2019