Benny’s Coastal Kitchen opens on Hilton Head. Take a look at the restaurant and the menu

Lisa Wilson
·4 min read

Even when a restaurant has been years in the making, there’s bound to be a few opening week surprises.

As Benny’s Coastal Kitchen opened its doors to the public on Hilton Head, one of those surprises was smack in the middle of the menu: The popularity of the Brazilian Fish Stew caught Chef Shaun Carter a bit off guard.

The dish, made with a base of coconut milk seasoned with yellow chili paste, includes local shrimp, clams, fish and scallops, and is served with Carolina Gold rice.

“I honestly thought I’d end up having to take it off the menu,” Carter said. “I really like it, but I’m like, I just don’t know if enough people are gonna go for this and try it.

“It’s my No. 1 seller probably like five nights a week.”

Benny’s Coastal Kitchen is located off Squire Pope Road with water views of Skull Creek and features an open kitchen concept with outdoor patio seating and a rooftop tapas bar on Hilton Head Island. The restaurant is the namesake of the late Benny Hudson, who operated a fleet of shrimp boats and opened the island’s first tourist-oriented seafood restaurant in 1968.

The restaurant on the banks of Skull Creek opened quietly in February. The open-air tapas bar on its second floor, called 41 Up for the number of steps between floors, opened on March 1 even though it was a rainy day.

Now that both the main restaurant and tapas bar have fully opened, next on the agenda is adding Sunday brunch. Plans are to have that available by Easter.

Benny’s Coastal Kitchen is the latest addition to the lineup for the Reilley family’s CRAB restaurant group, which also includes Old Oyster Factory, Reilley’s Grill and Bar, two locations of The Crazy Crab, Carolina Crab Company, Aunt Chilada’s, two locations of Fishcamp, and The Boardroom.

Benny’s is located on a site tied to an equally venerable Hilton Head family. It’s the former home place of island native Benny Hudson and where his name lives on at the Benny Hudson Seafood Market in a newly renovated building on the front of the property.

A wooden boat — a flag held horizontal at the bow — is used as a decorative light fixture near the bar at Benny’s Coastal Kitchen.
A wooden boat — a flag held horizontal at the bow — is used as a decorative light fixture near the bar at Benny’s Coastal Kitchen.

The restaurant

Benny’s Coastal Kitchen takes up the entirety of the bottom floor of the building, open-concept style, under a soaring ceiling. A bar with high-top tables is on one side, and the main part of the restaurant is on the other.

On the way to their tables, customers can peek into the open kitchen, but once seated, it’s hard to imagine wanting to look at anything but the view of Skull Creek provided by a wall of windows across the back.

Even two rows of tables along the outside patio don’t take away from the panoramic view.

“We have a complete open seating plan, basically,” Marci Kinavey, one of the managers, said, “not a bad view anywhere.”

The understated interior decor — the restaurant’s website calls it “casually sophisticated” — is highlighted by mementos and art that call to mind the legendary seafood businessman Benny Hudson. One of his boats hangs from the ceiling and another is depicted in a painting above the bar. His photos and photos of his numerous boats line the stairwell to the rooftop tapas bar.

Included in the Benny’s logo is an homage to Hudson. The two minnows above the restaurant’s name are a reminder of one of his mantras: “It starts with a minnow.”

Benny’s Coastal Kitchen features an open kitchen concept that patrons will immediately notice upon being seated at the newest restaurant in the Coastal Restaurants and Bars group.
Benny’s Coastal Kitchen features an open kitchen concept that patrons will immediately notice upon being seated at the newest restaurant in the Coastal Restaurants and Bars group.

The menu

While the decor puts a modern spin on elements from the past, the kitchen is on a similar track, taking familiar local ingredients and presenting them in a unique way.

Carter, the chef, uses classic local ingredients — the restaurant’s shrimp come off the private dock behind the restaurant, for example — and pairs them with spices from Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.

“This menu is definitely special,” Carter said. “It’s not your traditional Hilton Head menu by any stretch.”

The oyster bisque is made with local oysters but they are paired with black urfa, a Turkish chili spice.

“You get those like roasted cayenne kind of flavor profiles that’s more traditional to Turkey paired with a Lowcountry classic like oysters,” Carter said. “We’ve done a lot of meddling and melding of really cool trending flavor profiles at the same time embracing the things that are awesome to this area.”

Butter Lettuce Salad and Brazilian Fish Stew at Benny’s Coastal Kitchen on Hilton Head
Butter Lettuce Salad and Brazilian Fish Stew at Benny’s Coastal Kitchen on Hilton Head

Every menu item seems amped up with flavor. The Bronzed Swordfish is seasoned with za’atar and served with crab dirty rice. The Whole Fried Catch is served with baharat tortillas and chimichurri. The Butter Lettuce Salad is topped with strawberry champagne vinaigrette and feta croutons.

The response to the menu has been overall positive, Carter said, explaining that because there are not many traditional, find-it-everywhere choices on the menu, people may feel more compelled to try something different.

“It’s been a really positive response. You have a couple of people who go, ‘Where’s the fish and chips?’” he said with a sly grin and a sheepish shrug. “Pick another place. You’ll find it, I promise.”

Benny’s Coastal Kitchen is located off Squire Pope Road with water views of Skull Creek and features an open kitchen concept with outdoor patio seating and a rooftop tapas bar on Hilton Head Island. The restaurant is the namesake of the late Benny Hudson who operated a fleet of shrimp boats, and opened the island’s first tourist-oriented seafood restaurant in 1968.

At a glance

What: Benny’s Coastal Kitchen

Address: 75 Shrimpers Row (off Squire Pope Road), Hilton Head

Hours: Restaurant 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; 41 Up tapas bar 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily

Website: bennyshiltonhead.com

Phone: 843-715-2202