Summerville’s newest culinary destination is a great way to spend an afternoon in the fresh South Carolina air.
Anyone who regularly drives Central Ave has seen the newest addition to Summerville’s culinary collection, Lowcountry Fish Camp. The building stands adorned with a colorful mural depicting coastal scene easily visible from the street and serves as a clear beacon for local foodies.
The fish camp team, including Chris VanZile, Michael Del Signore, Ginny Bradford, has transformed what was a convenience store into a local hotspot for food lovers of all ages.
Upon entering through the screen door, you will invariably be greeted by a smiling face. The staff members clearly have the types of personalities and attitudes that make a restaurant inviting and the kind of place you want to revisit. Whether it is answering questions or making sure all is well at your table, you can expect high quality service with a smile.
The restaurant sign, wooden fence, picnic tables, and high top tables all capture the feel of a rustic camp environment. Patrons can sit inside the building at a high top table, outside at a spacious picnic table under an umbrella, or “on the deck” in a screened in outdoor area. Each of these locales offers friendly service, fresh food served to you quickly, and an atmosphere second to none.
Sitting outside, patrons experience the perfect venue to enjoy great food and a beautiful afternoon or evening. The wooden picnic tables enhance the camp feel of the restaurant and manage to transport visitors from a restaurant in Summerville to an outdoor haven. Enjoying the sunlight is easy as you sit alongside wooden fences, flowers, and wall hangings.
Using high quality local products allows the restaurant to serve first rate food that shows their commitment to one of the tenets of the restaurant: For the love of Lowcountry Seafood. All seafood, rice, grits, and produce used in the restaurant are locally caught or harvested, making it truly a Lowcountry restaurant from the natural environment to your plate.
All of this deliciousness appears in lunches, dinners, and brunches that can compete with any seafood restaurant in the Lowcountry. Food is served through three main platforms: platters, po boys, and salads. Regardless of your personal preference, Lowcountry Fish Camp offers delicious food for all appetites and sophistications featuring the best local ingredients possibly.
No matter what your taste, the hush puppies, served with honey mustard, offer the perfect combination of crispy on the outside and light and airy on the inside. An order of hush puppies is perfect for groups no matter what size and is a great sampling of what the kitchen has to offer. The po boy, available with shrimp, oyster, flounder, scallop, or catfish, features a remoulade that perfectly complements the freshness and flavor of the seafood.
The dinner menu features platters and sandwiches alongside Lowcountry crab cakes, seafood pasta (featuring chef’s choice of seafood), shrimp and grits, fried duck legs, a captain’s platter, and blackened pork chops, any of which will appease your hunger. Whether you have a hankering for seafood or something slightly more land based food items, you are guaranteed to find something on the menu that meet your needs. To make their food even more available, Lowcountry Fish Camp offers a full to-go menu and calling ahead to order is always an option.
Your search for a great local eatery that will give you high quality fresh seafood is over, look no further than Central Ave. and Lowcountry Fish Camp.
Lowcountry Fish Camp is open Tuesday-Saturday 11am-9pm and Sunday for 10am-2pm brunch. For more information, visit lowcountryfishcamp.com or find them on Facebook.
By Charles Sweeney
