bargain tasting at r. kitchen

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01.29.2015

bargain tasting at r. kitchen

ross webb r kitchen — Chef Ross Webb at R. Kitchen in Charleston, SC

Correction: an earlier version of this post incorrectly spelled Ross Webb’s name. It has been corrected throughout. Apologies to Chef Webb.

As I mentioned last week, we spent a glorious week in Charleston earlier this month. I spent weeks before our trip planning out how we were going to maximize our time eating at some of the many new places that have popped up since we moved to the DC ‘burbs last August. One of the highlights of my week was meeting the lovely chef Ross Webb of R. Kitchen. I wrote a glowing review of our experience there for Charleston Grit. Ge Ge (our four-year-old) went with me and the rest of our extended family while the hubby stayed behind with Meimei (our two-year-old). As we affectionately like to refer to our little fireball that is Meimei, she’s not quite “restaurant ready.” Well, at least not fancy restaurant ready.

four year old goes to r-kitchen russ webb — Waiting for dinner to start

r kitchen russ webb drunken potato with goat cheese — Chef Webb flambes the goat cheese on top of a drunken potato

kitchen shelves at r kitchen russ webb charleston drunken potato goat cheese — Left: open shelves containing all of R. Kitchen’s supplies, including special ingredients left by prior guest chefs; right: the flambeed goat cheese

As it turns out, Chef Webb at R. Kitchen had a fireball of a different kind the night we had dinner there. I’ll tell you what – take a food-loving four-year-old and introduce him to a chef with a blow torch, and you’ve pretty much got a match made in heaven.

Ge Ge loves the blow torch used to flambe the goat cheese

Goat cheese drunken potato topped with pancetta and caramelized onion

Pan-seared salmon with avocado couscous

Chef Webb was skilled not only in the kitchen but also at entertaining guests. As he’s well figured out, getting straight to the heart of both the oldest and the youngest diner at the table is the quickest way to win over the whole party’s hearts. He let Ge Ge pick out which salmon filet would be “his” and also asked for “input” all along with way. Ge Ge told me afterwards that seeing him cook was just as fun as a Disney cruise. That’s high praise for a little guy.
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Ribeye rogan josh curry with rice

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Yeah, I’d say he loved it. He’s still talking about that salmon and couscous.

As for the rest of us, the entire time we ate at R. Kitchen I kept adding up numbers in my head to try to figure out how Chef Webb is managing to turn a profit. 5 courses, even tasting portions, for $25 is a steal. I kept wanting to ask him, “How are you making money? Seriously, how?” As far as I’m concerned, what’s going on at R. Kitchen is one of the best-valued meals in town, if not the best.

For my writeup on Charleston Grit, click here. For more on R. Kitchen, click here.