Sundays at Gullah Cuisine have become legendary in the Lowcountry. The after-church crowd gorges on the deluxe buffet ($12.99). A back room hosts large parties. During our visit, a family reunion of 50 people was set to arrive by bus. Owners Frank and Charlotte Jenkins even draw hordes of tourists looking to connect with black history through ancestral food.

Gullah is a culture that was forcefully imported from Africa to the area south of Charleston, centering on Beaufort. American Gullah people were initially slaves. Charlotte and husband Frank have run a catering company since 1990, and decided to open a restaurant in Mt. Pleasant on May 10, 1997, to keep up with the increasing demand for their food. When asked to describe their concept, Frank said, “Soul food is exactly like Gullah cuisine, but Gullah cuisine came first.”

At the mouth of the buffet line was this big basket of homemade cornbread squares and rolls.

The buffet featured rows of covered metal trays, including…

…cinnamon-swirled candied yams…

…crispy fried chicken…

…well-seasoned baked chicken, including breasts, prized poultry parts rarely included in buffet lines…

…collard greens cooked with ham hock…

…red rice…

…okra succotash and yellow rice with lima beans and chunks of ham…

…seafood casserole with big chunks of real crab…

…crusty yellow cheddar macaroni & cheese…

…corn pudding…

…and shrimp and grits, a definitive Lowcountry dish.

At a cutting station, a man carved honey ham and roast beef.

For dessert, Gullah Cuisine offered squares of dense bread pudding with raisins and a layer of built-in peaches, and peach cobbler. The bread pudding was tasty, and the peach cobbler wasn’t bad, but the peaches clearly came from a can.

After our meal, Frank said he plans to try something new in the next two years, and we’ll hear about it. Gullah Cuisine was getting set to launch a jazz night with more upscale food and three performers, including Sam Singleton and Ann Caldwell, for $40. In the meantime, locals can enjoy reasonably priced Southern food, with a big helping of heritage.

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This entry is filed under Soul Food, The South.