Sassy Southern Cooking with a French Twist

Passport Not Required

It’s easy to miss, but fans of bona fide Cuban fare will not want to lose an opportunity to revel in El Bohio’s simple yet tasty delights. And, unlike American-to-Cuban commerce on the island nation, it’s legal here and doesn’t require travel or a pesky passport. What more can you ask for?

Except for a more prominent sign indicating its unassuming presence (look on the other side of the road as you’re approaching The Terrace theatre shopping center on Maybank Highway), El Bohio is lacking for absolutely nothing. The food is modestly priced (entrees range from $4.50 to $10.50) and packed with the plantain and black-bean flavors of Cuba, service is pleasant (though sometimes slow), and the humble, beachy mood of the place works in spot-on tandem with the entirely happy El Bohio experience.

Considering that it was the brainchild of a first generation Cuban-American, raised on the kitchen creations of her Cuban parents in Cuban-cultured Miami, this should really come as no surprise. Owner Vanessa Luis Harris, a Johnson and Wales University grad, and her husband Alex state her story and their mission on the back of the single-page, laminated menu: “We chose (the name) El Bohio (pronounced El Bo-ee-oo) because it translates to a simple, humble, peasant home with sand floors and thatched roofing. I want to serve you foods that (are) eaten in these traditional Cuban homes.”

Except for its sand-free floors, El Bohio accomplishes all this and more, right down to the semi-circle thatched roofs that decorate the diminutive space and the cigar boxes on every table where they do creative double-time as condiment and salt and pepper shaker containers. An antique oak bar is the fanciest thing about the place, but rather than “jumping out” it seems right at home and makes for a perfect perch to dig into one of the restaurant’s fine sandwiches – which happen to be prepared with dough that’s purchased from a Cuban bakery in Miami and baked on the premises – and a cold brew. It’s so incredibly Cuban and deliciously homey, it’s easy to believe that even Fidel himself would give El Bohio his stamp of approval.

I most certainly do, and though I like everything about the place, I’m especially fond of the endearing little Papas Rellenes ($3.50) which sounds infinitely less sexy in English, a language which ineptly deems them “Beef Stuffed Potato Balls”. Like luck, they come in three’s, but are so fabulously palatable I was yearning for easily five times that amount. An appetizer of the highest order, the potato balls are formed with real (no powdered variety here), fluffy mashed potatoes with a spicy, ground beef and gravy center. They’re enveloped with a crunchy, breadcrumb coating, deep fried and served with El Bohio’s ubiquitous dipping sauce which has a glorious, garlicky kick rounded out with oil and a splash of vinegar and a hit of lime.

The sandwiches are some of the best I’ve sampled in Charleston – bar none. That’s due in large part to the superb bread and the superb fillings, the heart and soul of any exceptional sandwich. Pork and turkey fillings are real (again!) not the processed and pressed versions that are rampant in even the least suspected places, and roasted, with love, in-house. The Cuban sandwich ($6.75) and Medio Dia (“Mid-day”, $6.75) were edible testimonies to Cuban goodness, both punctuated with salty pickles and pungent mustard and more of that that fabulous dipping sauce which is appropriately called the “house mojo”.

Sandwiches come with a bevy of side choices including black beans, sweet or savory plantains, rice, a tomato and onion salad and, of course, French fries. Scratch the latter alternative, which you can get anywhere, and opt for the satisfying, firm-yet-yielding goodness of the black beans, splashed with a lime and sauteed onion background or bite into a crunchy, starchy savory plantain chip.

If a tastier, more pleasant prelude or chaser to a viewing of an artsy, Indie-type film across the street at The Terrace exists, I don’t know of it. But, then, El Bohio provides plenty of reasons to stop by any old time the mood for good food and a good time strikes.

El Bohio
1977 Maybank Highway, James Island
571-4343
Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sat., noon- 9 p.m.

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