This piece is part of our CHStoday Q+A series. Do you know someone we should interview? Nominate them here.
James Beard Award winner Rodney Scott is the co-owner, chef + pitmaster of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, which first opened in Charleston and has locations in Georgia and Alabama. He grew up in South Carolina.
We asked Rodney Scott 10 questions about his life, career, and love of the Holy City. Keep reading to find out about his world travels + upcoming Whole Hog BBQ location in Nashville.
We heard Whole Hog BBQ is headed for Nashville next year. Are there any details you can share about the upcoming location?
Our Hog will be a little closer to heaven because this will be our first rooftop location! (ha ha). But jokes aside, you heard right! We got to partner with one of my favorite country music artists, Eric Church, on this project and we’ll be bringing Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ to downtown Nashville in 2023!
What made you choose Charleston to open your first restaurant?
My first time cooking away from home was downtown Charleston on King Street, and we were so well received by the locals here that it felt like the city adopted me. So that’s all it took for me to say, “this is the place.” If not in Hemingway, I would be in Charleston. And the rest is history!
You recently partnered with ESPN to make recipes with the new Postseasoning spice blend. Where did you get your inspiration for the dishes?
I got my inspiration for Postseasoning through my experiences with tailgating myself. I thought about which foods were great for tailgating, those that were tasty but not overwhelming, especially getting ready for a big tailgate. The spice blend is something easy to make before a game and will make your tailgate food stand out.
Describe your perfect day in Charleston in just a sentence or two.
My perfect day in Charleston begins with waking up, taking my walk through the neighborhood, and then making my way to Hero Doughnuts for my morning coffee and one of their blueberry crumble donuts, because they’re just too good to pass up.
After breakfast, I’ll head to the restaurant to make sure everything’s running smoothly, checking on our whole hogs cooking on the pit and saying hi to guests and all that. Then, I’ll finish my day off with some great local Charleston seafood at Art’s Bar & Grille — those guys are amazing, and their food is some of the best in the city.
You’ve traveled the world as a pitmaster. What is the best thing about returning to the Holy City?
While Charleston is its own city with its own culture and history, there is a lot of cultural diversity here as well that I’ve seen through my travels. I found little bits and pieces of the places I traveled right here in the Lowcountry.
We cooked in Flers, France, and we found out that it was the official sister city of Charleston. We cooked in Australia, and we found that they have the same style of cooking that we’ve done here in Hemingway and the Lowcountry. I’ve traveled to Belize where they cook over open fire, the exact same thing again that we do here in the Lowcountry. In St. Lucia, they serve kabobs, and you can find kabobs here. Returning home is like bringing some of the world with me and experiencing it here again in Charleston.
You can only choose one local restaurant menu to bring with you to a deserted island — which one is it and why?
The Ordinary because I love the way they prepare their Seafood Towers as well as the Oyster Rockefellers. Really, all the seafood-inspired dishes they serve are amazing.
What is your advice to aspiring restaurateurs in the Lowcountry?
My advice is to keep the Southern charm when you open. Make sure you’re as personable as you can be because it’s that warm hospitality that’s known here, not only in the Lowcountry, but the South as a whole. That’s the thing that draws so many people to restaurants here — the fact that you can connect to guests through your food and make them feel truly welcome by simply having a “hello, how are you today?” type of mentality. For me personally, that says a lot and makes a restaurant stand out.
What’s something that every Charlestonian should know about?
Nana’s Seafood and Soul. I feel like that place is one of the spots that everybody in Charleston should at least know about. In my opinion, it is one of the most welcoming places in the city. It’s rich, tasty, seafood and soul, and the guy who runs it, Kenyatta, was so welcoming to me when we first arrived in the neighborhood. Their food has always been a staple in my eyes.
Who are two or three other local leaders you’re inspired by? Why?
Terri Henning has given me a lot of moral support and a lot of great advice. She is amazing. She was a friend long before I came to Charleston and she would always give me support on what I was doing, how to deliver myself and my product. She is one of the first people to inspire me to keep going and build the restaurant.
Dr. W. Melvin Brown is another local leader I really admire. One day, he was at my restaurant, and I looked at him and I was admiring his car, and I said “this is nice.” He looked around the restaurant and said, “this is nice.” That one moment made me realize that you can have the golden nugget in your hand and not even realize it. He was a big inspiration to me, mostly on my personal health as well. For me to maintain my physical, personal well-being as well as the health of my restaurant.
What is your favorite thing to cook at home and why?
A bone-in, butcher-cut rib eye with local shrimp, along with some fresh asparagus. The reason I like to cook this specifically is because surf-and-turf is one of my favorites, and it doesn’t take long to prepare so I can spend more time with my family after traveling.