OLD BULL TAVERN
Beaufort’s Best — or Worst — Kept Secret
story by JEANNE REYNOLDS photos by PAUL NURNBERG
Is the Old Bull Tavern (OBT) the best-kept secret in Beaufort — or the worst-kept? It may depend on who you ask.
A few years ago, I was walking up West Street from Bay at the end of a monthly First Friday evening and came up behind a small group of people who, as they say, weren’t from around here. One of the men gestured to a low, nondescript brick building on the other side of the street and said to his friends, “That’s some kind of dive bar over there.”
I couldn’t resist. “Actually,” I said, “That’s one of the best restaurants in town.”
He turned around in surprise and said, “Really? Hmm, we might need to try it.”
Hmm, I thought, you might need a reservation first. Because as locals know — and visitors are fast finding out — the restaurant and bar in that old brick building has been one of the hottest tickets in town, practically since the doors opened at 205 West Street twelve years ago.
“We’ve never stopped to tell our story,” says owner Oscar Salas.
Maybe because they never had to.
THIS IS OUR SIGN
It’s not surprising those who don’t know what they’re looking for might overlook OBT. Other than the welded-iron bull holding a rose (handmade by Oscar), hanging discreetly high above the entrance, and a small black sign to the left of the door that literally reads, “This is our sign,” the restaurant is unmarked. But open that door to the near roar of conversation and laughter, and it’s unmistakable you’re in someplace special.
“We’re loud with energy and love,” Oscar says. “We connect with the energy in the building and feel the warmth. I don’t understand it, but I don’t want to understand it. It’s lightning in a bottle. If we can sell that, then we’ve done something worthwhile.”
Old Bull is more than a place to eat and drink — it’s a place to connect, Oscar explains. That philosophy is spelled out in the restaurant’s motto posted over the bar, just next to the head of mascot Ferdinand the bull: “The perpetual pursuit of balance and harmony between the primal urges of appetite and connection.”
OBT has been delivering on that promise for a decade and counting.
“We’ve been number one on Trip Advisor for so many years, I don’t even look at it anymore,” Oscar says. “We look at our employees — Are they happy? We search for employees with a powerful altruistic aura, who are strong and confident, who come to us with the attitude that ‘You need me to help you build this place.’ We have incredibly talented people working here, but I tell them not to think for one minute that there’s not someone in town trying to make a better drink or a better dish. We have to give customers more than food and a drink.”
Oscar says his team buys into the energy.
“We offer something special you can’t find in the rest of Beaufort. It’s a great combination of high class and comfortable,” says server Hector Disdier, who came to OBT from a “stuffy” corporate environment. “We serve so many communities and it’s a nice place to come. It doesn’t have that nose-in-the-air mentality like a lot of restaurants in our space. I like the energy here.”
Kathleen McMannis, a newer addition to the server staff, agrees OBT is something out of the ordinary. “It’s definitely very word-of-mouth, and the fact that we’re busy every single night means we’re doing a great job. The people are amazing and the food is incredible.”
Oh, about the food: Don’t let the talk about the vibe distract you too much from the menu because Southern Living, Conde Nast Traveler, and Vogue magazines can’t all be wrong. Nor can Garden & Gun, which rated OBT’s Lowcountry Captain — braised chicken and andouille sausage over rice, garnished with almonds — as one of the ten must-eat meals in the South. The grilled Black Angus shoulder tenderloin with gorgonzola or herbed Boursin butter is legendary, and you can’t go wrong with the black olive tapenade with goat cheese starter.
OBT’s extensive wine, beer, and cocktail list is getting longer with the addition of The Bravest Bull, a custom barrel-proof, ginger-infused whiskey made by local distiller RLB. And next year, OBT will start pouring its own 1– 4 IPA. The name means “one for all, and all for ale,” Oscar says, and will be used to support OBT’s charitable contributions in the area.
CUE THE DOLPHINS
Oscar comes by his culinary chops honestly. He was born on Sunset Boulevard in southern California and grew up in the town of Pasadena. His father was a chef in the Biltmore Hotel, rubbing elbows with Wolfgang Puck in the kitchen and “doing odd fusion food,” Oscar says. “I was embedded in an amazing creative experience.”
He worked as a pasta cook while in school, but says the biggest lesson he learned was about himself. “I found out I wasn’t the biggest fan of cooking — it was monotonous. What I loved was the interaction, feeling other people’s energy. I learned my skills are better found in the front of the house. I learned the importance of the experience. It was so ingrained in our training. I want to help somebody have an experience. Who doesn’t want a really beautiful experience?”
Oscar was ready to apply that learning some years later when he moved from the west coast to Aiken, South Carolina, to help some family members open a chain of Southern buffet restaurants. There he met his now-wife, Amanda, a forensic psychiatrist doing a residency at a nearby hospital. The couple came to visit Beaufort and it was love at first sight — or “Cue the dolphins,” as Amanda puts it.
Swapping buffets for Beaufort was an easy decision. During a stint at Saltus River Grill, he met former Charleston chef John Marshall and joined him in a tiny new gastropub venture: Old Bull Tavern. The partners acquired and expanded into additional buildings attached to the original restaurant. The space now includes the high-energy bar and main dining room, a somewhat quieter second dining room accessed through an authentic red British telephone booth (a whole other story in itself), a small group room with a wood-burning pizza oven, and a back patio.
Why a stuffed bull’s head and a phone booth? “Why not?” Oscar says. “There are a lot of cool dive tapas bars in Spain and Portugal with animals hanging on the walls.” Family touches abound, too, including the bar counters that came out of his wife’s grandfather’s butcher shop built in the 1800s, and pictures of employees’ grandmothers on the walls. “All of the things in the building have so much soul to them,” he says.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
“People always ask me about the Old Bull’s history, but it’s being written every day and every night from 5 till close by our staff and our customers,” Oscar says. “It’s an evolving being. So many team members have come and gone, and they’ve all left a piece of their energy here. OBT has absorbed it all. The true magic is realized when people are pulled in.”
One of the ways OBT continues to pull new people in is its Wednesday Family Night. “We wanted to create one evening a week where we all do a common thing. We wear matching shirts and invite a few people to join us, locals and tourists, Oscar says. “Every guest on Wednesday who buys an OBT T-shirt gets a free drink, plus another free drink when they return wearing it on a Wednesday. We’re trying to build relationships. People really just want to connect.”
“I’m super blessed,” he adds. “We have a village around us. We build a village around us because we can’t do it ourselves. We can do nothing in this world without the people around us.”
PSST! THREE MORE SECRETS ABOUT OBT
Secret #1: The Italians are coming. OBT has invited a pair of chefs from Tuscany to create special five-course meals on two Sundays in January, accompanied by “very attainable” wines and live music from a team member who doubles as a professional opera singer. Each dining event will seat just 30 people. Watch OBT’s website at oldbulltavern.com for dates.
Secret #2: OBT is growing. Oscar plans to open a second location in Evans, Georgia, in the very near future. “We know people from that area come to Hilton Head Island and Beaufort to vacation, and they’ve become our customers here. We’ve found a beautiful spot in Evans.”
Secret #3: OBT is branching out. Oscar says he’s working on another property in downtown Beaufort — but it won’t be an OBT. “It’ll be a speakeasy. I love the 1920s and ’30s, swing and ragtime music. It was an eclectic, rebellious time in our history. Think Cotton Club: light, extravagant, fun.”
