FARM Bluffton: A Delicious Itinerary
If you’re looking to add more stamps to your local dining passport, the South Carolina Chef Ambassadors are ready to guide your way.
Launched in 2015 as a partnership between the South Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the Chef Ambassadors program highlights a handful of South Carolina chefs each year, spotlighting those who combine culinary excellence with South Carolina-grown food and flavors. And few do that better than Chef Brandon Carter of FARM located in Bluffton, South Carolina.
It’s just a 10-minute walk from FARM, located in Bluffton’s Old Town historic district, to the May River, a salty tidal tributary teeming with life. And on a recent night, Carter served oysters raised in that river. They were raw on the half shell, dressed with watermelon, lime, red onion, coriander and jalapeño—a bright and seasonal preparation to highlight the large, sweet and intensely briny oysters. That dish was just one of many on the menu at a recent event hosted by Carter, who was named a Chef Ambassador in 2019.
“In the past five years, the Chef Ambassadors program has helped us heighten our culinary appeal to groups and travelers all across the state,” says Duane Parrish, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. “We have promoted hidden gems like Grits and Groceries in Belton, as well as established places like Peninsula Grill in Charleston to help the consumer discover the breadth of South Carolina cuisine.
“What they’re finding is a creative, substantive palate of South Carolina seafood, heritage meats and fresh vegetable dishes with roots in the Palmetto State,” he adds.
Bluffton got its hooks into Carter, who opened FARM there in 2016. He moved to the area for a job as executive chef at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff. And for the next phase of his career, Carter and his family decided to stick around and open a restaurant.
“We quickly realized how much we liked this area—the sense of community, the feeling of place here is really special,” Carter says. “I think there are enough people in Bluffton who know what good food is that they were kind of starving for something like this.”
Often, local food in South Carolina is synonymous with Southern food. But while FARM is inspired by Lowcountry ingredients, it’s not necessarily wedded to Lowcountry flavors. Recent specials have included kung pao beef tongue, chicken vindaloo with cornbread and May River blue crab toast. Many of the seasonal ingredients Carter uses are local, but not all.
“If there’s some really awesome ingredient that’s in season in California, we don’t limit ourselves to South Carolina,” Carter says.
He says identifying as a farm-to-table restaurant is “limiting in a good way,” connecting his cooking to the seasons and forcing him to focus on how the ingredients he uses were grown or raised.
In addition to local seafood purveyors like May River Oyster Co., Bluffton Oyster Co., Sea Eagle Market and Abundant Seafood, Carter also buys from some linchpins of South Carolina food: heritage grain specialists Anson Mills, dairy legends Lowcountry Creamery, fresh pea evangelists Old Tyme Bean Co. and the Charleston food hub GrowFood Carolina. He also works with smaller producers, like Dean’s Farm of Ridgeland, South Carolina.
Those farmer relationships are crucial to the success of FARM.
“We communicate a lot one-on-one,” Carter says. “We try to do things in a way that’s sustainable for us and also for them.”
Working with small local suppliers means being adaptable when ingredients suddenly go out of season or run out.
“You have to have flexibility or you’ll just make yourself crazy,” Carter says. “We kind of take it in stride and try to make sure we have good backup plans.”
This year, for the first time, the Chef Ambassadors are each hosting a dinner at their home restaurant. Carter held his in July, hosting South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers, State Rep. Weston Newton, and Edible Charleston, as well as friends and family and some of the farmers who supply his restaurant.
“Chef Brandon Carter’s passion for local food, and his respect for the farmers who grow it, were both abundantly clear at the Hometown Dinner hosted at FARM,” Weathers says. “It was a reminder that good restaurants are, at heart, all about community.”
Carter agrees. That’s why he served his Hometown Dinner family-style, with guests serving themselves from larger platters and bowls at the table.
“The passing of plates, talking to the people next to you, things like that—that’s what dining should be about,” Carter says.
Learn more about their focus on local at farmbluffton.com or eat at FARM Tuesday - Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Sunday brunch. FARM is located at 1301 May River Drive in Bluffton, South Carolina.
