Make no mistake, I am into the GRÜV. I am feeling the GRÜV. And I really hope you all will GRÜV along with me.
The newest restaurant on downtown Charleston’s Capitol Street not only pays homage to some of the city’s beloved bars of yore, but it does so with some ridiculously delicious bar-and-grill food.
Located in the storefront that most recently housed Big Joe’s, before owner Joe Guilfoile passed away unexpectedly two years ago at age 56, GRÜV opened at the end of July serving a mix of traditional and creative apps, salads, sandwiches, smashburgers and desserts.
The space still very much resembles Big Joe’s, but a few more large TVs have been added, along with two new large garage doors opening up to a small outdoor seating area on Capitol Street.
Also like Big Joe’s, the food I’ve sampled so far has been fantastic.
Early reviews have praised the restaurant’s tangy wings, loaded pork nachos and gloriously messy smashburgers.
I second those smashburger kudos and will raise you a Three Little Pigs and a Chicken Cordon GRÜV as well.
The smashburgers are bangin’. Served with either thick potato twists or crunchy pork rinds, you can get them piled with pulled pork, blueberry chipotle BBQ and spicy pickles. Or bacon fig jam, hot honey and goat cheese. Or chipotle pimento cheese, smoked bacon and sweet pepper jelly. Or just build your own!
We popped in for the first time this past Saturday evening and adored the Steakhouse Smashburger featuring two patties topped with sauteed mushrooms, onion jam, steak sauce and mayo smooshed between sourdough bread, “patty melt” style.
Even better was the Three Little Pigs sandwich, a fluffy potato roll stuffed with slow-roasted pulled pork, sliced ham and applewood smoked bacon with hot pickles, house honey mustard and Swiss cheese. The combination of salty pork, tangy pickles, sweet-hot honey mustard and creamy melted cheese made this a rich, dense and juicy flavor bomb.
As much as we loved our choices, we left that night jonesing for the Chicken Cordon GRÜV after we learned they actually sous-vide a chicken breast to juicy perfection before breading and browning that baby to join smoked bacon, ham, Swiss and honey mustard in what has quickly before the bar’s signature sammy.
We also enjoyed the fried naan platter served with veggies and a trio of dips – whipped feta, black bean hummus and chipotle pimento cheese – and a basket of flavor-packed Parmesan and truffle-dusted shoestring fries served with an addictive housemade garlic aioli.
On future visits (of which I predict many) I want to try the Fried Green Tomato BLT on grilled sourdough, the tempura-coated Brussels sprouts with lime ponzu sauce, the spicy fried cauliflower with house ranch, Southwest eggrolls and – wait for it – cheesecake-stuffed churros that join caramel butter toffee cake on the dessert menu.
It also sounds so good, but the GRÜV’s success shouldn’t be a surprise given the fact that there’s a longtime Charleston bartender/owner at the helm.
Les Bagyi, who also runs The Cantina in Kanawha City and has been a fixture on the nightlife scene in town for a couple decades, manages the place along with Erin Dydland, who has served as the longtime Chief Administrative Officer of YMCA of the Kanawha Valley.
Even though GRÜV is a bar at heart, I suspect its food offerings will start gaining a robust following once word gets about how good it is.
Although the kitchen is open until 11:30 p.m. every night, you should keep in mind that the clientele changes pretty significantly throughout the evening.
While older folks and some families come in earlier in the evening for drinks and dinner, a younger crowd takes over at night mostly for drinks and late-night bites. Both vibes are fun, it just depends on what GRÜV you’re after.
IF YOU GO: The kitchen at GRÜV, located at 10 Capitol St. in downtown Charleston, is open for food service from 4 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. For more information, call 304-205-4363 or visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.
A touch of Charleston nostalgia
When I moved to Charleston fresh out of college to work as a cub reporter for the then-Charleston Daily Mail newspaper back in September of 1991 – almost 33 years ago to the day, in fact – the first place I enjoyed lunch in town on my very first day of work was at The Edge, where the GRÜV now stands.
I soon learned that after the final edition of that afternoon’s paper was put to bed, a young group of Daily Mail reporters walked a few blocks down Virginia Street to grab a quick bite before heading back to the newsroom on the corner of Virginia and McFarland streets to prep stories for the next day’s paper.
We typically took turns hitting up Ernie’s Esquire, Mulligan’s, Rio Grande and The Edge, among others along Capitol Street, none of which remain today.
That makes me miss those days even more, so it’s especially nice seeing life inside The Edge once again.
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Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national culinary publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or at wvfoodguy@aol.com.
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