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Annie O s
Southern Eats & Down Home Cookin’ BY RISA WILLIAMS McMILLAN
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With all the food cooked to order and homemade down to the last cornbread crumb, Annie O’s is sure to please your palate and become part of your A-list when it comes to eating out. Annie O’s serves that true southern soul food that envelops your senses. The aroma captivates you and then that first bite brings you home. It’s one of those meals that you dive into with a smile on your face and every mouthful is better than the last. If you manage to come up for air before your plate is clean, you are probably among the few at your table who does so. This is Down Home Cookin’ at its finest. While it will please your palate, what Annie O’s will not do, happily, is take a big dent out of your billfold. Owner Tom Egerton started his restaurant with 8
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a vision of “gourmet food that would not cost an arm and a leg.” He was looking for a niche market that was affordable and chose southern fare because he enjoys cooking and eating it. Tom grew up in Upstate, NY and eventually ended up in the Navy. After his service, he decided to go to the New England Culinary School in Vermont where he buffered his education and appreciation for fine food. He moved to Hilton Head in 1991 and spent the better part of the next two decades working his culinary magic in some of the finer restaurants on the Island and in Charleston. He decided in 2012 that it was time to spread his wings and start his own restaurant that would serve the same
great food that he knew how to prepare, but not at the high price point of fine dining. With an eye on constantly improving his dishes, Tom takes great pride when describing his menu and his goals. “I always feel the need to be better. I strive for perfection and expect the same from my staff. I have that well oiled machine philosophy,” said Tom. He is his own worst critic when it comes to his dishes. “If my chicken isn’t perfect or my gravy is a half shade off the color I want, then it is back to the drawing board.” They say that with so many restaurants on Hilton Head, the only ones that will make it are the ones where the owners are involved and immersed. Open six days a week (they are closed on Sundays so Tom can shop for the week ahead), Annie O’s is infused with love’s labor. Tom does all of the cooking himself and arrives at 9 a.m. for an 11 a.m. opening time and leaves after 11 p.m. By all accounts, a fourteen hour day would definitely