THE SUN ALSO RISES
Going strong for 20 years, Palmetto Bay Sunrise Café is where Hilton Head Island goes to start its day. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
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If you’ve ever been to Palmetto Bay Sunrise Café as the dawn patrol is just yawning and stretching to life, you know what it sounds like. The clinking of spoons against coffee cups, the murmur of conversation, the chirps of the early birds angling for a stray crust of toast to go sailing off the wide front porch. It’s a symphony that has started Hilton Head Island’s day every morning for 20 years. As far as island restaurants go, 20 years may as well be an eternity. Co-owner Leslie Stewart would agree with that. 32
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PHOTO BY ROB KAUFMAN
“It feels like it’s been forever, and it kind of has,” she said. “It’s been a good 20 years.” Opening the restaurant with her husband Paul (no one calls him that, though. He’s Stew.) Leslie admits that during the early days of the restaurant, no one dreamt that they were creating an institution that the island would come to embrace as its own personal morning ritual. They were just trying to keep the wheels on, metaphorically speaking. “The first day we opened, we did 32 people, and we were in
