Old Fort Pub
Where Sweeping Sunsets and Sensational Food Synthesize BY RISA WILLIAMS MCMILLAN • PHOTOS BY ROB KAUFMAN
Think of the perfect setting on the water where the shrimp boats glide by with gulls and dolphin in pursuit. Then add the perfect meal - classic cuisine, cooked to perfection, complimented by southern improvisations. For a romantic evening, a special occasion, or a meal to remember it does not get better than this. Period. Located on Skull Creek in Hilton Head Plantation, the Old Fort Pub is where sweeping sunsets and sensational food synthesize for a dining experience that is one of a kind. The Old Fort Pub has been an Island tradition since 1973. It was originally opened as a watering hole on the water and has gone through major expansion and renovation over the years. It was purchased by Bonnie Lowrey in 1992 and has stood as a standard of excellence in dining ever since. When you walk in the front door of the Old Fort Pub, you feel like you are entering an old southern dining room – rustic yet refined. The hardwood floors are aged, antique chests line the walls, and there is a calming elegance to the white linen 12
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tablecloths that drape the tables. You will hardly think yourself in a pub, although there is a bar area off to the side that has that homey appeal. There is seating both indoors and out, and the outdoor seating is a chip shot away from the ruins of historic Fort Mitchel, a Civil War military garrison from which the restaurant got its name. While the view is spectacular and location ideal, at the end of the day that it is merely the adornment that complements the food. Chef Keith Josefiak is the secret ingredient to your meal. After graduating in 1982 from the Culinary Institute of America, also known as the “world’s premier culinary college,” Keith worked in five star hotels and then spent twelve years working his culinary magic with celebrity chef Jimmy Schmidt in Denver and Detroit. Chef Keith took up the executive chef position at the Old Fort Pub in 2005 and has helped put them on the map as Beaufort County’s only AAA Four Diamond restaurant. Chef Keith describes his cooking as leaning toward