(Right) Founder-owner Tracey Deas grew up watching his grandmother, Elizabeth Deas, cook and sell food from a small building at the same location. (Left) The blue crab “bites” are similar to a hush puppy but made with crab in the batter.
WRITTEN BY Sandy Lang
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Peter Frank Edwards
The train’s horn blows, and you can almost feel the rumble of its passing. That’s how close the railway tracks run near Station 17 Local Grill. Owner Tracey Deas knows those tracks and this property well. When he was growing up a few miles away in Hollywood, he’d often stay at his grandmother’s house and watch her cook chitlins, fried chicken, and other hot dishes on the weekends to sell from a small building on this very spot. Open from the 1960s to the ’80s, Liz’s Place was where friends in the community gathered.
The ribs and barbecue are from the smoker out back at Station 17 Local Grill.
Deas dreamed of recreating that sense of place. Over the years, he bought neighboring lots and developed his heating and air business on the property along Highway 17, just north of the turn toward Edisto. And with the help of his wife, Synovia, they built and opened their restaurant in 2018. Inside, a custom Station 17 neon sign evokes a train station, and the long community table and bar were crafted with reclaimed 19th-century heart pine from downtown Charleston that was milled in Adams Run.
The big barrel smoker out back looks akin to a train engine, and that’s where Deas and his staff load firewood and smoke the brisket, ribs, and pulled-pork barbecue. Some of that brisket goes into house-made egg rolls with cabbage and collard greens. And on Sundays, the brunch crowd arrives for chicken and waffles, plates of shrimp and flounder, or fried chicken livers and grits with roasted tomatoes, as well as mini corn-bread muffins so sweet they taste like yellow cake.
Location: 7661 Hwy. 17, Adams Run
Miles from Charleston peninsula: 27
On the Menu: House-smoked barbecue ribs and pulled pork, brisket egg rolls, blue crab bites, and tacos on Tuesdays, plus a full bar
Hours: From 11 a.m., lunch and dinner, Tuesday-Saturday; Sunday brunch, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Contact: (843) 889-0031, station17localgrill.com
Miles from Charleston peninsula:Caw Caw Interpretive Center, 5200 Hwy. 17, Ravenel, ccprc.com/53/Caw-Caw-Interpretive-Center
