The Folly Road raw bar lets fresh catches speak for themselves
For a coastal city, Charleston keeps a quiet secret: Much of the fish on its restaurant tables comes from somewhere else. CudaCo. has spent years championing the local catch—from seafood staples to overlooked species—at its Folly Road fish market, and this spring its owners opened a place to dine next door. Located in the old Pelican’s SnoBalls stand, CudaCo. Deckhouse is a trim little raw bar built on the same renegade premise that made the market a James Island fixture: that the “trash fish” nobody asks for can be the most delicious thing you eat all week.
The market still slings the plainspoken classics, but the new Deckhouse is where the kitchen shows off. Shaun Brian, whose wholesale operation moves sustainably landed fish to kitchens around town, spent half a year developing the opening menu with chef de cuisine Phillip Costas. Its three compact sections—snacks, ceviche, and crudo—let the catch speak for itself. Fried fish skins crackle like the best bar snack you never knew existed. Raw snapper, sliced cold and clean, is dotted with lemon, capers, and olive oil. The palate-dizzying hamachi (amberjack) alights under a bright wash of strawberry-lemon consommé, pickled ramps, and horseradish. Shrimp ceviche swims in a sesame chili rojo. And tinned caviar lands with appropriate ceremony. The lineup turns with the seasons and whatever comes off the boats.
The room reads beachy, yet fully grown-up. Order at the counter, claim a seat inside or out on the deck, bring the dog. Sommelier Sarah Tomlinson pours wines chosen to flatter raw fish, plus local drafts and mocktails for the abstaining.
In a year when Charleston’s new openings have skewed emphatically Italian, the Deckhouse is something rarer—a genuinely local idea, served raw and creatively sauced. That it grew from a crusade to champion fish nobody wanted only makes the meal more pleasurable. Brian calls the place a love letter to James Island. It reads like one.
769 Folly Rd.
(843) 789-3105, Cudaco.com
Sunday, Wednesday, & Thursday, 3-9 p.m.
Friday & Saturday, 3-10 p.m.
