The intersection of Gay and High streets downtown – already home to spots like Veritas and The Citizens Trust, Brioso Coffee, the Current sculpture – just got a little more vibrant with the opening of Hank’s Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar. The Charleston-based restaurant takes up residence in the new build on northwest corner, next to Speck Italian Eatery and Sarah Gormley Gallery.
Hank’s was first opened in Charleston 25 years ago. In 2017 it was purchased by Makeready and Rockbridge, the companies behind The Junto Hotel and the forthcoming Chouette French restaurant across High Street from Hank’s.
At the corner of the building is the bar and lounge, designed as the space for a casual drink or a hangout spot while you wait for your reservation. It features a full bar and a collection of smaller two-tops.
The main dining room features a second bar that’s first come, first serve.
The dining room features a good amount of natural light from the High Street-facing windows. You also get a look into the kitchen and the raw bar.
A trio of chefs keeps busy at the raw bar, prepping everything from oysters to shrimp, mussels to lobster.
On our invited media preview, we got to sample a variety of Hank’s signature dishes. Amongst their offerings is the Seafood Tower, which includes everything from peel-and-eat shrimp to east coast oysters to mussels, to a rotating house ceviche, scallop crudo, and tuna tartare.
Another signature is the Charleston she crab soup, a rich concoction with lump crab meat, crab roe (hence the name), and a dash of sherry.
Their crispy fried calamari was my personal favorite from the meal. The calamari is tender and breaded nicely without being greasy. It’s served with charred lemon and a tomato remoulade.
“You can’t call yourself ‘Low Country’ without good shrimp and grits!” the GM told us. Hank’s is a very worthy take on the classic dish. Nicely cooked shrimp sits atop stone ground grits with chunks of smoked andouille sausage in a tomato jus.
The seared grouper was a nice surprise, too. It flaked apart atop Carolina gold rice, diced sweet potatoes, and a salsa criolla.
Props to the seared sea scallops as well. They’re served with Rainbow Swiss chard, tomato-bacon vinaigrette, and a side of their fried mashed potatoes.
Hank’s offers a variety of sides, too, from succotash to grits, asparagus to these braised collard greens. They start sweet but end up zesty.
My photos didn’t do them justice, but we also sampled the thinly sliced fried green tomatoes and the small square of breaded and fried mashed potatoes.
They rolled out a trio of desserts as well, from their carrot cake (not pictured) to their sturdy but flavorful square of key lime pie.
Perhaps our favorite dessert was the rich chocolate mousse pie.
Hank’s is currently open for dinner hours only, Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m. They plan to add lunch hours in the coming months.
Hank’s Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar
6 W. Gay St.
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 992-5447
Web: hanksseafoodrestaurant.com/location/columbus
FB: Hank’s Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar
IG: @hanksseafoodcolumbus
