James Beard Award-Winning Chef Brings Breakfast to Eastside

Big deal Oxford-based chef John Currence recently announced that he wants to bring his morning-heavy restaurant Big Bad Breakfast to Charleston. Currence broke the news with Post & Courier that the Lowcountry outpost of his award-winning eatery would sit at the former address of the shuttered Simply Fashions at 455 Meeting St.

Eater asked Currence how he decided to set down in Charleston, and he said, “It’s the greatest food city in the country. Charleston has always had an appeal to me, as a New Orleanen, there are many similarities between the cities.” (He once joked that “... Charleston is like New Orleans but with a stick shoved up its ass.”)

Currence and his business partner Nick Pihakis of Jim N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Q, have held the Meeting Street property for some time and originally thought to put in a Mexican restaurant, but they felt it made more sense to put in a Big Bad Breakfast.

“I adore Charleston — I always have,” says Currence. He does note that his only apprehension was moving into the same town as Hominy Grill chef Robert Stehling. Both chefs worked together at Chapel Hill Southern legend Crooks Corner. Currence says that even though both are serving breakfast, Big Bad Breakfast will feel more like an old-school diner with more traditional American breakfast fare with a “cheffy” spin, whereas Hominy Grill serves Southern classics.

With so many hotels and apartment complexes going in near the Eastside, it only makes sense that we’re going to see many more restaurants and bars pop up in the area.

• Big Bad Breakfast [Official]
• John Currence Bringing Big Bad Breakfast to Charleston [P&C]
• Chef John Currence On What He Really Thinks of Charleston [ECHS]
• All Hominy Grill Coverage [ECHS]