Travel Tuesday: The Bluffton Room in Bluffton, South Carolina

I recently made my way down to Hilton Head in coastal South Carolina for the very first time. It's a beautiful area and the weather wasn't great while I was there, which was probably for the better since I was there for work and for a very short time. During my short visit though, I did manage to sneak in a few good meals: One at a showstopper special occasion spot and second fast casual option serving locally sourced food at a great price (coming next week!). Not bad for less than 72 hours away!

My good friend Julie and her sister were gracious enough to meet up with me for dinner on my first night in the area. Since neither Julie (who lives in Charleston) nor I knew enough about the area to pick a place for dinner, we left it up to her sister Leah who suggested The Bluffton Room. Located in her charming town of Bluffton, it's about a 20 minute drive from Hilton Head Island and a super cute coastal Carolina town. The Bluffton Room is a beautiful restaurant located right in the heart of Bluffton's old downtown area. It's classic and upscale, but not stuffy and their mission is simple: to bring back "the lost art of dining" by creating refined versions of traditional American dishes.

I love when any meal begins with an amuse bouche and the Bluffton Room's was a perfect little bite: creamy lobster mousse in a buttery pastry shell.

The Bluffton Room is all about the experience and presentation of dining out and offer several menu items that are prepared tableside. Julie convinced me to share a Caesar Salad with her and we had a great time watching our server prepare the salad-- from the dressing up-- right at our table.

I loved their tangy (and not creamy) Caesar dressing. It was full of flavor with hints of anchovy and mustard and perfect with the crisp Romaine and classic crunchy croutons.

The Bluffton Room has a few great entrees on the menu-- all slightly more refined versions of classic American dishes. I don't normally pick chicken as an entree, but loved the sound of their Roasted Lemon Chicken. The chicken was super tender, moist, and full of amazing flavor. It was a half chicken separated into pieces with crispy skin and am amazing pan sauce. The pan sauce tasted of lemon, butter, and garlic and was served with a toasted slice of baguette to soak up the extra flavor.

The chicken was served with a side of fresh peas flavored with onions and prosciutto. And while I'm not the biggest fan of peas, their bright sweet flavor did work really nicely with the more savory caramelized onions and prosciutto.

And while the peas were surprisingly good, I spotted roasted Brussels sprouts on the side dish and knew I needed to try them. They were simply seasoned, but perfectly roasted so that they had a really nice char on the outside-- which is my favorite way to eat them! The side dish portions here were hearty, so I felt like I barely made a dent in these sprouts even though they were so good. Luckily, Leah has a 7-year old son who loves veggies and she took the rest home to him. So cute!

I also snapped a shot of the gorgeous duck that Julie ordered. The plating was beautiful and she raved about the flavor. The Crispy Hudson Valley Duck was roasted until the skin became crispy and was served over garlic whipped potatoes with broccolini and melted leeks with a reduced blackberry sauce.

We didn't have room for dessert after all this food, but if I were to return I'd save room for the bananas Foster-- prepared tableside, of course!

We had a wonderful meal at The Bluffton Room and I can totally understand why Leah suggested it: The restaurant was special enough for a big night out, but with a great low key vibe that was also perfect for our evening of catching up with girlfriends too. This place was full of the classic southern charm that I love about this part of the country and totally worth a visit if you find yourself in the area!