Tale of Two Souths
In Charleston, Beautiful South weaves elements of the Lowcountry into carefully crafted Cantonese dishes
By M. Linda Lee
From Columbus Street, the savory aroma of sesame oil hits your nose even before you see the orange neon letters on the front window announcing Beautiful South, which showcases the cuisine of Southern China.
It’s the second restaurant for husband-and-wife team David Schuttenberg and Tina Heath-Schuttenberg, who opened Kwei Fei on James Island in late 2018. Beautiful South, which appeared in summer 2023, is the yin to Kwei Fei’s yang. “Kwei Fei speaks more to who I am as an individual, and Beautiful South speaks more to who Tina is,” observes David, who fell in love with “vibrant, punch-you-in-the-face flavors” while working as sous-chef at Malaysian gastropub Fatty Crab in New York. “Kwei Fei is loud, with punk rock music playing and spicy food full of vinegar and chiles, while Beautiful South is . . . more delicate and more feminine.”
Shimmering navy-blue tiles and pops of orange at Beautiful South’s bar add warm notes to the industrial space.
Tracing its roots to the Guangdong province of Southeast China, Cantonese cuisine forms the core of what most Americans know as “Chinese” food. Guangdong, a longtime trading hub, profited from the influences of many cultures. As a result, Cantonese cuisine evolved into a refined style of cooking, renowned for accentuating the inherent flavors of its ingredients.
Dishes like General Tso’s Chicken, commonly found on American Chinese menus, were “born of immigrant ingenuity, because when people moved from the Cantonese region to America, they couldn’t find the same chiles or the same sauces,” David explains. “So they used [what they could find] to build those flavors.”
These are the kinds of traditional dishes the chef enjoys riffing on, utilizing Lowcountry ingredients such as sorghum—also used in China—as a glaze for roasted duck and substituting fresh local produce for Chinese vegetables not available here. He enhances the flavors of proteins with piquant aromatics, such as the julienne of ginger and scallions that garnish his Cantonese Steamed Fish.
A smorgasbord of Cantonese-style dishes graces the table at Beautiful South.
Dark and sexy, the dining room fuses industrial concrete walls and pillars with quirky artwork—like the Chinese-inspired vase by Atlanta potter Catalina Cheng painted with the phrase, “The future is gay,” unabashedly reflecting the owners’ politics. “I wanted people to feel the human piece of the design,” says Tina. On the back wall, a striking five-panel textural mural by local textile artist Becca Barnet recalls both the rice paddies of China and the undulating waterways of the Lowcountry. Comfortable upholstered banquettes invite parties to settle in and share items on the family-style menu.
In keeping with Beautiful South’s mission to “create inclusivity and conversations and community,” David hopes his diners will “surrender to trying something outside their comfort zone.” By his own admission, he’s just begun to scratch the surface of Southern Chinese cuisine.
Delicate and feminine, the evocatively named cocktail Idle Dreams Roam Far is pretty in pink.
Get your fill
Basil Clams Claypot Rice
Lightly steamed with garlic, ginger, preserved black beans, and fragrant Thai basil, Clammer Dave’s littlenecks are sprinkled with scallions and served atop fluffy rice. Be sure to dig down into the bottom of the pot to get the crispy rice bits.
House Special Dumplings
All three versions of Beautiful South’s delectable dumplings are hand-folded in-house. Depending on the day, you might find pork, beef, or the new vegetarian dumplings, filled with beets and mushrooms and served in a creamy fermented tofu sauce.
Idle Dreams Roam Far
Presented in a coupe glass, this eminently sippable cocktail is essentially a gin sour. Strawberries add the rosy hue and sweet counterpoint, while egg whites dress the top in a lacy froth, adorned with two tiny rosebuds.
Photography by Mike Ledford (bar) and Andrew Cebulka (food and drink); this story appears in our Fall 2024 issue.