Mortgage Broker in Knightsville, SC

(Reuters) - Baker Donelson is continuing its expansion in the Carolinas by opening a Charleston, South Carolina office, the firm said Monday.

The Southeast U.S. regional law firm opened an office in Raleigh, North Carolina, in October and has had a Columbia, South Carolina office since 2016. It hired lawyers away from Womble Bond Dickinson and Parker Poe for its new Charleston office.

The move comes in a busy year for legal markets across the Carolinas. Greenberg Traurig said in April that it hired a Winston & Strawn partner to open a Charlotte office. Another Florida-founded global firm, Holland & Knight, expanded its Charlotte office in June with five private equity partners from Moore & Van Allen. Dallas-based Haynes and Boone also expanded in Charlotte with the addition of three lawyers in October.

Milwaukee-based law firm Michael Best & Friedrich said in January that it acquired the 23-lawyer Forrest Firm, adding offices in Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Grenville, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

The founding shareholders in Baker Donelson's new Charleston office are health law attorneys Alissa Fleming and Catherine Wrenn, who joined from Womble, and corporate attorney Ashley Cooper and employment attorney Jennifer Dunlap, who joined from Parker Poe.

A representative from Womble did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kristen Leis, chief marketing and business development officer at Parker Poe, said the number of attorneys at the firm grew 38% over the last three years and it is "unequivocally" looking to grow in Charleston.

Mark Carlson, Baker Donelson's chief growth officer, said the firm is working to create full service offices in its Carolinas locations.

"We have missed out on opportunities in North and South Carolina because we haven't had enough boots on the ground," he said.

(NOTE: This update includes a correction in a reference to a 38% percent increase in partner head count at Parker Poe to reflect that the increase includes all attorneys.)

Read more:

Reince Priebus' law firm expands in North Carolina

Haynes and Boone adds three Cadwalader lawyers in North Carolina

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SUMMERVILLE — Tables begin to fill up just past noon at a restaurant 31 miles from downtown Charleston.

Surrounded by chain eateries in a Publix-anchored strip mall, La Cuisine Du Chevalier — or La Chev, as most call it — has the buzz of an energetic lunch crowd ready for some midday human interaction.

A trio of women attempt to corral four children while dunking grilled bread into large white bowls of bouillabaisse, brimming with mussels, shrimp and white fish, all steeping in saffron broth.

Empty black shells are pushed aside at another round mahogany table, where two friends catch up over mussels and glasses of iced tea.

A man sitting solo at a two-top finishes his meal and tells the server he will be back next week.

These are the sights and sounds of a restaurant that’s become a neighborhood lunchtime favorite less than a year after quietly opening in November 2022.

I would have never found La Chev without a tip from a colleague, but I’m glad I came. That satisfaction extends to residents of the Knightsville and Summerville area, who have thanked owner Jason Tucker for bringing his Southern take on French cuisine to them rather than downtown Charleston.

“A lot of people were confused about why I did it here,” said Tucker, a Summerville resident. “I saw the direction of where the homes are going.”

Tucker struck out on his own after cutting his professional teeth at restaurants in Charleston’s French Quarter. Inside the strip center space that previously housed a Ladles sandwich and soup shop, the Johnson & Wales University graduate is teaming up with La Chev’s chef de cuisine, Jonathan DuPriest, who grew up in Knightsville.

Whether it’s crab dip with grilled bread or seared scallops over French onion cheese risotto, DuPriest is consistently coming up with new daily specials that the restaurant posts on its Facebook page, which takes the place of an actual website.

La Chev boasts separate lunch and dinner menus, but there are several crossovers, including the shrimp and grits, crab croquettes and yellowfin tuna — a dish that stood out after two visits to the restaurant.

The lightly-seared tuna, served cold, rests on a steaming hot medley of chopped asparagus, corn, confit tomato and cubed bacon. A speckled cream sauce pulls the vegetables together, adding sweet smokiness to the fresh but mild fish.

“It doesn’t just play with your taste buds, it plays with the temperature sensitivities of your palate, as well,” Tucker said.

With a nice crust and firm pink center, the tuna hits all corners of my mouth, leaving soft, peppery spice behind. Though served as an appetizer, I enjoyed it as my full meal with an order of duck coq au vin dumplings — a fun riff on a French classic — on the side.

During dinner, the white tablecloths are brought out and topped with larger appetizers and mains that allow for some “Lowcountry liberties,” Tucker said.

For instance, crab croquettes are more petite crab cake than filled-and-fried roll, but the flawed descriptor doesn’t take away from each delicate bite. Paired with a light and bright diced cucumber salad, the patties’ crab-to-filler ratio favors the former.

A trio of cheese-adorned meatballs, floating in tomato ragù and served with small wedges of garlic bread, is another appetizer that satisfies without reinventing the wheel.

The same can often be said for the restaurant’s dinner entrees.

Roasted salmon, stuffed with crab and served atop crisp green beans, is one example of an expertly cooked daily special. On the side, Carolina Gold rice is bound with cheese to form a thick patty, bringing substance and salt to the Southern grains.

Steak, which appears to have been marinated and spent some time in the oven, makes up for a lack of crust with a juicy, tender texture — almost reminiscent of the roasted filet of beef my mother serves at Christmas.

Of the six dishes I sampled at La Chev, each one left me without complaints.

There isn’t much in the way of décor, more noticeable during a Monday night dinner service that saw just two occupied tables between 5:45 and 6:45 p.m. This was a far cry from the crowded lunch service I witnessed weeks before, making me ponder if ownership might consider closing their doors on Monday, typically the slowest dining day of the week.

It also made me wonder if this type of restaurant — a place that skirts the line between neighborhood establishment and one worthy of a special night out — can work in this location.

I remain optimistic.

While it’s just four miles from the town’s top restaurants — Laura, Bexley and La Rustica, among others — it’s less crowded and closer to home for many Summerville restaurants.

And as those who have dined at La Chev have likely realized, there isn’t anything like it in Knightsville.

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Jason Tucker reports that business is booming at the boîte known as La Cuisine du Chevalier, or La Chev, by the locals. The 40-seat restaurant, which translates to “the knight’s kitchen,” garnered rave reviews by online contributors when it opened in November at the former soup restaurant called Ladles in the Shoppes of Summerville.

It only recently held a grand opening celebration.

Tucker, who has lived in Summerville for the past 16 years, is no stranger to the restaurant business.

“My background is extremely diverse and it started back when I was 15-years’ old scooping ice cream in Central Pennsylvania,” he said.

Related content: Charleston rooftop bar, restaurant to renovate, rebrand

Over the years, Tucker has worked in numerous restaurants, from chains like Buffalo Wild Wings, Cracker Barrel and the Hilton, to groups like Charleston Hospitality and more. After bartending his way through college in Virginia, the hard-working transplant accepted a management position from his employer, which took him to Summerville, where he has been ever since.

The father of two boys is also the operating partner at Wine & Tapas in Summerville and was buoyed by the popularity of the business. This inspired him to open a new restaurant, this time with a French flair.

“They call the area the French Quarter, but it lacked a French-themed restaurant, which never made sense to me, especially with the growth we are seeing in this area,” he said.

Tucker said that La Chev was designed to evoke the feeling of walking down the Champs-Élysées.

“It’s a cute café that’s quaint and all about the food and wine,” he said.

It doesn’t hurt that Tucker worked in the wine distribution business and is well-versed on what’s exceptional. He said that his goal is to bring people in by rivaling the quality that a customer would get in downtown Charleston.

“It’s all about the ingredients and there’s a lot of precision and thought that goes into each of our dishes,” he said, adding that chef de cuisine Jonathan DuPriest, who grew up in Knightsville, is Johnson and Wales-trained.

When it comes to dishes, Tucker said that the most popular lunch items that they serve are the French Dip and the shrimp and grits.

“A lot of people judge the quality of the restaurant by their shrimp and grits,” he said.

As for dinner, Tucker offers quite a few specials, ranging from steak dishes, to surf and turf, scallops, crabcakes, and salmon.

“Everyone says that it’s the best salmon served in the Atlantic Coastal area,” Tucker said.

For now, La Chev is taking reservations, except for the bar and outside area, so last-minute plans to dine can be accommodated if guests don’t mind sitting in either area.

Tucker also recently announced that they will be open on Sundays for brunch.

“We’re currently working on the menu which we will implement sometime around the end of July,” he said.

Kurry Seymour was a Ladles customer who was wowed by his first visit.

“This place brings a refreshing vibe to the Knightsville area and I am impressed by the décor, which was converted into a very fine, but very cozy dining experience,” he said.

Reviews like this are music to Tucker’s ears.

“I never thought I’d be in a situation where I’d be running two separate restaurants, but I love the feeling one gets when someone is happy with an experience. Making moments special is the best feeling in the world and having the opportunity to have someone really love what you’re doing, well, it doesn’t get any better than that,” he said, with a smile.

Stefanie Kalina-Metzger is a contributing writer for SC Biz News.

Take a look inside Summerville restaurant La Cuisine Du Chevalier, located in a Publix-anchored strip mall 31 miles outside of downtown Charleston.

The Christmas cheer is still in the new year as North Augusta honors the annual Lions Club parade winners at an awards ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 4.

The Christmas in July-themed parade was held on Sunday, Dec. 10, where dozens of floats traveled a mile down Georgia Avenue. There was no parade in 2022 due to inclement weather. Winners were celebrated with a dinner and discussed the potential for a night parade in 2024.

North Augusta Lions Club president Terra Carroll was happy to celebrate the winners.

“We are just excited that they came out and supported the annual Christmas parade despite the weather challenges,” Carroll said. “We are looking forward to celebrating with them and thanking them and our volunteers like Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and we are looking forward to finally celebrating the season and start preparing for 2024.”

Winners in the commercial category included Carolina Septic and North Augusta School of Dance. Non-commercial winners were American Legion Post 71 and ACPSD Area 2 with Mossy Creek. All winners received a trophy and Lions Club swag.

“We had our float stored in the garage for most of the year but because it happened to be a sailboat and we decorated it for the theme,” Post 71 Commander Dusty Dawson said. “When our scouts asked if we were going to participate in the parade, I asked them one thing: ‘What do the Norwegians say?’ They say there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices. So we showed up with Hawaiian shirts over our rain gear.”

The riverfront section of the North Augusta Greeneway from Sharon Jones Amphitheatre to Railroad Avenue is now closed for the construction of what will be a public-access boat dock and overlook. Completion of this first phase in the amphitheater’s expansion is expected for late in May.

North Augusta City Council authorized $950,000 for the dock and overlook in November. Funding for phase two of the larger project, which will increase seating capacity by 40% and add a public rest area, is likely to come to a Council vote this month.

Construction on Interstate 20 at the state line will take place at night during the next few days to repair guardrails and allow concrete to cure.

On Friday, Jan. 5 at 10 p.m. to Saturday, Jan. 6 at 8 a.m., a single right-lane closure on I-20 eastbound from mile marker 201.5 to 200 will be closed.

On Monday, Jan. 8 from 9 p.m. to Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 7 a.m., a single right-lane closure on I-20 from mile marker 22 to mile marker 201.5 in Georgia will be closed.

The right shoulder may be impacted during this time. Drivers should use caution in work zones.

For more information on the Savannah River Bridge project, visit the GDOT website.

After 37 years, the last Mr. K’s Piggly Wiggly in the Charleston area closed over the weekend and now has a new owner.

David Smith of Goose Creek, who owns three other Piggly Wiggly supermarkets in the region, took over the 26,000-square-foot supermarket at 404 N. Cedar St. in Summerville from the Kersting family, who founded Mr. K’s in the early 1980s. Terms were not disclosed.

It is scheduled to reopen as Piggly Wiggly at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Another Mr. K’s at Knightsville Crossing Shopping Center on Central Avenue south of Summerville closed in 2017, citing competition from the newly built Walmart Neighborhood Market across the street as the main reason. Publix also operates a supermarket near the former site.

Former grocery-anchored shopping center near Charleston getting makeover, new tenants

Smith on Tuesday called the latest acquisition for his growing store count of independent Piggly Wiggly supermarkets “the right opportunity.”

All 75 former Mr. K’s employees will stay on, and store hours could be expanded from the current 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to one hour later “once everything is converted over,” Smith said. The store will be open seven days a week.

The supermarket is opening a little later on Wednesday to make sure everything is in order, he said. A grand opening event may be scheduled later.

Smith owns Piggly Wiggly stores in Hollywood, West Ashley and Holly Hill. He acquired the West Ashley store, a former Bi-Lo, on Skylark Drive last year and the Holly Hill store two months ago.

He wants to own up to six stores eventually and said the latest purchase gets him closer to that goal.

“If the right opportunity comes along, I will consider it,” Smith said of future purchases.

On its Facebook page, the former owner of Mr. K’s thanked the Summerville community for supporting the store for nearly four decades.

“It has been our pleasure to serve you, our customers, for the past 37 years,” the posting reads. “So many thoughtful comments and fond memories have been shared with all of us.”