Food & Drink

First Look: Rancho Lewis in Charleston

Take a peek inside pit master John Lewis’s Texas border food restaurant, opening in South Carolina this weekend

Photo: Peter Frank Edwards

A little more “Mex” than “Tex,” Rancho Lewis serves border food favorites including Coctel de Shrimp, Red Chile Beef Enchiladas, Chiles Rellenos, and Rancho Fajitas. El Paso, Texas, at least a dozen times to compile inspiration, decorations, supplies, and purveyors for his new Holy City restaurant, Rancho Lewis, which opens April 16.

Pit master John Lewis drove back and forth from where he lives in Charleston, South Carolina, to his childhood home of El Paso, Texas, at least a dozen times to compile inspiration, decorations, supplies, and purveyors for his new Holy City restaurant, Rancho Lewis. “Once, he came back with nine thousand pounds of mesquite in a truck,” says Patricia Arredondo, also a West Texas native and Lewis’s general manager and partner on the project, which opens in Charleston this weekend.

photo: Peter Frank Edwards
The new Rancho Lewis in Charleston, South Carolina.
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
“John [Lewis] always wanted to incorporate wagon wheels in the space, and he thought of the best place to do it,” says interior designer Betsy Berry.
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
“John sent us pictures of the cow skulls on one of his trips to the Texas border. We knew immediately that these could be focal points in the main dining area with the right uplighting,” Berry says. “The photos throughout the space are from John’s family, dating 150 years ago until now.”

For Lewis, whose brisket and hot guts sausage have been hugely popular at Lewis Barbecue since it opened down the road in 2016, the hyper-regional, West Texas cuisine is the main draw of the new spot. “It’s John’s interpretation of the food he grew up eating—the menu revolves around corn, chiles, and beans,” Arredondo says. “His grandparents had hatch chile fields in New Mexico.”

photo: Peter Frank Edwards
A walk-up tortilleria for guests to view fresh tortillas being made. John and his team grind the corn into masa.
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
Enchiladas.

Try the Lloyd Lewis special—named for that grandfather and inspired by his favorite meal—or the red chile beef enchiladas that Lewis himself eats about twice a week. Cooks grind local corn from Marsh Hen Mill on Edisto Island on hand-carved stones each day, before running them through a custom tortilla machine that guests can watch through a glass wall. “The free chips that come to your table will be made of corn we ground that morning,” Lewis says.

photo: Peter Frank Edwards
SDCO Partners’ work for Rancho Lewis reflects founder John Lewis’s love for the El Paso border cuisine, landscape, and culture of his youth. Inside, the bar spans more than fifty feet.
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
Traditional Equipale chairs from Mexico.

The restaurant’s design also brings something fresh to Charleston. With the help of B. Berry Interiors and SDCO Partners, Lewis and Arredondo created a warm, rustic-meets-modern oasis in a once-cavernous space previously occupied by a food hall. West Texas elements such as longhorn skulls, chaps, and wagon wheels thrifted from desert flea markets juxtapose the chic bronze-plated bar, giant leather and cedar equipale banquettes made by Clay Imports in Austin, and stylish storybook-like menus and branding. “From the food to the music to what you’re sitting on, it’s all telling a story,” Arredondo says. “This is our love letter to home.”

photo: Peter Frank Edwards
Lewis traveled to West Texas and New Mexico to source inspiration and decor for the restaurant. During one trip, he filled a truck with chile ristras made of dried hatch green chiles that now hang around the host stand.
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
Outdoor dining.


Caroline Sanders Clements is the associate editor at Garden & Gun and oversees the magazine’s annual Made in the South Awards. Since joining G&G’s editorial team in 2017, the Athens, Georgia, native has written and edited stories about artists, architects, historians, musicians, tomato farmers, James Beard Award winners, and one mixed martial artist. She lives in North Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Sam, and dog, Bucket.


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