Food & Drink

New Chinese in Charleston

The restaurant from beloved food truck Short Grain opens in North Charleston this weekend

Photo: Courtesy of JackRabbitFilly

A dish from the newly opened Jackrabbit Filly.

It took a call from a chopstick company for Shuai Wang’s father to grasp his son’s success. Sure, the chef has been written up in national magazines and was named a James Beard Award semifinalist, but after he placed a large order for chopsticks with a business owner who works with his father’s Asian grocery store in Connecticut, his dad finally took notice. “The guy told him, ‘I didn’t realize your son was such a big deal,’” Wang says. “In Asian culture, your parents want you to become a doctor or an attorney. But I think that was the first time my dad recognized that I’d chosen the right career.”

Charlestonians have known it since 2014, when Wang and his wife, Corrie, fired up their food truck, Short Grain. Their rice bowls and karaage (Japanese fried chicken) had Lowcountry foodies queuing wherever the roving kitchen on wheels parked.

Now, opening Saturday, just up Spruill Avenue in North Charleston, Jackrabbit Filly—named for the couple’s Chinese zodiac signs of hare and horse—is their long-awaited brick-and-mortar, a bright and playful spot where bunny illustrations hop along yellow wallpaper.

 

 

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More wallpaper please ✌🏼💛🐇 #jf #jackrabbitfilly #parkcircle #heritagedriven #newchineseamerican

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The fan-favorite O.G. bowl, a heavenly pile of sticky rice, pickled vegetables, and seasonal local fish, will anchor the lunch menu, but diners can also discover new homages to Wang’s native China such as ma la xiang guo, a dry hot pot, and his mother’s dumpling recipe. Mama Wang, Shuai’s first culinary influence, couldn’t make it to Charleston to taste the first batch. “They work seven days a week” at the grocery, Wang says. “She joked that I just wanted her down here to make the dumplings herself.”

 

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Warm octopus in buttermilk wasabi dressing… Inspired by the many plates of salt and pepper shrimp we ate in Chinese restaurants, and the fun funky takowasabi of traditional Japanese izakayas ✌🏼💛 #JF #jackrabbitfilly #heritagedriven #newchineseamerican #parkcircle #takowasabi

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