Blu welcomes renowned chef and Barbados native Glen Benskin
By Lorne Chambers | Editor
The water may be bluer and the sands whiter, but there are plenty of similarities when it comes to the island of Barbados, an independent British Commonwealth in the Caribbean, and our own Folly Island. For starters they’re both coastal communities with a deep attachment to the sea. Because of this, the cuisines also have a kinship. It’s something that is rooted in the philosophy and food from Barbados native Glen Benskin, who has just been hired as the new executive chef at Blu inside the Tides hotel.
“There are a lot of similarities, even the weather is similar for much of the year. The seafood that’s available here is very typical of what we see there. The cuisine [in Barbados] is very similar to the American Southern cuisine, especially with the African-influences here in Charleston with the Gullah culture. They are all very tied in together because of the ancestry of the people,” says Benskin. “It’s pretty much rooted in the foundation of what I currently do as a chef.”
Benskin has recently redone the entire Blu menu from top to bottom. “Because our location is on the beach, I wanted it to feel fresh and vibrant,” says Benskin, whose Caribbean roots flair up in dishes such as the Calypso Snapper, which is served with a mango lime sauce and pickled vegetables, bok choy, and Carolina Gold rice.
Asked which dish he most identifies with he laughs. “I’m attached to all of them because they’re all my recipes,” he says. But adds the Low Country Skillet is especially close to his heart. The dish is part Lowcountry Boil and part seafood bouillabaisse, using local wreck fish, shrimp, mussels, sausage, fingerling potatoes, all served in a tomato broth. “It has that one-pot feel. If you were in the Caribbean and hanging on the beach, that’s the kind of stuff you would have,” says Benskin.
While an island flare is evident in Benskin’s food, he’s also classically trained. Benskin spent the first 10 years of his career training and developing under the tutelage of classically trained French chefs. “When I first started cooking, a lot of the Caribbean restaurants and resorts in the ’80s and ’90s the executive chefs would have been European-based. So along with my personal background I’m also trained in the classical styles,” says Benskin.
During this time, he traveled with the national culinary team of Barbados as they competed in the Caribbean Championship, Taste of the Caribbean, in Miami, Florida. These opportunities allowed him to artfully blend his Caribbean heritage with modern American cuisine.
In addition to being honored by the National Culinary Board in Barbados, Benskin is the winner of the 2014 Food & Festival Iron Chef competition in Pinehurst, N.C. where, prior to arriving in the South Carolina Lowcountry, he worked as chef de Cuisine at the Pinehurst Country Club. Pinehurst is located in the North Carolina Sandhills and is home to three historic hotels and eight golf courses, including Pinehurst No. 2, the site of more golf championships than any other course in America. Prior to Pinehurst, he served as the executive sous chef at The Mansion on Forsyth Park in Savannah, Ga. After leaving Pinehurst, Benskin became executive sous chef at Long Cove Country Club in Hilton Head.
Matt Zengerle, general manager of Tides, is excited that they landed a chef of Benskin’s caliber. “He came in and really wowed us with his flavors and his passion,” says Zengerle. “He’s got the ‘it’ factor and we’re lucky to have found him.”
