Lowco Meal Maestros: Scott Hastings, Lulu Kitchen
As far as geography goes, there are about 800 miles that separate Hilton Head Island from Long Island. But in a different sense, these two islands are worlds apart.
“What gets overlooked here is the serenity,” said Chef Scott Hastings. “I’m just over the top excited to be here. It’s home sweet home.”
Hastings has earned a chance to enjoy some serenity. After cutting his teeth at some of Long Island’s busiest restaurants and spending a few years in the Navy, Hastings made his way to New York City where he landed a job at Charlie’s Inn under Chef Andy Anderson. “He was a Jamaican chef who studied in Germany for six years before coming back to the states,” said Hastings. “That chef taught me so much.”
He wouldn’t be the last mentor to guide Hastings along his path. Making his way to the Poconos, (“It was just supposed to be a layover,” said Hastings. “Twenty years later I was still there”) he found himself working at the Ramada Renaissance under French Chef Armand Paquin. “He was this total French maniac chef. It was under him that I got really engulfed in the world of cooking.”
Paquin showed Hastings the finer points of refining a dish, centering it on the plate, creating sauces without the help of heavy starches, and treating food with dignity. The rest Hastings learned from books, diving into his research with fanatical zeal.
“I was in D.C. in 1994 when I spotted Thomas Keller’s book in the window. It was $100 in 1994 money, but I had to have it,” he said. “I have that same book right now. It’s pretty beat up, but it brought my culinary thinking to another level.”
He honed those culinary chops at two restaurants of his own in Pennsylvania, Blue Shutters and the popular State Street Grill. For Hastings, who was conditioned to never do things by half measures, the success of his ventures took their toll.
“During the season I’d be working 120-hour weeks for 30 weeks straight,” he said. “Finally, my wife asked me, ‘When are we going to get a chance to enjoy life? I don’t see you for eight months at a stretch.’ ”
Hastings made his way down to Hilton Head Island where a job at The Sea Pines Resort awaited him, but in the back of his mind the move south represented a chance to do something different.
“I had this vision of this grandiose place with 11-course tastings, an army of staff clearing 1,500 plates a night at $150 a head,” he said. “In my mind, it was going to be the French Laundry on the Southeast coast. My buddies in New York said I was insane, and for the first time in my life I listened. They were absolutely right.”
What Hilton Head needed was a place that delivers the kind of cuisine Hastings has made his life’s work, in an atmosphere as casual as the island itself. “You come in here, no matter who you are, and you’re welcomed,” he said. “I just want you to come here, get a great meal, and let us go beyond all your expectations.”
LULU Kitchen
890 William Hilton Pkwy Suite 1, Hilton Head Island | 843-648-5858 | lulukitchen-hhi.com
