Photo: Andrew Cebulka
Inside the dining room at Riva Mare.
“When you come up the elevator and enter the space, it’s like entering an entirely different time and place,” says chef Sean McMullen of Riva Mare, the new restaurant he’s heading up in North Charleston, South Carolina’s Navy Yard, a historic naval base that now houses a vibrant mix of businesses, artisan shops, and residences. The coastal Italian spot—full of coral-colored shiplap and chairs brought from the motherland—perches atop Storehouse Nine and represents the Navy Yard’s first full-service restaurant. It’s also the latest venture from hospitality group Indigo Road, the team behind lauded restaurants across the South including Indaco, Colette’s, and O-Ku.
Before moving to Charleston earlier this year, McMullen served as chef de cuisine at Luminosa in Asheville, which showcased Appalachian ingredients in Italian fare and earned a Michelin green star for its commitment to sustainability. At Riva Mare, McMullen is leaning into the same playbook, only with a Lowcountry spin and inspiration from Italy’s Ligurian and Amalfi coasts. “I’m so excited for the opportunity to work with fish and with all these great local catches,” he says. With the help of tips from friends in the industry, he’s building out his Charleston sourcing network and, as always, focusing on reducing waste through inventive dishes.
Photo: Andrew Cebulka
Chef Sean McMullen.
“I found out that Miss Paula at Tarvin Seafood offers something called shrimp bits, which is the broken pieces from their peeled and deveined whole shrimp,” he says. “So we’re using that to make a pasta filling for triangular pansotti—made black from a little squid ink in the dough—and then seasoning it with lemon juice and Calabrian chili.” His current favorite pizza employs the trim from tuna carpaccio; McMullen seasons it and poaches it in olive oil to make a tuna conserva, which he uses to top the wood-fired pie along with pickled serrano peppers. There’s also a raw bar stocked with Carolina oysters, and a smoky snapper tartare with charred corn, mint, and citrus. A corn-filled pasta that features corn from South Carolina’s Bradford Farm nods to summertime in Appalachia.
In the cheerful red-and-white-striped space designed by David Thompson Studio, diners will watch McMullen and his team prepare it all. “When you walk into the restaurant, you are walking by the open kitchen,” McMullen says. “We’re on full display.” All the better for sipping a cocktail—like the aqua pazza, a mix of cherry tomato– and parsley-infused gin, bitter aperitif, and vermouth blanc—and watching the action.
Charleston, like Asheville, is both a close-knit and pioneering food city, and it already feels like home to McMullen, who spent summers as a child on the South Carolina coast. “I’ve got so many friends who are doing awesome things at places like Chubby Fish, Vern’s, Bareo, Kultura, Cane Pazzo. It’s so inspiring and invigorating to join the scene here,” he says. “A rising tide lifts all ships.”
Below, peek inside Riva Mare and at a few of McMullen’s menu creations.
Guests can browse what’s on offer at the checkered raw bar.
The sardine toast, served on grilled focaccia with whipped ricotta, pickled serrano, and olive oil, plated alongside a mix of crispy fried sardines, shrimp, and squid with lemon aioli.
A cozy booth inside the restaurant.
McMullen likes to change out his wood-fired pizza offerings frequently based on what’s in season.
The rooftop patio overlooks the Cooper River.
Whole fish—which rotates depending on what’s fresh—with basil oil and charred lemon.
Dining and Cooking