The King Street building where Rodney Scott served whole hog barbecue now serves coffee and pastries.
Babas opened Babas on King at 1011 King St. on Oct. 2, The Post and Courier reported. The cafe replaces Babas on Meeting, a collaboration with the wine and cheese shop goat.sheep.cow. that opened in 2021 and was set to stay open through the end of September. Goat.sheep.cow. remains at 804 Meeting St., according to the newspaper.
Babas also runs cafes on Cannon Street and Wentworth Street.
The King Street site is about 20% bigger than any other Babas location and has a larger production kitchen for the company’s growing catering and events business, co-owner Marie Stitt told The Post and Courier. It sells beer and wine and has outdoor seating and parking. The building has drive-thru features, but Babas is sticking with indoor service for now, Stitt said. The cafe is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“It’s going to give us a lot more capacity,” Stitt told What Now Charleston in August. “We have three locations, and this location will supply all our pastries.”
Stitt runs Babas with her husband, Edward Crouse, who signed the lease, a Coldwell Banker representative confirmed to The Post and Courier in August.
Rodney Scott’s BBQ, which helped earn its pitmaster a James Beard Award in 2018, closed in May as its Alabama-based parent company was hit with millions of dollars in lawsuits and liens tied to its restaurants, according to the newspaper. In August, Nick Pihakis, founder and CEO of Pihakis Restaurant Group, disclosed about $44 million in debts in a petition filed in Alabama, where he lives. All of the group’s restaurants have either closed or been transferred to new owners, The Post and Courier reported.
Scott’s personal attorney, Michael Gruenloh, said Aug. 21 that Scott was actively pursuing another location that he hoped to open soon, according to the newspaper.
