Margarita with a sushi roll? Kung Fu Cantina - a new Bluffton eatery for Asian-Latin food
Sake and tequila. Sushi and burritos. Fried rice and Mexican street corn. Spicy thai peanut chicken and enchiladas. All fan favorites, but typically eaten separately. Kung Fu Cantina, a new restaurant in Moss Creek Village, will be the first in the area to mesh Asian and Latin cuisines.
Marshall Sampson and Bill Alberts are the two brains behind the operation opening by the end of the month. They have been working together since they bought the Santa Fe Cafe, a Southwestern restaurant off of William Hilton Pkwy. on Hilton Head in 2007.
The restaurant will fill in the empty space that was once filled by Mama G’s, a family-owned pizza joint that closed permanently last November.
While most dishes will combine the two food genres, there will also be menu items that are strictly Asian or Latin-inspired. Sampson estimates that customers can expect to pay about $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner. They plan on keeping the doors open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Sampson said that the group’s expertise in Latin cuisine comes from their experience at Santa Fe Cafe. The pair will bring their head chef from the cafe, who has experience cooking Asian cuisine and comes from Asian heritage, over to the cantina to help contribute to the second half of the culinary experience.
Sampson grew up on Hilton Head and has been working in restaurants on the island since he was young, including his first job scooping for Hilton Head Ice Cream. After graduating from college and returning to Hilton Head, Sampson sold real estate by day and worked at the Santa Fe Cafe by night.
Sampson has seen the restaurant scene in the area grow where there used to be just a handful of restaurants, like Fitzgerald’s and Cafe Europa under the lighthouse. Now the island and surrounding towns boast of a wider variety of eateries.
