Dining Update: Savannah chef Chino Hathcock kicks off Fleeting residency with CRYBABY

Friends and folks in the food industry know chef Chris Hathcock as Chino.

His 2023 departure from Husk heralded the Savannah native’s hiatus from high-pressure full-time fine dining, but in the last year, Hathcock has stayed beyond busy with hired-knife butchery at Brochu’s, consulting and catering, part-time work as an oysterman, and plenty of pop-ups.

Over the next several months, the last of those pursuits will have Hathcock bring his brand back to Thompson Savannah’s Fleeting, this time as a long-term chef-in-residence, helming the kitchen for dinner events on Monday and Tuesday nights.

CRYBABY’s menu, on offer through July 23, will marry Mexican cuisine and Georgia’s seafood and summer produce. After a few weeks’ break for R&D, Hathcock will reassume his OddGai moniker whipping up his takes on Thai and Lao fare, and come September, Fleeting will again be home to Shinpaku and its izakaya-inspired plates.

As easygoing as he is immensely talented, Hathcock does not care whether you call him ‘Chris’ or ‘Chino’ or ‘Chef’, and no matter what name he cooks by or what cuisine is on one of his menus, something special is about to be served.

YUCATáN FLAVORS BY WAY OF LOCAL FISH AND FLORA

“We’re calling it CRYBABY for short,” Hathcock explained of this first Fleeting pop-up. “It’s CRYBABY Mariscos, meaning seafood or shellfish, because we really want to emphasize the Lowcountry, specifically Coastal Georgia and South Carolina, seafood with local veggies.”

“It’s summertime. We’re hitting peak tomato and peak corn season, so those are going to have a heavy presence on our menu,” he continued. “I’m doing the food that I want to eat right now.”

The minute á la carte carte is pop-up appropriate with eight dishes, all of which are meant to be shareable, portions intended for diners to order two or three each and then pass their plates.

“It’s going to be thoughtfully crafted and responsibly sourced,” Hathcock said.

Mitla Tortilla Company will supply their marquee item, and all aromatics, edible flowers, herbs, and vegetables are being hand-shopped from Forsyth Farmers’ Market, Tybee Island Farmers Market, and Davis Produce, supplementing with some South Carolina seasonables.

Among the seafood stars are Sapelo Island clams and shrimp from Anchored Shrimp Co. (Brunswick). With Georgia oyster season over, overnighted mollusks are winging in from nearby North Carolina.

“The whole reason I wanted to do this is my travels in Coastal Mexico,” said Hathcock. “Over the past few years, I’ve gone to Isla Holbox and Isla Mujeres, which are both off of Cancún. They’re both more remote, but the seafood is just outstanding.”

“That’s where the flavors originate. I’m applying our seafood to those flavors,” he continued. “Down there, they have spiny lobster and different types of clams, and I want to use sweet white Georgia shrimp in those dishes and Sapelo clams in that flavor profile.”

SUMMER FOOD FLING

From the top down on the menu, the Georgia-Mex theme is manifest, starting with the Raw Oyster, accompanied by fresh heirloom tomatoes that have not seen the inside of a refrigerator and last year’s peppers that Hathcock grew himself and fermented in a fresh salsa with herbs, scallions, lime juice, and aji-limón hot sauce.

“The tuna tostada is completely inspired by this restaurant that I love in Mexico City called Contramar,” Hathcock shared. “They do a tuna tostada with chipotle mayonnaise and avocado and fried red onions.”

Instead, his toasted tortilla will be topped with tuna and peach diced together to highlight the state’s signature fruit, balancing the sweetness and acid with avocado, chipotle aioli, and fried shallots.

The cucumber gazpacho is a “riff” on a dish Hathcock made at one of his first restaurant jobs, though his will utilize those local marinated clams, dressed with Georgia olive oil for fat and shaved radishes for crunch.

The chef calls the whole red snapper a “choose-your-own adventure” entrée, served with warm tortillas and little “sidecars” of pickled vegetables, fresh vegetables, and sauces.

Scored, cured, and deep-fried, the snapper promises to be “crisp on the outside but nice and juicy on the inside,” per Hathcock.

“The idea is that the guests can handpick the body and get the cheeks and the filet and build their own tacos with the accoutrements we’re providing,” he said.

“It’s a really communal thing. It’s meant to be shared.”

IF ONE WAS GREAT…

By design, Hathcock has stayed out of full-time restaurant work for this past year until he is ready to open his own space, and the processes to make that a reality have recently begun.

Another imminent adventure for a future article.

For now, these twice weekly gigs at Fleeting suit the chef just fine, leaving the rest of the week for private catering, consulting, and working as the only non-owner employee at Tybee Oyster Company.

“I’m working with them, doing everything the farm needs, raising the oysters from little baby seeds to market size, everything that entails, watching them grow, hand-sorting them,” Hathcock said proudly.

At Fleeting, the basic plan is “three or four weeks on and three or four weeks off,” he explained. “In the off time, we’re going to R&D a new concept and come back with something different, though there will likely be some reiterations of previous concepts.”

The timing of Shinpaku’s debut meant a winter Japanese menu, so when it returns, a late-summer Japanese menu will be devised and dished out.

“Likely, once it starts to cool off, we might break into French brasserie: braised red meats, short rib, duck,” Hathcock said. “We’re going to keep the cuisine matching the season. When it’s cool, you want to have those more heartwarming, filling items.”

Hathcock credited Thompson Savannah’s director of restaurants, bars, and entertainment, Brittany Hahn, for the renewed opportunity.

“She’s a close friend of mine and was someone who pushed me to do Shinpaku back in February,” he said. After that was over, Hahn and general manager Keith Butz wanted him to come back “in a bigger role, doing the same thing” but with more scheduled frequency.

“I want to do something that is mutually beneficial for Thompson and Fleeting and for myself.”

CRYBABY x Chef Chino Hathcock at Fleeting (Thompson Savannah, 201 Port Street) is offered Monday and Tuesday (5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) from July 1 to July 23: https://www.fleetingrestaurant.com/CRYBABY/

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah chef Chino Hathcock kicks off Fleeting residency with CRYBABY