The newest luxury hotel in Charleston is now selling a ten-dollar burger through a walk-up window.
CurrentBurger opened Aug. 17 on the ground floor of The Cooper at 176 Concord St., looking out over Joe Riley Waterfront Park. It is a 28-seat counter-service spot built to feel like a classic boardwalk burger shop, which is not the phrase most people associate with that address.
That is the point.
Why it matters. The Cooper is Ben Navarro's waterfront play, and BHC has been deliberate about not building a hotel that Charlestonians drive past. Navarro said the concept came out of childhood memories of family burger trips, a rare treat in a family of eight.
"CurrentBurger was inspired by the kind of simple, memorable places that become part of a family's story," Navarro said in the Post & Courier.
What ten dollars buys. The classic CurrentBurger is a smash patty with American cheese, red onion, pickles, ketchup and yellow mustard. Twelve gets you "The Charlie," with pimento cheese, spicy aioli and fried pickles, or the applewood smash with smoked bacon, American cheese, aioli and pickles. A full meal, burger plus fries plus soda, starts at $18. Kids' meals start at $10.
The rest of the menu runs through crinkle-cut fries, salads, chicken sandwiches, falafel patties, fountain sodas, hand-spun milkshakes and soft serve, developed under Chef Bill Welch, The Cooper's culinary director.
The local sourcing is real. Milkshakes use Lowcountry Creamery. The custom soda flavors come from Bittermilk. The pimento cheese is Counter Cheesemongers. That is three Charleston makers on a menu that could have gotten away with none.
"We imagine families coming in from Waterfront Park, kids grabbing a milkshake after school, neighbors making it part of their weeknight rhythm or hotel guests discovering another side of The Cooper," said Lukus Grace, The Cooper's managing director.
The details. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays. There is a walk-up window and outdoor waterfront seating. Next door, Cooper Coffee & Wine opened June 29 with Mediterranean-leaning pastries and sandwiches from Chef Nick Dugan of The Crossing.
Charleston has spent five years watching new hotels wall themselves off from the neighborhood. This one put a burger window on the sidewalk. Judge it after you have stood in line.
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