The Sixth Swig & Swine Is Named After a Drummer

​

Anthony DiBernardo has run Swig & Swine for twelve years and never owned an inch of the ground under it. That changed on Sept. 2.

He bought 2871 Maybank Highway on Johns Island, and next year it becomes Lumpy's Place by Swig & Swine. The sixth location, and the first one he owns outright.

Lumpy was his son.

Asher DiBernardo died in March 2025 after an accident. He was 23, a drummer with real standing in the local music scene, and he had the nickname tattooed on his stomach. He had also been there from the very beginning of the barbecue business.

"When we opened the first location, he was there," DiBernardo told the Post & Courier. "He did everything. He helped me build it. Always helped me cook. He always went on the road with me for events. I mean, he was an integral part of Swig & Swine."

Here is the part that is hard to write off as coincidence.

DiBernardo's friend and agent, John Davis with Carolina One, flagged the Maybank site. From the parking lot, DiBernardo can see a house he used to own on Johns Island. Behind that house is a garage. Asher learned to play drums in it, and Anthony built the original Swig & Swine recipes in it.

"I had the smokers back there," he said. "A lot of our recipes were built back there."

The restaurant will carry the callbacks through the decor and the menu, which leans harder into meat and three than the other locations do. Asher was not a picky eater. "He really ate everything," his father said.

Why Johns Island

Because DiBernardo thinks there is a hole in the market, and he is not wrong.

"There's definitely a lot of dinner-only and higher-end places," he said. "I think the value-driven, family-friendly lunch and dinner concept is missing."

Anyone who has tried to feed a family of four on Johns Island on a Tuesday knows exactly what he means.

Lumpy's Place takes the former Barrier Island Oyster Company spot next to Wild Olive. The oyster company bought its own property and is relocating. Plans call for a new building from the ground up, heavy on outdoor seating. Design phase now, doors at least a year out.

The real estate part

Years ago Sal Parco of the Dine with Sal Restaurant Group told DiBernardo that real estate, not food, is where hospitality money actually gets made. It stuck.

"If you just look at it day to day, the amount of money I spend on leases at our five other locations, it just makes sense," he said. "If you can afford to buy the property, then basically you're just leasing from yourself. It's an investment for the future."

Swig & Swine opened in West Ashley in June 2014, then Summerville, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, and Moncks Corner in June 2024. Six locations in twelve years is a real run. The first deed took all twelve.

DiBernardo is blunt about what he wants the building to do.

"I don't ever want his memory to fade," he said. "I want people to always think of him and the impact he had on the local music scene and just the world in general."

This is a summary of an article published in the Post & Courier. Click here if you'd like to read that article.