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On a nice day around lunch, you’re likely to find Fuel’s roll up doors (which replaced the boarded-up doors to the garage bays of the old gas station) open to the top, creating a unique effect that draws you to come in. If you do, you’ll discover a small dining room decorated with gas paraphernalia, like their lights made from converted gas nozzles, and a moderately sized bar. The real place to be, however, is out back. The area behind the restaurant features a bocce court and a covered patio, complete with some industrial strength fans to keep it cool.

The moderately priced menu presents many familiar dishes, each given a bit of tropical flare, as well as some Caribbean specialties which you may not yet have experienced. I recommend starting off with a cup of their chilled gazpacho ($2), a chunky soup of tomato, cucumber, onion, garlic, and fresh cilantro that is tremendously refreshing in the middle of a hot Charleston day. I also enjoyed the Anguillian kebabs ($7), tender pieces of spicy beef served with a creamy mojo-aioli dipping sauce that did a good job of balancing the dish’s heat.

Lunchtime diners will want to focus on the “Tacos, Burgers, & Sandwiches” portion of the menu, which includes unique choices like the chorizo burger ($12) and grilled mahi mahi tacos ($10). My favorite item from this section was the grilled tuna tacos ($12), where seared rare ahi tuna is accompanied by a roasted chile aioli and sweet corn relish. The sauce nicely accents the flavor of the fish without overpowering it. That is more than I can say for the barbecue duck confit tacos with chipotle corn salsa and roasted arugula ($11), which weren’t bad, but didn’t live up to my expectations because the barbecue sauce swallowed up all of the other flavors, leaving what tasted like an expensive version of pulled pork. Each of the dishes in this section is served with a side. Side options range from sweet potato fries and boiled peanuts, to the more traditionally Caribbean sweet plantain fritters, which had a texture and flavor somewhat reminiscent of the filling of apple pie (which may sound good in theory, but I found too sweet to be served with lunch).

As for entrées, the grilled pork calypso ($15) featured savory pieces of pork tenderloin in a wonderful sweet sauce of rum, ginger, and lime. On my next visit, I’m looking forward to trying the tropical seafood bouyon ($15), a spicy stew with shrimp and mahi mahi. For dessert, go with the bread pudding with rum and pineapple sauce ($4); its smooth texture and rich, island flavor will let you know you’ve made the right decision.

Fuel’s bar offers a pretty decent selection of beers, including seven on tap, and a few good happy hour specials, like half price drafts on Tuesdays and pitchers of “Fuel beer” (which my server told me compares to Busch Light) for the price of a gallon of gas.

Service was good enough, friendly but perhaps a bit slow. Overall, however, Fuel dishes out solid food at reasonable prices in a unique setting and is definitely worth checking out. Their bar is going to make for a cool place to hang out on those warm fall nights and their patio is a great setting for a casual date. The place is still young so they likely will have a few more kinks to work out, but I see no reason why they shouldn’t continue to gain popularity and improve with age.

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El Bohio (which translates to “the hut” and is pronounced el bo-ee-oh) is attached to the Pour House, a small music venue, and is located on Maybank Hwy on James Island and is right across the street from the Terrace. The dining area is pretty small with 6 or 7 booths lining the outside and a few small tables in the middle. We sat ourselves and after a brief wait were greeted warmly by the bartender who appeared to be the only person working the front of the house that evening. The menu is nice and concise, offering enough options to please a variety of tastes while remaining focused enough for them to do everything well. Our server was extremely helpful and answered all of our questions without seeming the slightest bit annoyed (which happens more than you would think).

For an appetizer we tried the Yuca con Mojo which was only $2.50. Yuca is the starchy, potato like root of the cassava plant, a shrub which is extremely prevalent in South America and the Caribbean. The yuca is sautéed with onion in El Bohio’s own house made mojo sauce. The mojo, which is an olive oil based sauce with lots of garlic, some lime juice, a little vinegar, and cumin, was absolutely delicious. The yuca was nice and tender, and when eaten together with the onion was just unreal. For less than $3, this is an absolute must.

For our entrees, we both chose to go with sandwiches. I had the Turkey Cuban which was house roasted turkey and pork mixed together with Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard on Cuban bread. The Cuban bread is a white bread that is somewhat similar to Italian bread, but uses a bit of fat in recipe. It has a nice firm outside and is soft on the inside. The turkey and pork are marinated in the house mojo and the sandwich is pressed in a device that is somewhat similar to a Panini maker. The turkey and pork blend together exceptionally well and the flavor of the mojo comes through without overpowering the meat. The Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard finish the sandwich off with a really nice tang. The sandwich comes with another small cup of mojo for dipping, which I would fully recommend you do. My friend had the Cuban Sandwich which is the same as the Turkey Cuban except with ham instead of turkey. She loved hers just as much as I loved mine. Both of our sandwiches were reasonably priced at less than $7. My only issue with the sandwich was that it was supposed to come on Cuban sweet bread, which sounded awesome, but they were unfortunately out.

The sandwiches come with a variety of sides, but I, surprisingly, took the easy way out and ordered French fries. The fries were solid, but who cares, they’re regular fries. Another side option was tostones or fried plantains. You can get them ripe and sweet, or green and salty. My friend ordered the salty variety and wasn’t particularly impressed. I thought they were a little too salty for my taste and thought they could have used to be a little bit more tender, but they weren’t terrible. Next time I go back, I plan on either getting the sweet tostones or the tomato and onion salad.

El Bohio has a tremendous beer selection as well as a cocktail menu with several Cuban specialties. I tried the Cuban Especiale which was coconut rum, triple sec, pineapple, orange juice, and lime. The drink was really refreshing and the flavor combination of coconut, pineapple, and orange was fantastic. It seemed like the perfect drink for an afternoon spent hanging out by the pool. At $4, it really wasn’t a bad deal either.

El Bohio is a great little spot. The food is unique, reasonably priced, and above all else really, really good. It seems like a great place to head to for a cheap dinner with some friends, or as the start to a casual date before you head across the street to catch a movie at the Terrace. I’d recommend it highly and plan on going back sometime in the not to distant future.

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