Charles Russo was three or four years old when he got his first job, and it came with a milk crate.

His grandfather ran Russo Seafood on 40th Street in Savannah, and the crate was how a kid that size reached the cutting rack. He had his own little apron and a spot at the table reserved for the jobs nobody else wanted: washing fish, gutting them, taking off heads. Fridays meant whiting by the truckload. After school he’d grab an icy at the 7-Eleven on 53rd Street, then get shipped straight to the shop.

I know that story from the other side. My dad and uncles were fishermen in Miami, and my cousins and I got stuck cleaning whatever came off the boat. It grossed me out so thoroughly that I avoided seafood well into my 40s. Charles had no such reaction. He’ll eat anything. He just won’t hunt. He told me his wife swears he comes home from fishing empty-handed because he already used up his limit upstairs. I’m borrowing that excuse. You can listen to the entire conversation on our podcast below.

The long way back

He did leave the business. Four years of culinary school in Tallahassee, a stint in Atlanta, then Alligator Soul in downtown Savannah as Chef de Cuisine. But kitchens cost you holidays, and Charles comes from a huge family. Missing those hurt more than he expected, so he started looking for a way back to fish without giving up Thanksgiving.

The opening came when L.C. Matthews, a seafood supplier on his dad’s side of the family that served a lot of Hilton Head, went out of business. Charles figured the island might have room for another family with seafood in its blood. Zach Schultz, now the owner of Cotton and Rye, was in the spice business then and offered to ride around with him and make introductions.

He had no shop, so his father rented him the Savannah place at night. His crew of three showed up at six, after close, and worked until two in the morning. Then they loaded the one truck, got a couple hours of sleep, and drove to Hilton Head at sunup. That went on for five years. He says it made him a better businessman. I say it made him tired.

Bluffton

In 2018 he was cutting through a Bluffton neighborhood to dodge traffic on 278 when he saw a man hammering a for-sale sign on Red Cedar Drive. He took a photo of the number, drove to the end of the road, and called. The guy had literally just put the sign up. It took five or six bankers before one gave him a loan, but he got the land.

Then 2020 happened, and all but about four of his restaurant accounts shut down. So he built out the retail shop. Then he added an event space after watching customers buy oysters on the half shell and eat them in their cars in the parking lot.

Not in the north anymore

Charles understands that Bluffton is a tough room, in a good way. A lot of his customers moved down from bigger cities, and they know what they like. Charles grew up in Savannah selling to a neighborhood that knew exactly what it wanted, and not once did his grandfather sell a pound of cod or halibut. Now people walk in asking for both.

His response is to tease them. “You’re not in the north anymore. Let’s try something local. Let’s try a sheepshead.” He calls it a bait and switch, and he enjoys watching people’s seafood vocabulary grow. It also fits how he runs the place: use every part of the fish. The grouper bones get stewed down into a grouper soup, which has become a regular. It’s also how he has earned the Bluffton communities trust. Russo’s Seafood Market on Red Cedar Drive is as about as popular as it gets in Bluffton. For seafood, anyway.

It’s why he and his staff are throwing a little party. A pre-party for the Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival on Friday, October 16, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the shop on Red Cedar Drive.

It’s a Lowcountry boil built around fresh local shrimp, with 50 VIP tickets under a big tent in the pavilion and live music from Ray Lundy and Bottles and Cans, out of Savannah. No ticket? Charles says to stop by anyway, have a cocktail, and see the space. There will probably be extra food floating around.

The festival itself runs Saturday on Calhoun Street in Old Town. Since the trolley to the festival leaves from the Red Cedar Elementary lot, right next door, Russo Seafood is doing small bites afterward: grouper soup, oysters on the half shell, peel-and-eat shrimp, plus beer and wine.

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