All she is, is one of the most popular names on the Hilton Head Island restaurant scene. The reason why is pretty simple. Her BBQ is the best on the island. Don’t kid yourself, Orchid Paulmeier’s success story at One Hot Mama’s didn’t happen overnight.
“The original concept opened up in Bluffton in 2003. Downtown Bluffton wasn’t there. It was just a completely different landscape. The families weren’t quite there yet. They were starting. Including my own family.” she says.
She opened her Hilton Head Island location in 2007. “At one point, we had two restaurants. Bluffton and Hilton Head. Two completely different places.” she says. “Then 2008 (economic downturn) happened. We thought in the big picture, this spot, because of the tourists and the energy on the island, we thought this was the way to go.”
When she made the decision to give it a go full time on Hilton Head Island, she absolutely knew what she was doing. After all, her food was some of the most popular around. Now, in a centralized location near Sea Pines Circle. Everyone is coming through One Hot Mama’s at one point or another. Why?
“I think being at the South end. In the plaza draws people here. Everyone drives the circle.” she says “You can’t be on vacation or even live here without driving on the circle. So you have to pass us. The food and atmosphere and the people is what keeps them coming back.”
Orchid will tell you her biggest joy is seeing people returning year after year while they are on vacation. Sometimes multiple times during vacation week. The food is that good. Like she said, her Southern style BBQ is the go-to here, Southern style, yes, but with a bit of a twist”
“I do think growing up Filipino. My parents are 100% Filipino, I am 100% Filipino. Those are influences that I have in my cooking or how I season things or how I marinate things? Those are my dad’s recipes. But do I smoke it like the Southerns do? Yeah, low and slow. That’s the way to go.”
“Everyone in this BBQ business, we are all cooking the same thing. It’s just our little tweaks that makes us different.” She says.
The ribs are smoked overnight but finished off on the grill before they come falling off the bone tender. The same could be said for all of her BBQ actually. Low and slow is the way to go. “Our smoker holds 550 pounds of meat and it is filled every day at 8:00pm we load it. We turn it on by 9:00pm. It smokes all night, in the morning we take out the pork and the brisket. Then we load it right back up with the chicken, wings, rib tips the whole thing. We’ve perfected our version of those items. Brisket is tender. Sliced beautiful. With the ribs, the bones come right out.”
She’s not kidding either.
Same thing on her chicken wings. They might just be the best for 100 miles from this spot. The trick? They go into the smoker first as well. Just like the BBQ.
“People love the fried wings. We have some great flavors that go with the fried wings. What we have become famous for is we smoke some of our wings, then grill them with the assorted sauces. I think that gives it nice caramelization. Smoke is a whole other level of flavor.”
Frying them before hitting them with sauce makes a huge difference on wings that were already cooked a few hours on a smoker. Some of them are grilled. They can be very popular. For our money, fried are the way to go. Sauces? She has about a dozen.
“Then you’ve got that stickyness on the outside, everything is caramelized. You can’t be a afraid to get a little messy.” Orchid says.
You got that right. The vibe here at One Hot Mama’s is some of the best on the island. Late night they’ll move some tables around, bring in a DJ and open it up for some dancing. By Sunday morning, there’s a popular brunch. In between? One Hot Mama’s is a signature stop around here.
“It’s a first stop for a lot of people. So it’s busy. But its fun. We have music playing, the staff is lively. It’s very relaxed atmosphere. There are a lot of places to dine around here.” Orchid tells us. “We are very laid back. It’s nice to relax and eat and enjoy each others company.”
“I had a little lady the other day tell me ‘this is the 4th time we’ve been here this week.” she says. “But we are going for number 5.”
And so should you.
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