East End’s Tricky Fish reopens as The Laporte Café, Coco's adds brunch days
- Steven Keith
- 4 minutes ago
- 5 min read
A longtime on again/off again beach-shack café on Charleston’s East End has reopened with a new name, a creative menu and a popular local chef leading the kitchen.
Tricky Fish is now The Laporte Café, replacing the previous restaurant’s selection of fried seafood, street tacos and sandwiches with an inviting menu of elevated café fare.
A gorgeous (and towering!) Sesame Salad featuring a blend of mixed greens with cucumbers, radish, toasted sesame seeds, fried cabbage, pickled carrots and juicy oranges with fresh herbs. A Chef Salad with savory honey-smoked ham and turkey spiked with bourbon bacon marmalade, a “jammy egg,” onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. A vibrant curried chicken salad with fresh lettuce and tomatoes on focaccia that’s freshly baked in house.
Those dishes and more are being crafted by Chef Jesse Lyons, formerly of Coco’s Kitchen + Café in downtown Charleston, which also now features a new chef and a recurring Sunday brunch. (More on that below!)
The Laporte Café is currently owned by Paul Greco of Sam’s Uptown Café and Red Carpet Lounge fame, and Lyons describes the new restaurant as a place where eclectic flavors meet home cooking.
They got that right. Although you’ll see familiar-sounding dishes on the menu, they’re prepared in creative new ways.
Appetizers include wings and a gorgeous hummus platter, but also a pimento cheese spread made with white cheddar instead of the ubiquitous yellow.
There are wraps, sure, but they’re stuffed with combinations like blackened shrimp with sriracha coconut sauce or beer-braised short ribs with green chili buttermilk sauce and pickled onions.
Heartier entrees include a roasted carrot risotto with Parmesan cream, squash and caramelized pear butter (yes please!) and those aforementioned short ribs atop a mound of whipped smoked white cheddar mashed potatoes with asparagus and roasted sweet baby carrots.
You’ll also find a handful of fresh salads, sandwiches and “build your own burger” options, along with fries, onion rings, chips and side salads. You can wash them down with domestic and import beers, drinks from a full bar or plenty of unleaded options.
With new signs and refreshed décor on the way, outdoor patios for al fresco dining still in place and a talented chef in the kitchen, I predict The Laporte Café will be a popular new addition to Charleston’s East End.
IF YOU GO: The Laporte Café at 1611 Washington St. E. in Charleston is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 304-344-3474 or check out the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Coco’s hosts new recurring brunch downtown
One of the area’s top breakfast and lunch spots now offers an occasional Sunday brunch that is quickly gaining acclaim.
Coco’s Kitchen + Café at 233 Hale St. in downtown Charleston is already popular for its breakfast platters and lunch salads, sandwiches and bowls made with fresh seasonal ingredients. Now they’re adding periodic themed weekend brunches to the mix.
With its former chef moving on to The Laporte Café, the kitchen at Coco’s is now under the helm of Chef Kenneth David “KD” Jones, who has worked at a number of local restaurants and was most recently Executive Chef for former West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.
We popped in for this past Sunday’s Southern-inspired menu featuring both traditional and “with a twist” brunch dishes.
There was my beloved breakfast go-to – buttermilk biscuits smothered in country sausage gravy – but also an unusual fried green tomato benedict with country ham, eggs and hollandaise on a biscuit.
(This dish was the winner in our book, thanks to a perfectly coated thick wedge of green tomato and thinly sliced country ham that was easier to cut than the thicker, harder slices you usually see.)
There was a giant plate of steak and eggs with breakfast potatoes, but also cornmeal-fried catfish and Appalachian grits with half-runner green beans.
And let’s not forget the jumbo apple streusel-glazed donut topped with apple butter and walnuts.
The Cinco de Mayo-themed brunch we had in late April there featured a gloriously messy chorizo burger with fried egg, bacon, jack cheese and guacamole; unfortunately messy shrimp tacos (the tortillas immediately fell apart) with grilled pineapple, red cabbage, pickled jalapeno, cotija cheese and chipotle crèma; and a savory carne asada burrito bowl where the steak could’ve used a pinch more seasoning.
The fluffy buttermilk tres leches pancakes topped with crème Chantilly and candied pecans we had that day, however, were perfection on a plate.
Those slight steak and tortilla missteps aside, Coco’s continues to be one of the best breakfast, lunch (and now brunch!) spots in the region.
IF YOU GO: Coco’s Kitchen + Café at 233 Hale St. in Charleston is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday, with occasional weekend brunches. For more information, call 304-343-6420, visit www.cocoswv.com or check out the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Downtown Graziano’s Pizza closing … for real
A beloved pizzeria in downtown Charleston says it’s closing its doors. For real, this time.
A sign posted on the door of Graziano’s Pizza at 243 Capitol St. says: “To our customer’s (sic) we will be closing down as of 6/30/25. It’s been a pleasure serving you! Thank you!”
Since the restaurant had announced it would close before – most recently back in September 2024, only to reverse course a day later and decide to stay open under reduced hours – I called myself to get the scoop.
“Yes honey,” the employee told me, “June 30 really is our last day.”
That means you only have a few more days to enjoy a classic New York-style pie and more at the downtown location.
For those still wanting their Graziano’s fix after that, Graziano’s Pizza at 14 River Walk Plaza in South Charleston and Graziano’s Pizza Express at 925 Dunbar Ave. in Dunbar remain open.
IF YOU GO: Graziano’s Pizza at 243 Capitol St. is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The restaurant’s last day in business is Monday, June 30. For more information, call 304-342-8554.
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Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national culinary publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or at wvfoodguy@aol.com.