Meyer Davis Designs the Signature Restaurant in Charleston’s First Luxury Waterfront Hotel

Opening Shot is a column that peeks inside new hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops with dreamy interiors.

The Crossing
Designer: Meyer Davis
Location: Charleston, South Carolina

On Offer: For a city whose culture is intrinsically tied to its rivers, lowlands, and port—one of the busiest and deepest on the East Coast—Charleston has long lacked a luxury hotel on its waterfront. When it opened on March 30, The Cooper became the South Carolina city’s first, offering 191 rooms, a private marina, a 7,000-square-foot spa, and four dining concepts overlooking its harbor at the mouth of the Cooper River. The hotel’s signature restaurant, The Crossing, extends the maritime spirit with a yacht-inspired design by Meyer Davis, complete with teak millwork, a sail-like Lasvit crystal light sculpture, and Honey Onyx surfaces whose unique veining evokes a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding marshlands.

With 205 seats across three dining rooms, a cocktail bar, raw bar, and outdoor terrace, The Crossing offers all-day dining in right-sized rooms, each with sightlines to the next to maintain an easy flow. Designing a restaurant as a series of more intimate spaces is meant to tap into Southern hospitality, “feeling warm and welcomed at somebody’s home,” explains Gray Davis, cofounder of New York City–based architecture and design studio Meyer Davis. Or in this case, someone’s boat. Light- and medium-toned woods, honey-colored stones, and blue accents, from lacquered ceilings to leather-upholstered seating, give the interior a coastal palette while burnished brass and polished nickel elements reference the sleek sailboats regularly visible on the water outside. (As part of its concierge program, the hotel offers guest excursions on a fleet of luxury vessels, including a Hinckley yacht.) Other local cues can be found in the private dining room, which Portland, Oregon–based decorative painter Lonesome Pictoria surrounded in a custom marsh mural, and the Captain’s Lounge, a dining room with harbor views, whose wall curtains are printed with a map of Charleston.

Standout Features: Executive Chef Nick Dugan, also of local favorite Sorelle, Meyer Davis’ first Charleston project, similarly looked to the Lowcountry for menu inspirations. Local seafood and other ingredients feature heavily on his Mediterranean-influenced menu. At breakfast, Greek yogurt bowls, bagel and smoked fish plates, and shakshouka are among the offerings while dinner might start with shared mezze, including dips like baba ganoush, hummus, or tzatziki served with wood-fired pita; spanakopita; and loukaniko sausage with orange peel and fennel pollen and then move onto a whole market price Carolina Snapper, presented and then served tableside. If a comfortable seat at the raw bar is preferred, market fresh crudo and raw shellfish options explore the best of local waters, and the martini menu offers three tiers of libations: timeless, adventurous, and bespoke.

“Part of what we design for is the possibility to enjoy a space under a myriad of different settings,” explains Will Meyer, cofounder of Meyer Davis. Located on the second floor of the hotel, the restaurant is open to all and envisioned as a local joint, for gatherings of all kinds. “There’s a strong social aspect to the space that I feel is very Charleston,” Meyer continues. “It’s a sense of comfort, generosity, and genteelness.” Davis concurs: “The design is really driven by comfort, so it feels like a place that you want to linger.” And when South Carolinians get together, a good time is sure to be had.