‘It was just cookin’ ’: Sea Pines executive chef showcases Lowcountry cuisine on ‘Today’ show

Ben Harris, an executive chef at Quarterdeck restaurant in Sea Pines, was in New York City this week, putting Lowcountry cuisine on display on the “Today” show.

NBC’s “3rd Hour of Today” team was so impressed with his recipe for fried street corn elote fingers during their visit to Hilton Head Island in May that they invited him to prepare the dish in front of a nationwide audience. During the live show, he also prepared a second appetizer, — local charcoal-roasted shrimp, infused with garlic butter, Old Bay seasoning and fine herbs — and shared it on the show.

“NBC was great. It was first-rate. Everything, all the staff, everyone that worked there was just great to work with and, normally you think you’d be nervous in a situation like that, but just kind of given how comfortable they make you feel, it was just ‘cookin’.”

If you missed it, fans of Chef Ben, Lowcountry cuisine and the “Today” show can view the special “savory Southern sides” episode on NBC’s ‘Today’ show website.

This was Harris’ first time on national television and second time in New York City. He previously had been to the Big Apple a few years ago to cook at the James Beard House.

When asked what he would have chosen to make if he could have prepared one more dish, Harris replied, “Seafood in general, just being where we’re at. I love cooking seafood. I’m really proud of the seafood that we get. I think it’s second to none in the nation, which makes my job really easy. So, I think maybe something classic like a shrimp and grits or like frogmore stew or something fun like that where it’s just a classic dish.”

The food used on the show was both locally sourced from the Lowcountry and from areas around New York City. All shrimp was sourced locally from Craig Reeves in Beaufort. The shrimp was then shipped to the city for the “Today” show.

When asked about the opportunity to cook on network television, Harris replied, “It’s cool. It’s fun. I think it’s great for us as a whole because we are such a big tourist destination, that to have the restaurants get recognized as well is just great. We have really strong chefs, really great restaurants, and for that to be seen on a national stage I think is really cool.

“This means we’re doing something right. We’re getting recognized a little bit. I think what we’re doing is ringing true to people all the way in New York, which is great. It’s reaffirming of what we want to do.”

One of the “3rd Hour of Today” anchors couldn’t get enough of Harris’ cooking. South Carolina native, Craig Melvin, visited Hilton Head Island with his family and dined on Chef Ben’s cuisine at Quarterdeck again on Thursday evening. Some of Melvin’s favorites include the corn, shrimp and oysters which no doubt would be sent to the table.

“I think what makes South Carolina, you know our southern food, so unique is that it’s pulled from so many different countries and different areas and different locations,” he said. “We have western-African influences, we’ve got creole influences, and all that pairs up with our wonderful shrimp and our wonderful rice and we ended up with this medley which is fantastic food.”

Harris was one of the creative geniuses behind the remake of Quarterdeck’s menu and overall restaurant setup along with several other instrumental chefs.

“It was a fun process because we had such a great chef team. Chef Kevin is [an] executive chef at Quarterdeck, then you have Ryan Alpaugh who is the Chef De Cuisine, and then we have two sous chefs, Kelly Rapp and Michael Porter, and we all worked really well together on it. Sea Pines was gracious enough to give us a full year to really ‘R and D’ (research and develop) everything and really plan everything out. ... It was a great process with a great team,” said Harris on the year-long process of developing new flavors and cuisine for Quarterdeck’s grand reopening.

“We play to where we are. We play to the seafood, it’s very seafood-heavy, it’s very local seafood heavy, but then we try to mix in some fun little things like our fried chicken, [which] I think is some of the best fried chicken in the area, and our prime rib is also just a level above, I think.”