We Speak Dining & Drinks

Chef Johnny Curiel Brings the Fire of Jalisco to Charleston With Alteño

Published

4 days ago

November 11, 2026

Aguachile verde, the raw seafood dish at the heart of Jalisco coastal cooking. Photo by Pequeño mar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Charleston has built its reputation on coastal cooking, and its newest arrival speaks that language with a Jalisco accent. Alteño, from Chef Johnny Curiel and his partner Kasie Curiel of Fonda Fina Hospitality, has opened on the ground floor of The Charlee on Cannon, bringing the food of Mexico’s Jalisco Highlands to a city that understands seafood and smoke.

The restaurant sits at 89 Cannon St, and it is the first room the Curiels have designed from the ground up. An open kitchen anchors the 55 seat dining room, with a 10 seat chef’s counter facing the raw bar and a hearth and grill fired by wood at the center of the cooking. The name honors Curiel’s father, a chef and restaurateur known in his home region as the original Alteño, or highlander.

The menu follows the rhythm of a highlands meal, unhurried and shared. It opens with crudos and seafood in the cevichería tradition, including an Aguachile Negro made with local Tarvin shrimp and a rotating selection of South Carolina seafood in the Pesca A Las Brasas. Oysters come grilled over open flame as Ostiones A La Lena, with Yahualica butter and serrano ponzu. Pan De Elote arrives as a jalapeño cornbread with huitlacoche butter and smoked honey, and the Cachetada layers prime New York strip on two tortillas joined by melted cheese, a nod to a food stall in Tepatitlán where Curiel grew up eating. The drinks list leans on Jalisco as the birthplace of tequila, with an Avocado Margarita, an Oaxacan Old Fashioned and a Mexican take on the Carajillo.

“We’ve always been inspired by Charleston’s vibrant restaurant community and strong sense of place,” says Chef Johnny Curiel. “Much of my cooking draws from Jalisco’s seafood culture, so it feels natural to connect that with Charleston’s own deep coastal identity.”

The Denver flagship of Alteño opened in 2025 and earned a Michelin Recommendation, and Curiel was a James Beard Finalist for Best Chef: Mountain in 2026. In Charleston the restaurant serves its full menu daily from 3 pm to 10 pm, with a small bites menu on weekdays from 3 pm to 5 pm and drink specials from 4 pm to 5 pm.

Red Robin Bets Its Comeback on a Chef With 34 Years at California Pizza Kitchen

Published

4 days ago

November 11, 2026

We Speak Media

A gourmet burger, the dish at the center of the Red Robin menu revamp. Photo by Marshall Astor, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Comebacks in the restaurant business usually start in the kitchen, and Red Robin is making that literal. The burger chain has hired Brian Sullivan as its vice president of culinary and beverage innovation, handing its menu revamp to a chef who spent 34 years shaping the food at California Pizza Kitchen.

Sullivan began at California Pizza Kitchen as a kitchen manager and rose to senior vice president of culinary innovation, where he helped define the chain’s habit of putting global flavors on pizza. He also recently helped launch that chain’s first burger, an experience that translates directly to his new job. He left the pizza company in an executive shakeup late last year.

The hire reunites him with G.J. Hart, Red Robin’s chief executive, who took over in September and previously led California Pizza Kitchen with Sullivan in its kitchen. Hart has since hired a new chief financial officer and chief legal officer as part of a near total rebuild of the leadership team. “I enjoyed working with Brian during my time at California Pizza Kitchen and consider him one of the best culinary minds in the industry,” Hart said in a statement. “Menu quality and innovation is a major component of our comeback plan and Brian and his team are making great progress on menu enhancements we will roll out later this year.”

The early agenda is concrete. Red Robin plans to install flat top grills to improve its burgers, refresh its milkshakes and widen the entree selection across its 510 restaurants. “I am excited to join an iconic brand like Red Robin, known for their wide variety of gourmet burgers, bottomless fries, and creative beverages,” Sullivan said in a statement. “We are going to create an amazing menu and have a lot of fun.”

For a sit down burger chain fighting for relevance, the bet is that a familiar name in the kitchen can make the food worth talking about again.