Home Team BBQ plans big changes for old Harper’s building in Five Points

Let’s get the hard news out of the way first.

The new Home Team BBQ restaurant slated for the former Harper’s location in Five Points will not have a drive-thru window, and the Blue Sky mural on the side of the building will remain.

Also, the Charleston-based restaurant will serve all three types of sauce popular in South Carolina — pepper vinegar, mustard-based and ketchup-based, with an Alabama white sauce thrown is as a kicker.

“We started off our West Ashley location with just our red sauce,” said Aaron Siegel, the operating partner and pit master for the four Home Team restaurants — three in Charleston and one in Aspen, Colo. “It took about two days of me on the frontline getting yelled at and we created a mustard-based sauce.”

Siegel is sitting in the mostly empty dining room in the former Harper’s Restaurant, which closed in May 2017 after serving steaks, barbecue and other American fare at the location for 27 years.

It will be spring before the restaurant opens, Siegel said. And when it does, folks will see a very different room.

Gone will be the wrought iron, dark wood and brick arches from 1990. In its place will be a more open, cleaner and sportier look.

Barring any permitting issues:

▪ The wall between the main dining room and the bar will be opened up, and the bar will be flipped to the far wall where the booths are now.

▪ The dark wood booths near the kitchen will be replaced with new booths and high tops.

▪ The raised dining room floor in the front will be lowered to conform with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

▪ The wall between the foyer and dining room will be taken out to further open up the space.

▪ The front porch will likely be screened in with a new canopy.

▪ The brick interior could be whitewashed for a cleaner feel.

▪ Gamecock and Hootie and the Blowfish paraphernalia will likely grace the walls to give the room a sports-centered, Columbia vibe.

▪ And there will be new windows, lots of televisions and a stage. Yes, a stage.

“We want to have a lot of things going on around the barbecue,” said Siegel, an Atlanta native who opened the first Home Team BBQ restaurant with his partners in West Ashley in 2006. “We like to see a lot of people multiple times a week.”

Siegle went to culinary school in New York and worked in white tablecloth restaurants in Aspen (hence the store there) before migrating to Charleston to open his fast casual barbecue joint.

When Harper’s closed, Siegel said Home Team was tagged several times on social media as a good fit. But the team backed off when it was announced that fast-food restaurant Zaxby’s — with its proposed drive-thru window — was headed to the building.

“So we had to back off,” Siegel said.

But the Zaxby’s plan went away after a public furor (and threat of a lawsuit) over the drive-thru window. And Home Team was back in the running.

“This place is perfect for us,” Siegel said. “Columbia is much more than just a college town — it’s the state capital. (The building) is close to neighborhoods, the university and downtown. And we’ve never had parking like this.”

The Charleston stores feature casual, open and somewhat rustic dining areas.

The downtown Charleston menu features tacos, salads and sandwiches as well as an array of smoked meats from pulled pork, brisket and turkey to chicken and ribs.

A half rack of ribs is advertised for $16.95 per platter and a full rack for $24.95. A two-meat platter goes for $17.50 and three meat platter for $20.50.

But Siegel said the restaurants are known for the smoked chicken wings with the Alabama white sauce.

“It started out as just something to serve at the bar,” he said. “Now its our best seller.”

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 5:47 PM.