Magnolias

Gumbo returning to the pass

Shrimp, local fish, crab, okra, andouille sausage, and jasmine rice now give Kelly Franz, Culinary Director at Magnolias in French Quarter, Charleston, her clearest station. The Shellfish Gumbo is not a gesture toward the Lowcountry from a distance; it is the dish through which Franz’s return to this kitchen becomes legible. She first came to Charleston in 2002 for the Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College, joined Magnolias while still a student in November 2003, became Sous Chef in 2005, Chef de Cuisine in 2009, and Executive Chef in 2015. In 2025 she returned as Culinary Director, after work with Kiawah Island’s Food & Beverage team beginning in 2019 and leadership at the River Course Clubhouse.

That line matters because Magnolias is a kitchen with memory. Franz had already known its rhythms from 2005 to 2008, and the current title places her back inside a restaurant whose public identity has long rested on polished Southern cooking. The house does not name a mentor for that apprenticeship. What it does make plain is the continuity of the bench: a chef trained in Charleston, advanced inside the restaurant, left for another coastal kitchen, then came back with authority over the menu.

Okra, cornbread, and market fish

The method at Magnolias is built around recognizability rather than disguise. Fried Green Tomatoes, Shellfish Gumbo, Lowcountry Bouillabaisse, Parmesan Crusted Market Catch, and Grilled Filet of Beef carry the room’s grammar: Southern ingredients, Lowcountry seafood, and a finished plate with the polish expected of an upscale dining room. Franz’s 2025 menu changes sharpen that direction without cutting away the older shape of the restaurant.

The Shellfish Gumbo gathers shrimp and local fish into one bowl, a dish whose construction depends on seafood, smoke, starch, and vegetable texture landing in sequence. BBQ Tuna Tartare moves differently. It is served with crispy cornbread and pickled okra, so the plate turns on contrast: cool tuna against the cornmeal snap, vinegar against the sweetness and fat of the fish. Parmesan Crusted Market Catch keeps the day’s fish at the center, then gives it a crust that reads at the fork before it reads as richness. This is not a kitchen chasing novelty. It works the long way with familiar materials.

A customs house with a dining room inside

The room sits inside a restored historic customs house building on East Bay Street, on a site identified in a 1739 map as Charleston’s original Customs House. The building changed over more than 150 years and suffered major damage in the 1887 earthquake; the Parsell Family purchased and restored it beginning in December 1989, and Magnolias opened there in July 1990. That history is not separate from the meal. It gives the pass a certain pressure.

Service moves through an upscale but welcoming Southern dining room, with classic artwork, warm lighting, and a conversational level of noise. Above the main dining areas, the Upper-Level Gallery holds two refined dining rooms and its own fully equipped kitchen, a second layer to the house rather than an afterthought. The room suits the food because neither one asks to be treated as fragile. Fried green tomatoes can arrive with polish and still be fried green tomatoes.

The return that changes the menu

Franz’s next move here is already on the plate: a Charleston kitchen she first entered as a student now carries her 2025 direction as Culinary Director. The clearest measure is the Shellfish Gumbo, with shrimp and local fish at Magnolias.