HAMPTONS Ravioli

33 N. Main St. Wednesday through Friday 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., dinner only on Saturdays and brunch from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Sundays himself to his customers, molding it into different shapes and colors that are matched with intense flavors.

“I think it’s one of the most beautiful art in the kitchen because it’s not just about the shape. It’s about filling, the sauce, the garnish. It’s so complex, the whole process. That’s why I absolutely love it,” he said.

The Hamptons menu changes often to utilize different seasonal veggies and entrees. But there’s always some type of pasta on the menu. Here, Dall’Erta prepared a two-part ravioli – one half filled with braised short rib and the other half a specialty cheese – all tucked and folded into his homemade Italian pasta.

Not only is it the only fine-dining restaurant in the city, but Hamptons serves up true Italian cuisine that rivals anywhere across the state, and it’s all led by Chef Raffaele Dall’Erta.

“My passion, you can see on the plate, but it’s something you can’t find in a lot of restaurants in the region. All the ingredients,” he said, “it’s very unusual or hard to find.”

Pasta in America can be tricky, especially in the grocery store. But Dall’Erta’s ravioli and other pasta dishes are homemade, more dense and rich in flavor. Almost straight from Italy.

He also gets local, fresh produce and ingredients that come straight from Italy, making his ravioli more unique than others and close to home.

It’s also a dish that allows Dall’Erta to express

Although the pasta is what stands out, it’s the sauce that brings on the flavor. With this dish, he used a vegetable stock and butter blended with oven-roasted tomatoes, truffle pieces, garlic and other ingredients; it enhanced the flavor.

His pastas range in flavors from traditional to spinach, kale, beet, butternut and more. It’s always something new but addictive.

“When the food is good, I always believe there’s no better cuisine than any other,” Dall’Erta said. “A long time ago, people told me Italian cuisine was meatball and spaghetti. That’s not how I grew up. I grew up with the food I’m doing now.”

Dining tip: Hamptons is known for its fine dining atmosphere at dinner time, as featured in The Post & Courier and as a 2020-2021 Chef Ambassador for the State of South Carolina. It also serves an affordable lunch menu with the same feel. You can enjoy some of Chef’s homemade pasta or Italian fixings at lunch time for less than $15.

Cut Rate Soda Fountain

Known

Chicken Salad

If you want a nostalgic, old-time diner feel, downtown’s Cut Rate Soda Fountain will give you just that with traditional breakfast and lunch plates.

“If I had to pick one dish that said it would be Sumter, it would be our chicken salad sandwich,” said Todd Touchberry, general manager of Sumter’s Cut Rate Soda Fountain. “It’s been served a little over 60 years, and the recipe has never changed.”

Cut Rate Soda Fountain’s very own Mamie Brown, 87, who has worked at the drug store/diner since 1971, helped Touchberry keep the chicken salad recipe alive and original, serving it as a sandwich, a whirly ding served on lettuce with tomato or a split whirly served with both pimento cheese and the Sumter signature.

“It’s definitely a secret recipe, but it does involve chicken,” Touchberry said.

On a slow day, they’ll go through 40 pounds of chick- en, Touchberry said. The record high was 220 pounds in a day. The high count comes from a combination of dine-in orders and to-go pints and quarts available for purchase.

“We sell probably an average of 25-35 pints a day,” Touchberry said. “Everything’s done by hand. We shred it, mix it up, all homemade. So there may be some slight inconsistencies from one batch to the next because we don’t measure. We do everything by feel.”

Brown always tells Touchberry that the mayo-based signature was made with love, and Touchberry continues that tradition, too, with every plate and pint.

Right at the start of South Main Street is J. O’Gradys, home of the Sumter County Sports Hall of Fame and a fan-favorite sandwich that keeps locals and newcomers coming back for more, the Sammy’s Way.

“What makes it a Sumter signature is because it’s named after Coach Way,” said Scott Estep, owner of the downtown hub. “He’s our local historian.”

Way was also an educator and track coach at Sumter High for many years. He is currently the archivist at The Sumter Item and runs the Sumter Military Museum.

“We like to name our burgers and sandwiches after local athletes since we’re the home of the Sumter County Sports Hall of Fame, and Coach Way was instrumental not only as a coach in town because he was a track coach at Sumter High and they won multiple state championships, and he was instrumental in a lot of people’s lives, but his big deal with us,” Estep said, “I went to him to help me to be able to display the items for the Sumter County Sports Hall of Fame.”

Covering every inch of wall in the restaurant are pho- tographs, jerseys and other memorabilia of past and current local athletes, some major like New York Yankees living legend Bobby Richardson, a Sumter native and resident, and others from their time in high school. There’s a bit of history at each bar stool and table, and a story with every two-handed bite.

The Sammy’s Way sandwich, like all J. O’Gradys’ sandwiches, can be ordered with grilled chicken, beef burger or black bean patty. But this Sumter signature is ordered most as a grilled chicken sandwich, giving it a Hawaiian feel with the pineapple and teriyaki glaze, matched with a savory, creamy aioli on a salt-and-pepper bun.

Estep said the part of the creation that keeps people coming back is the unique salt-and-pepper buns with a touch of poppyseed on top.