Govan’s Sports, Blues and Soul Food restaurant is a place where old meets new. Although the Fairfax eatery has a strong foundation in soul food and Gullah traditions, its pop art murals, modern interior design and overall youth bring those traditions to a new generation.
“You come back ten years from now, I’d be cooking the same thing,” says chef Martin Govan as he stirs up a batch of trio rice, a famous Gullah dish.
Since 2017, Martin and his wife, Deborah Govan, have been running Govan’s Sports, Blues and Soul Food restaurant, a blip in their 40-year marriage. Despite being open for six years — including during the pandemic — the restaurant has earned a reputation and brings people from around the world to Fairfax.
“The food definitely touches the soul,” said Tressa, Deborah and Martin’s daughter. During the restaurant’s Thursday-Sunday hours, Tressa works the bar, Deborah delivers orders and Martin cooks in the kitchen.
Through practicing the cooking methods that his Gullah family members and ancestors have passed down to him, Martin is both a chef and a preservationist. He grew up with 13 siblings on Hilton Head Island, learning to cook soul food recipes from his mother. He learned more soul food recipes while working at a kitchen in high school, before he grew sick of working in the kitchen and swore off cooking. However, decades later, Martin has put on his apron again to cook a time-honored menu of Gullah dishes — candied yams, shrimp and grits, blue crab — to bring his Gullah identity to a new audience.
The Gullah are an ethnic group from the coastal lowcountry region whose ancestors were West Africans enslaved on American plantations on the southeast coast. For hundreds of years they have lived in the lowcountry region, from northern Florida to North Carolina. Their distinctive cuisine is known for preserving the culinary techniques that their ancestors used prior to enslavement. Today, the Gullah and their cuisine face new challenges, like ecosystem collapse due to corporate development and climate change.
Even the simplest of dishes, like hush puppies, collard greens and okra soup, are Gullah classics that Martin cooks with dedicated precision. Although Martin occasionally considers swapping some items on the menu for others, his method of cooking each dish remains exactly the same, down to the sauces.
“That’s what make this place so unique,” Martin said. “Things are consistent. I’m the last of the Gullah generation on Hilton Head, the last of the Gullah tradition.”
The story of Govan’s bar is in line with the economic revitalization that the Allendale County community has been looking for: take a run down building on Route 278 and reopen it as a colorful new mom and pop business. However, Deborah said getting Govan’s to be where it is today took a lot of work. Fortunately, Martin’s background in construction gave the family the vision to revitalize the place.
“When I first walked in here, it looked like a haunted house,” Deborah said. “We had to tear out the ceiling, tear paneling off of the walls, the floors, and we tore out the bar as well.”
The restaurant has seen people from Australia, England, New York and Arizona walk through its doors. Deborah said that in addition to cooking the food, the restaurant is also a place for the community to gather and dance.
“It means so much to me,” Deborah Govan said. “We get to know them by name, and the ones we don’t know, we learn their names as well. [Martin] prepares the food, and I plate the food because you eat with your eyes. My plates have to be perfect coming out.”
To complement its food, the walls are covered with posters of musicians from the blues and jazz era, and the restaurant keeps a revolving door of live music performances. Deborah Govan said her family often dances with its customers, earning Martin the nickname “the dancing chef.”
“Getting to know our customers, that’s so important,” Deborah said. “We greet them at the door, thank them for coming and I say goodbye when they leave.”
One of Martin’s goals with the restaurant is to bring the community’s youth together around his soul food recipes. Currently, Martin is looking to employ high school students to give them an education in the Gullah tradition and help teach the next generation of Gullah cooks.
“We’d like to train some high school kids, especially with this Gullah tradition, this food,” Martin said. “I want to reach out to young kids because I know they’re the future of this area.”
Govan’s Sports, Blues and Soul Food is located at 158 7th Street, Fairfax. Contact them on Facebook or at (803) 632-6006.
