Eating while riding horseback was pioneered by the efficient Mongols, who also adjusted to reading, receiving haircuts, and filling out their taxes atop their four-legged mobiles. Enjoy the convenience of chairs and tables with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of innovative international cuisine at The Studio in Hilton Head.

The walls of the warmly lit dining room where chef Paul Colella serves up mouth-watering entrees—such as cabernet-reduction prime filet mignon ($30) and tangy papaya-salsa-topped Carribean snapper ($29)—double as an art gallery for the colorful figurative paintings of his wife, Lunonia. The sight of Lunonia slathering oils on canvas in the dining room, or the sounds of guitarist Armand DeMille's retro rock ballads each Friday and Saturday night, may whip guests into a creative fervor, but the restaurant's list of 70 red and white wines and specialty coffee drinks rewards lingerers who don't drop their forks immediately to consecrate their lives to artistic creation and the careful maintenance of unicorn-hair paintbrushes.

Reviews

More than 170 TripAdvisors give The Studio an average of 4.5 owl eyes and Open Table reviewers give it an overall rating of 4.5 stars:

• One of the best meals we have every [sic] had!! 6 of us ordered different dishes. Each was prepared and presented in a way that left our eyes and palates wanting more. The art, the atmosphere and THE FOOD are truly something you must experience. – Flyrod34, Trip Advisor
• This is a very unique restaurant and we will be returning whenever we are in the area. The restaurant features artwork from local artists, a live performing artist, and a painter working on a canvas. It is small and intimate and the music was the perfect volume. – Open Table reviewer who dined on 11/06/2010