Charleston, SC - Part 1
Picking up where I left off last in Savannah, we will now make our way to Charleston. The list of things I want to highlight is very long so I thought I'd start with the most important category: food. We ate our way through Charleston and here are our favorites and recommendations! Word to the wise - call ahead and make all your reservations. We made every one of our reservations a few weeks ahead of when we left. Even then, some of the reservations we got were pretty late in the evening. [Pictured above: Xiao Bao Biscuit.]
On our first night in Charleston, we dined at The Ordinary. Highly recommend if you are a seafood fan. The restaurant was formerly a bank with beautiful high ceilings and a very open floor plan. We started with raw oysters, followed by the jumbo lump blue crab toast and then the steak tartare. For the main, Dan and I split the grilled New Orleans style bbq white shrimp (which was incredible)!
Of course, we had to have breakfast at Hominy Grill. Be willing to wait! We got there right as they opened and still had to wait about 45 minutes before being seated. Breakfast was simple and delicious!
We were lucky enough to live a few doors down from Black Tap Coffee. Their lavender latte is a must! Dan ordered their coffee cocktail - a mojito I believe - and it was very refreshing!
The Darling Oyster is just that - darling. The food was excellent. Once again, we started with a dozen delicious oysters. We then split the house smoked salmon dip - so yum. For our mains, Dan opted for the lobster & king crab roll and I went for seared diver scallops.
It was incredibly hot most of the days were were in Charleston. So every few hours, I'd ask to stop into a coffeehouse/bakery for a cold drink and a snack. Bakehouse was my life saver. I washed down our key lime pie and scone with an iced latte. The air conditioner was an added perk!
How could we travel down south and not indulge on some biscuits? Callie's Hot Little Biscuit was everything and more. I'm a pimento cheese addict, so I was immediately drawn to the sausage, egg and pimento cheese biscuit sandwich (pictured on the left). Dan thoroughly enjoyed his bacon, egg and cheddar biscuit sandwich. We both saved the top of our biscuit and ordered a side of jam to finish it off. The jam was delish! You can order a few of their mini biscuits to try the different flavors. What a smart idea!
I'm not a big ice cream person at all (I know, gasp!!!). But for three nights in a row, I asked Dan if we could get dessert at Jeni's - it might have had to do with the heat. I was obsessed with their churro flavor. Sadly, on the last night we went there, it was SOLD OUT (the nerve!). The brambleberry crisp flavor wasn't so bad!
The most interesting and entertaining dinner we had was hands down at R. Kitchen. Look closely at the picture and you will see our menu. The whole premise is that you don't really know what you'll have for dinner. It all depends on what the chef bought that day. The chefs are very interactive and are a wild cast of characters. There are bottles of wine/prosecco/ rose scattered about the bar and everyone just shares. I was beyond stuffed by the end of the 5 courses. Reservations are a MUST, as they only do 2 seatings a night of about 18 people each time.
Even though we were down south where low country food is bountiful, we sought out Asian food. Xiao Bao Biscuit came highly recommended by my friend Laura. You may have already seen this picture on my IG but I had to share it again here. This is the cabbage pancake with an added egg and pork candy. This dish shocked my taste buds; it was so good.
This is the green curry with local fish and roti over a bed of rice. It's pretty spicy, which I loved.
Oh yeah, we didn't stop at two dishes. We splurged for a third: pad kra pow.
We actually learned about Byrd's cookies in Savannah, where these are made. But on one of our strolls around Charleston we found a store and popped in. Mainly because you can sample any and all of the cookies ;) This was my favorite flavor so we brought a bag home.
On our last evening in Charleston, we took a little drive over the bridge to Mount Pleasant to dine at Grace & Grit. In talking to the hostess, we found out it had only been open for a few short months. We started off with the Grit Flight - two savory and two sweet kinds of grits. The sweet ones (peaches n cream and blueberry) were suprisingly yummy but my favorite was, hands down, the pimento cheese! Still daydreaming about the whole fish Dan ordered at the Pink House in Savannah, I ordered the whole fried local snapper. It's intense looking, yes, but was oh so good. There was so much fish I couldn't even finish; a great last meal.
On our last day in Charleston, Dan had the best idea. Airport food is never the greatest and choices are somewhat limited. We took matters into our own hand and found the cutest meat and cheese shop: goat.Sheep. cow. With the help of the knowledgeable person behind the counter, she helped us pick a few meats and cheeses. This made our short flight home a lot more enjoyable!
Look at this beautiful case of cheeses - pure heaven.