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Pollo Tropical
Chicken and Ribs Combo -
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The Shelter Kitchen + Bar
Shrimp and Grits -
Hank's Seafood Restaurant
Seafood Tower -
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Roti Rolls
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Coast
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Pane e Vino
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Xiao Bao Biscuit
Okonomiyaki
Why do we eat out? Robert Moss ponders this question in his essay about the approachability and “chefiness” of food. He dines out for the same reasons I do. To find something new. To see a chef’s point of view. To experience something memorable. It’s too easy to make macaroni and cheese at home, or grill a steak, or toss together a fresh salad. What’s not easy is finding topnotch ingredients, or taking several days to make one dish with many components, or composing a perfectly balanced and beautiful plate. That’s why we save our money and go to the best restaurants with the most serious chefs. To get a taste of something extraordinary and have our minds blown by someone’s creativity and talent. I recently had a dish that did just that. It was made with the most exquisite vegetables and put together with tremendous care and thought. As soon as I saw it on the menu I wanted it — the nine-vegetable salad at FIG. Each veggie, at the height of its flavor, was painstakingly prepared — some were pickled, others blanched, some served raw — and they all came together in a perfectly composed salad I’d never dare spend so much time on at home. It was a magical dish that made me appreciate the chef’s skill and care with vegetables. And it made me happy that I was able to experience it. So that’s why I go out to eat. For dishes like the 9-vegetable salad at FIG. —Stephanie Barna
Upscale Dining
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Peninsula Grill
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Halls Chophouse
Steakhouse -
The Library Restaurant at Vendue Inn
New Southern -
Cypress Lowcountry Grille
Modern American
Casual Fine Dining
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Lowcountry Bistro
Southern -
Basil
Thai + Vietnamese -
The Grocery
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Hominy Grill
New Southern
Neighborhood Favorites
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CO
Thai + Vietnamese -
Early Bird Diner
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Vespa Pizzeria
Pizza -
The Glass Onion
New Southern
Cheap Eats
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Verde
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Sesame Burgers & Beer
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HoM
Burgers -
Voodoo Tiki Bar and Lounge
Tapas Bar
Cocktail Bars
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Thoroughbred Club
Cocktail Bar
Food Trucks
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Autobanh Food Truck
Food Trucks
Over the past year, we've lost some dear old stalwarts and few restaurants have opened to replace them, but if you've followed the Charleston food scene, you have to be excited. Yes, the headline remains our continued dominance of the James Beard Best Chef: Southeast category — this year featuring a win by Sean Brock of McCrady's — but a larger, more global shift has been taking place, and in the process it's redefined the essence of what it means to cook and eat in Charleston. — Jeff Allen
I'm often asked by visitors for the best place to go for local crabs. Upon further questioning, it usually turns out that what they have in mind is one of those places where they dump whole steamed crabs out on newspapers and you crack them open with big wooden mallets. Charleston, I have to explain, just isn't that kind of town. If you want to get down and dirty and ruin your clothes with shellfish juice, we've got oyster roasts and Lowcountry boils. All the trappings are there: big gas burners and steamer pots, the long improvised tables covered with newspapers. We bring out big silver baskets of steaming-hot oysters and fat pink shrimp and dump them out on the tables for diners to attack. But few folks ever seem to throw in a few bushels of crabs. — Robert Moss
Pimento cheese is, in many ways, a dish of the people. Its widely available ingredients — sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and pimentos — invite even the least ambitious home chef to whip up a batch. Of course, for the culinary minds that reside in the kitchens of Charleston's best restaurants, the creamy spread is an invitation to experiment, similar to what's been done with staples like grits or green tomatoes. — Cameron Jones
Every corner store needs to stock the basics: smokes, wine, beer, tubs of pimento cheese. OK, some of these items might be optional, but downtown's favorite corner shops cater to both the college students and the neighborhood foodies, who can sometimes prove to be the very same people. Sprinkled throughout the streets south of Calhoun Street are a handful of locally owned stores that have shelves full of the staples their modern clientele demands. They'll sell the frat boys a pack of cigarettes and a suitcase of Busch beer, but they're also ready to help a harried mom get dinner on the table or let a single guy pull up a chair and sit down for a quiet meal with his newspaper — Stephanie Barna
An artisan is a craftsman, someone who produces handmade goods using as little machinery as possible. The goal for a craftsman is not making money or attaining a big, glamorous lifestyle. His goal is to deliver an honest product made with honest ingredients and intentions. — Jeffrey Alexander
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- Rezoning the Sergeant Jasper apartment building will have a big effect on what replaces it4 comments
- Barbecue nonsense, Texas-style2 comments
- What kind of Spoletian are you?1 comment
- The Film Incentive Bill hurts you and me1 comment
- Water, beer, and coffee make the world go ’round1 comment
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Oak Steakhouse
This is one of my favorite downtown restaurants. I have tried every appetizer and always… -brewengineer
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Craftsmen Kitchen and Tap House
I finally made it into the peninsula to visit Craftsmen Kitchen, after a couple month… -brewengineer
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Charleston Bakery
Web site advertising, sign on door, and telephone message says hours are 7 AM to… -Jim McKelvey
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Chopsticks House
This is truly the tastiest Chinese food in recent memory. After 10 years living near… -drval
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Phuong Restaurant
Yes! -Paul Cheney
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Three distilleries pledge to raise spirits with more local booze
Ginning Up
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Putting together a night to remember is easy when Spoleto's in town
Show and Place Pairings
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Bourbon be damned, it's time to return to rum
Seafaring Spirit
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Republic Reign touches down like a fabulously stylish mothership on King Street
It Has Arrived
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Barbecue nonsense, Texas-style
One True 'Cue?
