Food, Drink, Architecture in Charleston

The Turk and I stayed on Queen Street and were in the heart of things at the south end of Charleston.  Reservations were difficult to get at the best restaurants, so we had a plan!  We headed for the bar where we tasted their signature cocktails and snacked on a spectacular dish – typically an appetizer size.  Then, we’d head out for another restaurant bar and do it over again! It is easy to talk to people around a bar and we met folks from all over.  Where did we go?

Fleet Landing – we had coupons for free drinks, so we started here at this former Navy debarkation building on the water. We ordered fried green tomatoes that came with layers of seafood salad, and we got a bowl of gumbo.  Thumbs up for the gumbo but everything else was just ok.

Gin Joint – amazing cocktails in this small bar.  We snacked on fresh baked pretzels and duck meatball sliders. While the duck meatballs were good, the bread was doughy.  The clever thing about cocktail choices was the option of a drink created by the bartended based on 2 words that you choose (from a list). 

Eli’s Table – we found out that Charleston makes any excuse to serve brunch with unlimited mimosa’s and bloody mary’s.  Saturday was a good excuse and we found Eli’s serving. I required grits, biscuit and applewood bacon with an egg for legitimacy so the breakfast biscuit was perfect.  The Turk chose a mushroom and cheese omelet, but thought it was dry.  While he doesn’t like grits, I noticed that the half I left on my plate disappeared when I wasn’t looking.  We tried the oyster soup to see what it was and we weren’t excited. In fact, we found 1 oyster.  Our fearless waitress took it back and returned with more oysters, but it still wasn’t that tasty. Overall, we really liked Eli’s for the location, the staff and overall food.  

Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) – the cocktail menu was basic so the big delight here was the food.  We tried the stuffed quail breast accompanied by 2 fried quail legs.  Delicious with moist breast meat stuffed with a slightly sweet and flavorful combination of seafood. The Turk wolfed down the legs so I can only assume they were scrumptious. We had a side order of roasted okra that I liked, despite not being an okra fan. The Turk is now going to roast his okra to entice me to eat it.

Magnolia – average cocktail menu but nice bar.  We ordered the low country bouillabaisse and plate of mussels.  We could have ordered these again – they were delicious.  The bouillabaisse was chock full of white fish chunks, okra, some clams and shrimp, all in a well seasoned tomato base.  The mussels were cooked in white wine and garlic.  The Turk loved dunking his bread in both sauces.

The Grocery – I did manage to get a reservation here, so we didn’t do the bar scene.  The cocktail menu was interesting as the bar tender created a selection of cocktails for the restaurant.  Since we were investing our night’s meal in a single restaurant, we ordered appetizers, main dish and dessert.  Mark’s Wagyu beef was perfectly cooked to his medium rare level and seasoned to bring out the clean beef flavor.  I had duck breast (seems duck was a sub theme of the weekend) which was good, but paled when compared with the beef.   

Duck

Scallops

Appetizers were interesting. The Turk chose burrata cheese stuffed with pesto. We both thought it was a bit salty. Burrata is one of my favorite cheeses, but I thought its flavor and texture weren’t highlighted in this preparation.  My choice was scallops – raw and thinly sliced – accompanied by sliced radishes and some tangerine and grapefruit sections. It was light and refreshing.  Although we were pretty full after all of this, we had to try their desserts so we ordered their unique desserts of the night: churros with dipping sauces and a layered peanut butter mousse atop a chocolate crunch layer.  Both were rich and tasty, but probably too rich.

Pig diagram at The Grocery

Husk – We were full, but when we walked past Husk, my number one choice for dinner but also for everyone else in Charleston this weekend, the Turk said – let’s go to the bar!  The bar is actually a separate small building.  Remember, this is Charleston so every restaurant is in an interesting, old building.  The bar was equally old and even had a trap door next to our table.  We got the waitress to open it and we saw steps leading down to boxes and jars of provisions.   Husk bar had an exceptional cocktail menu (second only to the Gin Joint).  The Turk found a bourbon aged stout from a local brewery and I tasted the Teachers Lounge gin cocktail that was refreshing and tangy.

Glazed – while walking around one day, we passed Glazed on King Street and stepped back. A gourmet donut bakery!  We must try!  Sure enough, we found creative donuts ranging from sweet potato flavored to goat cheese and raspberry filled donuts.  We ended up with a bear claw filled with apples and bacon and a donut filled with peanut butter pie filling and topped with dark chocolate ganache.    We escaped before succumbing to mass quantity donut-eating. But it was a close call.