Charleston, South Carolina

I found the city of Charleston to be beautiful to explore, meandering up and down streets with historically preserved homes and lovely foliage. The center of the city had a mix of specialty stores and tchotchke stops for tourists. Much of the food was focused on either seafood or fried foods. I found a few gems that I wanted to taste for myself. 

RODENY SCOTT BBQ

Rodney Scott BBQ has been well established as the go to place to experience whole hog barbecue. Being that I am allergic to pork, my experience is not what the typical patron is seeking, but I did want to taste the smoked turkey and brisket. I have to say, the flavors to me were similar to Texas barbecue, which I hope it not an upsetting sentiment for anyone who is an expert in such things. I spoke at length with a local regarding this opinion. He did not disagree with me, explaining that my opinion was entirely plausible as neither of those preparations were considered to be Charleston style, which is focused on the whole hog. 

SORGHUM AND SALT

This restaurant is dedicated to sourcing local products for their menu, which is something I always hope to find. Much of the offerings enticed me and ultimately I ended up with a beet salad titled "chorizo spiced beets". Chorizo flavor was well represented in the spicing of the dish with fennel, pistachios, and jalapeño coulis on the plate. The dish maintained the texture of a cooked beet but with the flavor or a sausage! 

Another item I was intrigued to try was parsnip with black truffle, sunchoke puree, local mushrooms, horseradish, and pistachio gremolata.

I wanted to love this dish. It was described to me as a play on bone marrow with the middle of the parsnip scooped out and filled with the black truffle cream. I did enjoy the pop of flavor from the shaved horseradish, but otherwise I found the texture of the dish to be too uniform, best described as mushy. It would have been great to have a crunchy element. Also, I found the gremolata to be overpoweringly characterized by garlic, which covered any other vegetable flavors on the plate. 

CIRCA 1886

This restaurant is housed in a gorgeous historic building, formerly the Wentworth Mansion. There is an adjacent hotel in the mansion and the restaurant is housed in what was the carriage house. The draw of this restaurant for me was primarily that it serves regional cuisine, but certainly elevated. The menu is somewhat separated by genre including: Influences from Europe, South Carolina Today, Tastes of Native Tribes, and Flavors Brought From Africa. I tasted the following:

 In the beginning, I was served an amuse bouche of Asparagus soup with herb oil and a parmesan ice cream with croutons. The soup was vegetal, but without being simple. The dash of oil brought it to life and had enough complexity on the spoon that I ate the accompanying, slightly chewy, parmesan cream separately, rather than desiring to mix the flavor with the soup. 

Shrimp and rice grits with burden creek diary goat cheese, cabbage leaves. This dish was not the creamy comforting flavors that I imagined.Rather, it had a freshness from the raw vegetables on top, as well as lacking in salt and creaminess for my taste, but rather with the yellow broth being thin and simple. In conversation with a local patron, I learned that this is a typical preparation of the dish in the area, most definitely different from what I had tasted before when in New Orleans. 

Chicken fried duck breast with turnips and tops, orange and grapefruit salad, and buttered biscuit gravy. This was a nicely balanced dish with the citrus giving a nice contrast to the earthy greens and the duck was quite tender. 

Venison with roasted onion, parsnip potato puree, acorn squash, juniper chestnut sauce was another fantastic dish. In my memory, it was the most succulent version I have had without even a hint of tough gamey character. The rich gravy was set in balance with the creamy vegetable puree with beautiful balance in the portions across the texture in the plate. 

Fois gras with cassave pudding, pomegranate strawberry jam, hazelnuts, and lime basil oil.

This was beyond decadent. It was on the menu as an appetizer, but truly served as a dessert. The fois gras had some tendons within it, when in the past I have had fois gras that was entirely smooth like butter. However, I found the flavor and texture combinations to be brilliant. It was like eating the most decadent grown up version of peanut butter and jelly. Creamy. Sweet. Nutty. I ate it in tiny little bits from a spoon, partly due to the degree of richness, but also in part because I did not want for the food to end. 

Carolina gold rice roll and sorghum oatmeal bread 

The house made bread was fantastic. The flavor had such depth and complexity due to the types of grain that were within them, in particular the different tastes within the sorghum oatmeal bread were unforgettable. 

HIGHFALUTIN COFFEE ROASTERS

I very much wanted to try a local coffee roaster and found Highfalutin Coffee Roasters to be my hopeful destination. I was not disappointed and I highly recommend that any coffee geek make a stop there. The shop was tended by owners who were passionate about their craft and with unique offerings. One flavor profile that I found irresistibly unique was a Peruvian coffee that really presented the flavor, and even texture, of plantains. I also highly appreciated an Ethiopian coffee with flavors of cantaloupe and wildflowers. The shop had indoor and outdoor seating and was a very comfortable spot to sit and sip!