Charleston, South Carolina
This entry was posted on 5/9/2010 9:39 AM and is filed under Out of Town Destinations.
A long weekend took us to this town of significant historical significance and alot of great food --
McCrady's Tavern -- our favorite restaurant, the chef, Sean Beck, just won the James Beard award for the southeast; beautiful room in a restored tavern dating back to the 1700's; tried a couple great appetizers (soft shell crab with pea shoots and buttermilk fried sweetbreads with peas and lardo vinaigrette); really enjoyed the very unique lamb duo entree (a roulade of lamb saddle and loin and a lamb crepinette (braised meat formed into a cake) with peas, almond polenta and green onion puree); finished with a tasty lemon curd dessert that was essentially a deconstructed lemon meringue pie; very lively bar scene with interesting bar bites.
Tristan -- fabulous Sunday brunch, contemporary setting, elegant service, not touristy, innovative food; started with chive cheddar popovers and she crab soup, Bergammo breakfast (polenta topped with two varieties of melted Italian cheese, and two fried eggs, finished with truffle butter) and Pate Eggs Benedict (poached eggs, topping country style pate, on toasted brioche with whole grain mustard hollandaise; not our favorite but beautifully executed and not too heavy); would definitely go back for dinner.
Slightly North of Broad -- lunched at this very popular spot; the homemade charcuterie platter was generous, very reasonably priced and delicious (duck liver mousse, duck rillettes, country pate, head cheese, freshly toasted baguette slices, with the usual accompaniments); nicely done (again generously portioned) fried chicken livers topped grits with an overabundance of caramelized onion sauce.
High Cotton -- very popular, somewhat touristy; started out well with the appetizers ("bacon and eggs" was an absolutely delicious chunk of pork belly topped with a crunchy coated poached egg, and a nicely executed crab cake with a bit too many sauces and toppings on the plate); things went down hill with the entrees (iodine tasting shrimp in a gloppy sauce on grits and deep fried soft shell crab in a heavy, tasteless breading that totally masked the crab).
Magnolia's -- also very popular and touristy; the signature eggroll appetizer with chicken and collard greens served with various pepper and mustard sauces bore a strong resemblance to Chili's Southwestern egg rolls; the seafood on grits with lobster sauce was another gloppy mess with no discernible lobster or lobster taste; the parmesan crusted flounder was the only good dish, very fresh and nicely cooked, served on seafood rice, topped with crab salsa.
