Charleston Food + Drink Worth Seeking

  • Home
  • Food
  • Charleston Food + Drink Worth Seeking
Houses Charleston

Rainbow Row is a Charleston destination for colorful Georgian houses along Bay Street.

Charleston, South Carolina is a Southern city with a rich history that predates the Revolutionary War. Phenomenal architecture, homes and gardens remain, and the dining scene, per capita, rivals any city in the U.S. Johnson & Wales University decamped for Charlotte in 2006, but even without that prized culinary school’s talent pipeline, Charleston continues to compile compelling new restaurants. In recent years, Upper King Street has become guide-worthy unto itself. Within a short drive, you can find gorgeous beaches and marshes, outdoor adventures (with or without alligators) and luxury resorts. I’ve visited every year since 1995. Find 18 favorite Charleston food and drink stops, listed alphabetically.

Black Tap Coffee [CLOSED]


Coffee Charleston

Ross Jett previously worked in California in renewable energy. Jayme Scott worked in D. C. as healthcare lobbyist. The former University of Virginia roommates now run an ambitious coffeehouse in Charleston’s Harleston Village. The purple building with tan accents debuted in February 2012, in the former home of a sandwich shop that lay dormant for almost a decade. Now, the coffee menu appears on a burlap coffee sack, in an upraised room with wood tables and framed black-and-white photos. The bar houses a black La Marzocco espresso machine, four-cone pourover station, Kyoto cold brew tower, and cold brew on tap. Regardless of brew method, Black Tap features Counter Culture coffee.

MUST ORDER DRINKS: Cold Brew, Pourover Coffee, Black Julep

Butcher & Bee

Sandwich Charleston

This beyond-seasonal sandwich shop with global influences from Michael Shemtov, who owns two branches of Mellow Mushroom in town, resides on Upper King, near the rise of Highway 17. The space, set back from the street, by the Charleston Center for Photography, features reclaimed wood walls, mismatched metal chairs, communal wood tables, an open kitchen framed with white tile, and a pressed tin ceiling. Shemtov and his team butcher primal cuts and whole pigs in-house to produce “honest to goodness sandwiches.” Order at an olde time cash register from an ever-changing blackboard menu.

MUST ORDER DISHES: Popcorn, Banh Mi, Ham & Gruyere

Closed For Business [CLOSED]

Sandwich Charleston

Karalee Nielsen and Tim Mink of Revolutionary Eating Ventures delivered an inspired take on the gastropub with Closed For Business. Their wood-lined space features high ceilings and clean lines. High-top communal tables frame the entrance. A fireplace mantle hosts a number of taxidermied animals, including a seven-point buck head and a squirrel. The Pork Slap sandwich is a modern classic, but the reasonably priced menu runs far deeper and credits several nearby purveyors in the process. A 30-handle craft beer bar draws from around the country and includes local breweries like Holy City and Coast.

MUST ORDER DISHES & DRINKS: Crispy Green Beans, The Pork Slap, Duck Pot Pie, Craft Beer

The Cocktail Club

Cocktail Bar Charleston

The Indigo Road, a hospitality group that already owned Oak Steakhouse and O-Ku Sushi, debuted The Macintosh in 2011. Upstairs, they added The Cocktail Club in a building that dates to 1881, showcasing “farm-to-shaker” drinks in a multifaceted environment that includes a low-lit lounge, brick-backed bar and rooftop patio. During my visit, they had five pages of cocktails in their bound menu, some classics, other experimental, and many including house-made infusions and ingredients.

MUST ORDER DRINKS: Valiant Soldier

Collective Coffee Co. [CLOSED]

Coffee Charleston

Until its closure in 2012, Hope & Union: was Charleston’s leading coffee bar. Once owner John Vergel de Dios got supplanted, friends Sinan and Liz Aktar enlisted him to design this coffee bar across the Cooper River in a Mt. Pleasant strip mall. The space features concrete flooring, reclaimed wood and white subway tiles, banquette seating, a massive communal stand-up table (on wheels), blackboard menus and Hope & Union barista refugees behind the bar. The establishment serves Intelligentsia coffee, which they brew using a three-group La Marzocco Strada espresso machine and three-cone pourover station with copper piping. Collective Coffee’s logo is a Venn diagram, which appears on speckled mugs of specialty coffee.

MUST ORDER DRINKS: Pourover Coffee, Espresso

Dave’s Carry-Out

Seafood Charleston

David DeGroat, Sandra McCray and her son Terry run this soul food emporium deep into the night. The blue-fronted building houses three stools at a wood counter, two tables with fold-up chairs, and the soft glow of a TV, making it feel like you’re eating in somebody’s living room. A Charleston native who joined me at the counter said he doesn’t bother with seafood anymore, preferring beef stew and turkey wings, but I’d suggest starting with a Seafood Platter, which features a glorious mound of fried shrimp, whiting, scallops and deviled crab. Your choice of sides includes Hoppin’ John, a blend of rice, black-eyed peas and ham hock. Hoppin’ John is good luck in the South on New Year’s and even carries its own motto: “rice for riches, peas for peace.”

MUST ORDER DISHES: Seafood Platter, Hoppin’ John

GUIDE CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

Tags:

Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Leave a Comment