McCrady's, an historic Charleston tavern where George
Washington once dined, now serves meltingly tender
Duroc pork loin and silken coconut sorbet.
Just back from Charleston--the heat is sweltering, but the breezes are cool and the food is fab. Here are 13 great reasons to go there now:
1. Caw Caw Creek Pork and Coconut Sorbet at McCrady’s: Chef Sean Brock riffs on Jack Sprat in his presentation of Caw Caw's heirloom Duroc pork : the lean loin, cooked sous vide, is tender and succulent; a rectangle of crisp seared belly oozes divinely delicious forbidden fat. Paired with earthy new potatoes and baby turnips, napped with sticky bacon-date jus—sweet and smoky—it’s a ticket to culinary bliss. Finish up with a dessert of nine sorbets in cute mini cones The flavors run the gamut from local strawberry to tropical pink guava, but next time I’ll have all nine filled with the silken coconut sorbet. McCrady’s, once a notorious tavern owned by an Irish Madeira merchant, is warm and cosseting in a moody 21st century way: think weathered brick walls, dark beams, skylights, votive candles. McCrady’s, 2 Unity Alley, 843-577-0025.
A front porch with a pale blue ceiling offers a cool
retreat from Charleston's torrid summer heat.
2. Sky blue porch ceilings: Charleston’s torrid summer heat might be the reason some front porches boast cool blue ceilings. Whirling fans and a frosty glass of ice tea with mint can also bring the mercury down, but an ice pack wouldn’t hurt. I found this porch at a downtown eatery called…Poogan’s Porch, 72 Queeen Street, 843-577-2337.
S.N.O.B., aka Slightly North of Broad, serves stellar shrimp
and grits--and is a prime spot for people-watching.
3. Shrimp and grits at S.N.O.B.: Observe the local scene—bankers in shirt sleeves, soigné ladies who lunch—then order the stellar shrimp and grits. Frank Lee’s version of this low country favorite has small sweet Carolina shrimp atop buttery stone ground grits in a piquant tomato and cayenne-spiked broth. Grits never had it so good. Not snooty at all—the name stands for Slightly North of Broad—S.N.O.B. has a festive air that manages to be chic and comfy at the same time: faded orientals on rustic floors, a dozen twinkly chandeliers, the owner’s wife’s pickles in jars on the windowsills. Foodies should reserve a seat at the horseshoe bar facing the open kitchen. S.N.O.B., 192 East Bay Street, 843-723-3424.
4. Southern Ladies Who Lunch: They still know how to do it here, with style to spare. We saw them everywhere: At S.N.O.B., they had sleek blonde hair pulled back into neat pony tails and cashmere sweaters flung over their shoulders. Over on Sullivan’s Island, the fifty-something birthday girl at Poe’s Tavern, a casual fish taco joint, wore spotless white linen and a rope of pearls while nibbling an Anabelle Lee burger. No sun for most of these ladies—many have pale, smooth skin, like the matron I saw carrying a parasol on King Street.
5. Mysterious Clothing at Worthwhile: Diaphanous dresses the color of fog, watery grey taffeta slips, chunky brown suede lace-up pumps. It’s the kind of clothing Kate Moss might wear drifting around London on a drizzly fall day. Worthwhile is a concept store for enigmatic souls with a penchant for stylish, under the radar stuff: Christopher Brosius’ evocative Secret History scents (i.e. At the Beach, 1966; Memory of Kindness), pale green tranSglass tumblers, Noo Noo hand embroidered baby blankets. Worthwhile, 268 King Street, 877-454-0876.
At the Tuesday Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market, a bright bouquet of zinnias
and sunflowers is displayed in a blue and white Chinese vase.
6. White Peaches and Honey at the Mt. Pleasant Farmer’s Market: Maybe I was hallucinating, but it seemed like the colors of the huge Wadmalaw Island tomatoes and squash were super intense, almost vibrating in the shimmering heat. Without a kitchen, I had to breeze by the okra and butterbeans, but I did stop for Kennerty Farm’s pure wildflower honeycomb and a basket of exquisite Southern Pearl peaches. We ate half for breakfast, juice streaming down our chins, and took the rest home for Bellinis. Gorgeous zinnias too, displayed Southern-style in blue and white Chinese vases. Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market, Moultrie Middle School football field, near Coleman Boulevard in Mt. Pleasant, 843-884-8517.
7. Chocolate Milkshakes at Pitt Street Pharmacy: Walmart, Rite Aid and all the other big box chains haven’t put this 1938 pharmacy in Mt. Pleasant’s historic old village out of business. Step up to the counter and order a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a thick chocolate milkshake. Kids zoom over on bicycles to buy candy, locked away from sticky fingers in a glass display case; school supplies are stored in bright elementary school lockers. The pharmacy specializes in compounding medications, even for your pets. A few doors down, the restored Old Village Post House Inn serves Southern favorites like shrimp creole and blackberry cobbler.
Pitt Street Pharmacy, 111 Pitt Street, Mt. Pleasant, 843-884-4220.
The bar atop the Market Pavilion Hotel is a good perch from which to
view the ethereal Arthur Ravenel Jr. cable stayed suspension bridge.
8. Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge: From a distance, it looks like a pair of giant sails soaring over the Cooper River. Getting closer, you discover that its’s an illusion created by the lofty diamond shaped towers of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. suspension bridge. This magnificent “cable stayed” bridge, which opened in 2005 and connects downtown Charleston and Mr. Pleasant, is the longest of its type on the Eastern seaboard. Its maintspan is 1,546 feet. Although built to withstand earthquakes up to 7.4 on the Richter scale, the bridge is delicate, almost ethereal in appearance. For the best view, see it from the bar atop the Market Paviliion Hotel at 225 East Bay Street around sunset.
At F.I.G., the food is local and the vibe is welcoming. Try the pan-sauteed
North Carolina flounder with asparagus and creamy rice grits.
9. Great Food and Family Dining at F.I.G.: Yes, it’s another Charleston acronym: This one stands for Food is Good. Just inside the front door is a big blackboard listing all the local, organic produce the kitchen is working its magic on today. The place is sleek and understated, with ochre walls, dark red floors and modernist light fixtures. It’s a setting designed to show off the food: We loved the minty, not too sweet mojitos and swooned over the pan sauteed North Carolina flounder served on asparagus-studded Carolina Gold Rice cooked down until it had the creamy consistency of grits. Over the tangy crème fraiche pannacotta with fresh berries and saba, we noticed how many families were sitting nearby: to our right, doting grandparents, tired but happy parents and a bouncing toddler; to our left a elegant gray haired matron with her 20-something son and his tongue-tied girl firiend. Lots of kids and fabulous food: a winning if uncommon formula. F.I.G., 232 Meeting Street, 843-805-5900.
10. Mayumi Oda’s Lithographs at Plum Elements: This Asian-inspired gallery is a breath of fresh air among Charleston’s overstuffed English and French antique shops. Owner Andrea Schenck once lived in Japan and she has a predilection for all things spare and rustic.. I fell for Mayumi Oda’s colorful seed packet lithographs—pumpkin, cauliflower, purple cabbage—created for Green Gulch Farm.in Northern California. Oda, who was born in Japan and now lives in Hawaii, also did the marvelous illustrations for Annie Somerville’s Everyday Greens cookbook.; her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Other Plum desirables include a conical antique Chinese scholar’s hat box, a trio of black laquered nesting tables, and three red lacquered soup spoons. Plum Elements, 161-1/2 King Street, 843-727-3747.
The moss-draped graveyard at the Circular Congregational Church dates
back to 1691 and is the oldest in Charleston.
11. Circular Congregational Church and its Graveyard: This handsome Romanesque church was built in 1891 on the site of two earlier churches, including a Greek Revival structure that was destroyed in an 1861 fire and an 1886 earthquake. Like its predecessor, the current church has an intriguing round tower, supposedly to keep the devil from lurking in the corners. But what really drew us was the historic graveyard that occupies nearly a full city block. It is the oldest in Charleston, dating to 1691, with many family plots. Even a casual read of the gravestones—one has a skull and crossbones-- opens a door to the city’s past: One mother buried two young sons who died of consumption. It’s cool and pleasant under the oak trees dripping with moss, but apply mosquito repellent before venturing in. Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting Street, 843-577-6400.
Caviar & Bananas, a new gourmet market and cafe, sells everything from
Taittinger champagne to stone ground grits and buttermilk biscuits.
12. Caviar & Bananas: Wait, it’s Dean & DeLuca. White walls, gleaming chrome shelves, gourmet food. Nope, it’s a clone with a conscience. Open just four weeks, this gourmet market and café is a dream come true for New Yorker Kris Furniss, formerly retail manager at Dean and DeLuca’s Soho store, and his wife Margaret who attended the College of Charleston. The look is similar, but there’s a twist—all produce is local and organic, shelves are stocked with products like Peace cereals that share profits with good causes, and Furniss makes a point of hiring budding culinary students to give them hands-on experience. Why Caviar & Bananas? “We wanted to have a place where you get everything from luxuries to the basics,” says Furniss. Local faves include green tea-smoked duck spring rolls and cinammon-pomegranate lacquered duck. We liked the Israeli couscous salad with dried figs, mint and toasted almonds, though it needed more of the advertised preserved lemon. What’s nice is that you can eat at the sleek tables or take it all home. Terrific local finds include Charleston Favorites Yellow Stone Ground Grits and Callie’s divinely tender, handmade Buttermilk Biscuits. Caviar & Bananas, 51 George Street, 843-577-7757.
13. The Charleston Rice Cooker at Kerrisons: Kerrisons Dry Goods Company was closed for vacation the day I stopped by, but I just know the rice cooker I ordered by phone this morning will be fabulous. Owner Edwin Poulnot sells the traditional rice cooker—basically a steamer--as a hobby; in his real life he’s chairman of a family firm founded in 1830. “At one time we sold salt and then we had some department stores, until Hurricane Hugo wiped us out.” he told me. (The Poulnots bought the carriage trade store from the Kerrisons in 1893 and kept the name.) “Nowadays, we’re in real estate development,” he added. The store is only open from 10 AM to 1 PM; during the torrid summer you can store your furs there too. A sign in the window explains that the $34.95 rice cooker “will cook up to 3 cups of rice, enough for 8 Charlestonians or 16 Yankees. “ And it imparts this important bit of information: “Charlestonians are like Chinese: They eat rice, worship their ancestors and speak in a language that’s hard to understand.” Amen. Kerrisons Dry Goods Company, 61 Hassell Street, 843-722-4011.