Southern/Lowcountry Cuisine

I need restaurant ideas for lunch/dinner featuring Southern/Lowcountry Cuisine..I am from NYC so would like to experience ';southern culture';..

Thanks.

Southern/Lowcountry Cuisine

We won%26#39;t have a car so we%26#39;ll be limited to the Charleston area -historic district/ downtown etc.

Southern/Lowcountry Cuisine

Almost every local restaurant in Charleston serves some version of lowcountry cuisine. You can identify the famous ones by looking at any guidebook. Look for references to ';shrimp and grits,'; crab, grouper, local vegetables, etc.

In the past, I loved to take friends from NYC for lunch or dinner at 82 Queen, which is very central in the historic area and located in a charming, old, antique-filled house with a lovely courtyard. (You will see their excellent cookbook - a creative take on fresh, local ingredients and recipes - for sale everywhere.) That said, I had two very disappointing lunch-time experiences there last year and will not go back until I see some rave reviews.

The other problem is that some of the very well-known traditional restaurants fill up and require long waits. Before you commit yourself to standing on line for an hour, get some more reviews to find out if it is worth it. Talk to the people at your hotel desk and just about anyone else you see on the street. Everybody here has opinions about food and will be happy to share them.

82 Queen has great food and is very charming, especially if it%26#39;s not too hot to dine in the courtyard. The crab cakes are great!

Magnolia%26#39;s on East Bay is probably considered ';The'; place to go for Low Country dining. Their shellfood and grits dish is excellent. That%26#39;s typically the place I take out of town guests first, so they can get the ';low country'; experience.

Anson, right off the market on Anson Street, is consistently great. Only open for dinner.

Hominy Grill on Rutledge is good down home southern cooking.

High Cotton, also on East Bay is consistently good for dinner. I haven%26#39;t been as impressed with their lunches.

I haven%26#39;t been, but I%26#39;ve been told that Gullah Cuisine in Mt. Pleasant is a very good restaurant. It%26#39;s on Hwy 17.

As suggested, 82 Queen is always a good choice. I love their Fried Green Tomatoes %26amp; Honey Baked Ham on Focaccia with Creole Aioli and Pepperjack. Add a cup of their she-crab soup and you’ve got the perfect lunch!

For a really great upscale seafood dinner, I recommend Hank’s Seafood at Hayne and Church (just a block north of the Market). They are only open for dinner and if you’re here during high season, I do recommend a reservation. Their she-crab soup is very tasty…they add roe which gives it a little extra something. This is actually my favorite restaurant in town…consistently good food and service.

For a quick lunch or dinner on a budget, try Jestine’s at Meeting %26amp; Wentworth. It’s nothing fancy but they do have killer meatloaf, mac %26amp; cheese and a Coca-Cola Cake that is so good you could just slap your Mama (something has to be good to make you even think about slapping your Mama!!).

Poogan’s Porch on Queen Street (just a few doors from 82 Queen) is a good lunch spot. They have a really tasty fried chicken salad with a honey-jalapeno dressing. Instead of rolls, they serve warm freshly baked biscuits with honey butter…yum yum. They do have a really good pastry chef who just return this Spring from a stint in NYC to perfect her craft and she adds a southern flair to some tradition desserts.

High Cotton is a good spot for dinner and Sunday brunch. Their buttermilk fried oysters with green goddess dressing is to die for…was actually there for a cocktail party last week and it was all I could do not to stand at the table and eat the entire platter!

I’m not a fan of Magnolia’s while it is one of the “places to go” for most visitors. If the food is good, the service is bad and if the service is good the food is bad. It is just consistently inconsistent. Same with Hominy Grill…maybe I’m just missing something but again, I’ve tried it several times and each time I walk away thinking “why?”.

Enjoy your trip!

I don%26#39;t know how i could have forgatten to mention:

Hanks is our favorite dinner spot in Charleston, too. The local seafood is super fresh, and the preparation is delicious. My personal favorite is the grouper, which is one of their signature dishes.

There are often long waits to get into Hanks, but the crowds do not affect the quality of the food, of the service, or of the experience. We have even eaten a complete dinner at the bar one night when the wait was very long. We have never been disappointed at Hanks..