Mississippi takes London

Seriously, is this the best okra you've ever had, or what?

Puddy (Seinfeld episode “The Junk Mail”)

My latest visit to a restaurant was to try Lockhart. A Southern cuisine stronghold in Marylebone, bright whites, rustic tables, yet nice and cozy. The kitchen is under command of Tatler's Restaurant awards winner for Best Rising Star Chef Brad McDonald.

Chilli Oil

Menu is enticing and gives a nice range of southern classics including shrimp and grits. We as usual went big, and got the grilled chicken oysters and the buttermilk wedge salad as starters. Both good, the salad was really nice, you just can't stop eating it, simple but tasty, the chicken oyster came with a nice sweet and sour sauce, sadly though the texture of the chicken was a bit rubbery.

Chicken Oysters

For mains we shared the fried chicken and the NOLA classic Sicilian influenced muffuletta. The muffuletta was really nice, good execution, sharp and salty flavours from the cured meats and the marinated olives as you expect. The sandwich was not as good as the one I had in NOLA from chef Donald Link in Butcher but don’t get me wrong it was really nice, and a nice addition to London's sandwich options.

Muffuletta time

Fried chicken was perfectly cooked, lovely flavour with perfect crispiness. That's how you want your fried chicken. We also shared the cheese grits and the highly recommended cornbread, top marks for both. The cornbread is baked to order, and the honey butter touch in it was just great.

Cornbread

Really nice meal, great flavours, the only issue was the chicken oysters texture the rest was spot on and perfectly executed.

The Lockhart

T: 0203 011 5400

American Southern Cuisine

Approx Damage: £31pp

Area: Marylebone

Borough:

Twitter: LockhartLondon

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High cotton [On The Road: Charleston]

Nice fine period décor  antique chandeliers with the southern touch of ceiling fans. Live jazz in the bar gave an unique atmosphere to High Cotton. Part of the Maverick Southern Kitchen group, yes the same ones from SNOB. The proposal just local ingredients and southern hospitality. 

The place

Décor

I started the night with creamy mushroom soup with truffle oil, and a touch of chives. It was nice, creamy texture, great aroma, but a little bit bland. 

Mushroom soup

Moving on I got crispy pork belly with beet reduction frisée caramelized apples, in a sauce gribiche. The dish was awesome the sweetness of the beet reduction and the apples with the bitterness of the greens and the crispy pork was succulent. Amazing way to play with the five layers of happiness. 

The five layers

My main a grilled local swordfish with roasted cauliflower purée, smash fingerling potatoes, sautéed red pearl onions, and leeks porcini garlic foam. It was ok, the fish perfectly cooked. A little complicated dish, the leeks were a bit too salty but combined with the potatoes and the fish kind of work, the foam was good but overall nothing elevated the fish. 

Swordfish

Finally for desert, Southern style pecan pie with vanilla ice cream, and bourbon brown sugar caramel. It was amazing, even I'm not the sweet tooth kind of guy, the bourbon caramel gave a nice touch 

Pie

Nice place, a few dishes miss the great scoring, but overall a nice diner. The service was extremely nice and helpful. 

Cotton reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Chaperone” 

Announcer #1: And the Yankees take the field!

Announcer #2: Is it my imagination, or do the Yankees look a little different tonight? I can't put my finger on it

Announcer #1: Well, from what I understand, they've switched to cotton uniforms

Announcer #2: They seem blousier, softer

Announcer #1: Well, it is a natural fibre

High Cotton

T: +1 843 7243815

Southern Cuisine

Approx Damage: $65pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

Twitter: mavkitchens

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Hominy, Humming [On The Road: Charleston]

I couldn't leave Charleston without going to Hominy Grill. The place is a landmark if you want to try Southern cuisine, home food, like the one some grandma in Charleston used to prepare, no cans, all made from scratch from local ingredients. The Kitchen under the command of James Beard Award winner chef/owner Robert Stehling (Best Southeast Chef in 2008). On top of that Anthony Bourdain visited the place in the No Reservations episode “South Carolina” to enjoy the big nasty. 

Hominy

The place

Love the place, warm, rustic, white, simple country side décor. It is so good I went twice one for lunch the second chance for breakfast. First stop got a cup of the chicken and sausage gumbo with jasmine rice, nice, good seasoning, as side boiled peanuts in salt water, they were superb, completely different, finally the dark side of the moon of the southern cuisine shrimp and grits, excellent flavour, nice heath, the bacon went amazing with the shrimp, shrimps cooked to perfection, the grits remind me a homemade polenta, excellent dish, nothing pretentious but full of flavour. 

Inside

Decor

Gumbo and peanuts

Shrimp and grits

Second stop big nasty time, just awesome, chicken nicely battered and fried, biscuit was puffy and spongy, cheddar to add more flavour to the combination, sausage gravy was pretty good, and all together was complete harmony. 

Big Nasty © www.inspirespacemagazine.com

Great food in a great place as Charleston. 

Grill

Gumbo time

By know I'm sure you know what Shrimp reminds me, yes the Seinfeld episode “The Comeback” 

Bill: Well, if the big man wants a new scoreboard, I don't want to be the one to tell him no 

Reilly: No one in the park is going to be able to see it from there 

George: Well, why don't we just put a monitor in his skybox? 

Reilly: Hey George, the ocean called. They're running outta shrimp

Hominy Grill

T: +1 843 937 0930

Approx Damage: $35pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

Twitter: HominyGrill

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Jestine’s Tourist Trap or Local Gem?

One of the most popular places in Peninsular Charleston is Jestine’s Kitchen. The place is full, you usually have to wait for a table, their motto southern food with lots of soul. However, if you see reviews from locals they seemed not to like it, too many tourists, not the real thing, etc. 

The Place

Jestine

We gave it a try, simple décor, family style, friendly staff, the kind of homily feeling you will look for a soul cuisine place, but hectic and packed for service. The place was named after Jestine Matthews, an African-American woman born in the low country in 1885, who raised Dana Berlin the owner of the place, her goal trying to recreate the food that she grew up enjoying. 

Home Sweet

Inside

We had a fried delight, started with fried green tomatoes, they were simple, tasty, and good, then I had the fried seafood platter, oysters, shrimps, and whiting, all good and nicely done, finally we share a fried chicken, really nice flavour. 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Corn Bread

Chicken

Fried Seafood

Simple but really tasty food, might be better places probably but I think is worth trying in order to escape from the fine dining scene around the area. 

Charleston Lager

This polarised opinions remind me the good vs bad naked dilemma on the Seinfeld episode “The Apology” 

George: So she coughed 

Jerry: Coughing naked, it's a turn-off, man 

George: Everything goes with naked 

Jerry: When you cough, there are thousands of unseen muscles that suddenly spring into action. It's like watching that fat guy catch a cannonball in his stomach in slow motion 

George: Oh, you spoiled, spoiled man. Do you know how much mental energy I expend just trying to picture women naked? Jerry: But the thing you don't realize is that there's good naked and bad naked. Naked hair brushing, good; naked crouching, bad

Jestine's Kitchen

T: +1 843 722 7224

Southern Cuisine / Soul Cuisine

Aprox Damage: $25pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

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Magnolias Upscale Southern Cuisine

One of three restaurants owned by the HMGI in Charleston is Magnolias, opened in 1990, to offer upscale southern classics. Chef Don Drake has the task to give a modern international twist to the southern cuisine. 

The Place

Inside

Excellent service took time to explain dishes with great knowledge of southern cuisine, we started the night drinking a local Thomas Creek pilsner, I started the night with pan seared scallops on sweet corn hoe cakes and caramelised apples, smoked bacon, cream sauce, sautéed spinach, and balsamic syrup. The scallops were perfectly cooked, really nice flavour. We share some housemade potato chips with crumble blue cheese and scallions, they were quite nice, the blue cheese and scallions played nicely with the potatoes. 

Pilsner

Potatoes

Scallops

Then I got a cup of blue crab bisque, it was awesome the local crab bisque had a nice touch with fresh chives. Finally I closed the night having a pan fried boneless pork chop, Carolina dirty rice, sautéed green beans, and caramelised onion pan jus. The pork chop was nicely cooked, the rice was perfect and the dish had a nice balance. 

Blue Crab Bisque

Pork chop

Crab bisque reminds the Seinfeld episode “The Soup Nazi” 

George: Medium turkey chilli 

Jerry: Medium crab bisque 

George: I didn't get any bread 

Jerry: Just forget it. Let it go 

George: Um, excuse me, I think you forgot my bread 

Soup Nazi: Bread! $2 extra 

George: $2? But everyone in front of me got free bread 

Soup Nazi: You want bread? 

George: Yes, please 

Soup Nazi: $3! 

George: What? 

Soup Nazi: No soup for you!

Magnolias

T: +1 843 577 7771

Southern Cuisine / Modern American

Aprox Damage: $35pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

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A SNOB in Charleston

I knew food in Charleston was quite good, what I didn't know was the vast quantity of places around serving excellent food, from food trucks to fine dining. My first stop was Slightly North of Broad, a bistro, offering southern specialities with local ingredients and refine presentations. 

SNOB

Matches

Table light

I have been in the place twice and I love it, it’s live, vibrant, and the food is extremely good. My first time I went for a Manhattan Clam Chowder which was perfect, a grilled southern medley which is basically chicken breast, zucchini, eggplant, goat cheese croutons, all that with pecorino, pesto sauce, and a balsamic vinaigrette. It was excellent, the chicken breast perfectly grilled, the zucchini and eggplant with the pesto, pecorino and the balsamic in good balance, and the goat cheese croutons were really nice, and as a side also got Timms Mills yellow grits, nice corn flavour 

Clam Chowder

Southern medley

Grits

My second visit I went for a cream of crab, it was nice, good seasoning, but not too creamy as I would like, as a second I got Prince Edward Island mussels with ginger lemongrass, it was nice, perfectly cooked and an abundant portion, finally got the shrimps with New England scallops with a creamy mushroom and petit pois pasta, it was superb, the pasta al dente, the sauce was brilliant, and the scallops were perfectly cooked. 

Crab

Mussels

Pasta

Great place to eat without a doubt. 

Inside before closing time

Scallops remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Nap” 

Hal: So are you liking the mattress? 

Elaine: I am totally loving it. Uh, you know, we should get going 

Hal: What is that smell? 

Elaine: What smell? 

Hal: I think it's the mattress. Did something happen to it 

Elaine: No, no, oh, you know what that is? I um, went claming the other day and I forgot to hose off my boots 

Hal: Claming? 

Elaine: Yeah, clam and scallop. I clam and scallop

Slightly North of Broad

T: +1 843 723 3424
Southern / Modern American

Aprox Damage: $28pp
Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

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