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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Food Is Good [On The Road: Charleston]

One of my favourite cities to eat is no other than Charleston, and one of the best places there it’s without a doubt FIG. Located in the heart of the city, local ingredients, seasonal cuisine, low country style, opened in 2003 by Adam Merinow with 2009 James Beard Award winning chef Mike Lata. 

Dark Dinning

Menus

The place was completely packed, we were lucky to find a seat on the bar, ordered a local black lager from Westbrook brewing Co in Mt Pleasant while studying the menu. The beer was excellent, rich in flavour, a nice bitter taste with good balance. I opened the night with a Caw Caw Creek suckling pig confit, the bartender explained all the work behind sourcing the pig, aging and preparing it for long time with a slow cook method, it was superb the pig tenderness, the crunchy crust, the balance with young greens tender and crispy, roast beets, and finally the mustard jus, full of flavour with its seeds, it tasted incredible, amazing balance, outstanding dish. 

Dark times

My main, trotters, beautifully cooked, egg on top, we call that “A Caballo”, a lovely beluga lentils bed, and crispy pork in complete balance again, what can I say it was perfect, a superb dish, seriously no words to describe it, go and try it. 

Caw Caw Creek Trotters

I only can say one more thing Food Is definitely Good! If you’re in Charleston and you love food FIG is a must. 

Dark bar

Candle in the dark

Fig reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Pilot” 

George: Remember when you came to audition for us?

Tom: Yeah

George: There was a box of raisins on the coffee table. Did you, by any chance, take them with you when left?

Tom: What are you talking about?

George: Well we were all eating the raisins. And I remember you! You were eating some of the raisins, and then you left, and the raisins were gone, and I was just wondering if, you know, maybe you took them with you

Tom: Are you accusing me of stealing the raisins?

George: Oh, no, no

Tom: Why would I steal a box of raisins?

George: No you wouldn't. Nobody would. It's just that they were missing, and well I'm just inquiring

Tom: Let me give you a word of advice. O.K.? I want you to stay away from me. I don't want to talk to you, and I don't want to hear anymore of your stupid little notes and suggestions. I don't like you. So if you got any other problems whether it's raisins, prunes, figs, or any other dried fruit, just keep it to yourself and stay out of my way, O.K.?

George: All right. I don't think we're going to have any problem with that. Good talking to you Tom

FIG

T: +1 843 805 5900

Southern Cuisine / Modern American

Approx Damage: $60pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

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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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A Thai named Basil

When you talked about Basil a couple things come to mind like Basil Fawlty from the acclaimed British sitcom Fawlty Towers, even a pesto sauce, but the last thing I would had think of was a Thai place in Charleston. 3 Locations in the Carolinas, I went to the one in the Historic Centre. The offer refined Thai quality cuisine made with fresh and fine ingredients by chef Suntorn, having achieve and received so far many awards and recognitions.

Basil where is Manuel?

Kitchen is visible thanks to the Glass Ktichen

We got plenty of things Basil Rolls, shrimp, rice noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, and basil, served with house sauce, also got some egg rolls, and finally a special wonton they had on the menu. Everything was on point, nice flavours, specially the wonton was superb. 

Rolls

Wonton

We couldn’t missed the Pad Thai, National dish of Thailand, rice noodles stir fried, chicken, shrimp, eggs, bean sprout, scallions, peanuts and pad sauce, it was great amazing flavours. Then the crispy red curry duck, a signature dish, boneless duck deep fried with vegetables and red curry sauce, also was spot on, great flavours were amazing. Got a chicken green curry with bell peppers, bamboo shoots, eggplants, green peas, and basil. Great flavour not as good as the red curry but it was also good. Finally a Pad Prik beef, basil, ball peppers, and onions, with Prik King curry sauce. 

Green Curry

Pad Thai

Beef

Red Curry Duck

All the dishes and food were extremely tasty, definitely one of the best Thai places I have been so far. 

Thai cuisine reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Bottle Deposit”

George: So he walks out of the stall, he's been talking the whole time 

Jerry: He pulled an LBJ on you 

George: LBJ? 

Jerry: Lyndon Johnson, used to do that to his staffers 

George: No kidding? 

Jerry: Oh yeah. He'd hold national security meetings in there. He planned the Hanoi bombing after a bad Thai meal

Basil

T: +1 843 724 3490

Thai Cuisine

Aprox Damage: $23pp

Area: Peninsular Charleston

Charleston

Twitter: EatAtBasil

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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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