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10/29/12
PLACES & PRICES
The Best Restaurants and Food in Nashville and Charleston : Condé Nast Traveler
Just Like Mama Used to Make
A Guide to Tennessee and South
Carolina's Best Food
The seafood comes right to the dock at Charleston’s Bowens Island Restaurant, a quieter spot than the foodie crush of
downtown.
ADAM
PLATT
As in other great culinary regions, there’s no bad route to take when
searching for a good meal in the American South, and no bad time to
do it, although harvest season has obvious advantages. The modern
NOVEMBER 2012
ISSUE
equivalent of Homer’s Odyssey for Southern food freaks is John
Egerton's magisterial Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in
History (University of North Carolina Press, $33), and if you want a
manageable, state-by-state guide to greasy spoons and fry shacks, John T. Edge's
Southern Belly is the book to get (Algonquin Books, $15). Egerton is one of the
founders and Edge the current director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an
invaluable resource for the literature, history, festivals, and everything else connected to
the great Southern Food Revival. The classic Southern cookbook remains The Taste of
Country Cooking, by Edna Lewis, the Julia Child of Southern cuisine (Knopf, $25). My
favorite of the many modern compendiums of down-home recipes is The Lee Bros.
Southern Cookbook, by those eloquent sons of Charleston, Matt and Ted Lee (W. W.
Norton & Company, $35). Prices quoted are for November 2012.
By
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10/29/12
The Best Restaurants and Food in Nashville and Charleston : Condé Nast Traveler
HILTON COLUMBIA CENTER
Columbia, South Carolina
COURTESY HILTON
C o lu m b i a to C har les to n , S o u th C ar o li n a
In Columbia, the Hilton may be the best place to stay (803-744-7800; doubles from
$169). For a classic and economical Southern breakfast, 14 Mack's Cash Grocery
serves a perfect sausage-and-egg biscuit topped with a slice of fresh tomato, its version
of Tater Tots, and coffee for $3.74. and its “ye olde” baloney sandwich is the stuff of
legend (1809 Laurel St.; 803-779-9681; lunch from $2). For a more haute experience, try
one of Emile DeFelice’s favorites, 15 Terra, famous for its Crispy “Buffalo”
Sweetbreads and the fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade (100 State St.; 803791-3443; entrées from $10).
In Charleston, many companies offer culinary walking tours; Bulldog Tours charges
$42 per person for its Savor the Flavors of Charleston (800-979-3370). Downtown, the
venerable Planters Inn has a gold-embossed volume of the city’s restaurant menus in
its lobby (843-722-2345; doubles from $224; entrées from $29).
Sean Brock’s 16 McCrady’s has a $60 four-course dinner. If you can’t get a table, sit
at the commodious bar, which has particularly inventive snacks (2 Unity Alley; 843-5770025; entrées from $29). Brock’s new, more casual 17 Husk books up weeks in
advance. It’s easier to get a table at lunch, and the Husk Cheeseburger is on the menu
(76 Queen St.; 843-577-2500; dinner entrées from $24). Sample the legendary pork
chop at 18 Bertha's Kitchen (2332 Meeting Street Rd.; 843-554-6519; entrées from
$5). To mingle with members of the Charleston food cognoscenti, belly up to the bar at
Mike Lata’s 19 FIG (232 Meeting St.; 843-805- 5900; entrées from $29). For the full
experience at 20 Bowens Island Restaurant, sit downstairs under the memorial
photos of oystermen (1870 Bowens Island Rd.; 843-795-2757; entrées from $7). The
21 Hominy Grill serves wonderful sandwiches at lunch and an excellent dinner, but to
experience the Southern breakfast in all its glory, order the Big Nasty ($8.50) with a
side of the famous house grits (207 Rutledge Ave.; 843-937-0930; entrées from $15).
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