Charleston Eats! McCrady's

After drinks & appetizers at Peninsula Grill, we took a stroll down Market Street to East Bay for our dinner reservations at McCrady's Restaurant. We'd heard from Jeff & Dana that this was a tasting only menu with limited choices but weren't deterred!

The entrance & address are are Unity Alley, a narrow little side street off East Bay. Inside it's fairly cavernous with lots of exposed brick, wood and fireplaces. We were taken to a little table for two on the wall that was lovely and comfortable. On the way in we got a glimpse of the long bar - now on my list of places to have a drink!

The menu is four course, price fixed. Limited choices but everything sounded really good. We stuck with our style of divide and conquer to cover as much of the menu as possible. Starting off we ordered the 5 Snacks. These are single bite creations. This was mostly interesting with a few that didn't quite hit the mark. The piece of cured meat was very good - but odd to have a single little piece of cured meat on a plate by itself. The buckwheat Oreo cookie did not resonate with either of us - too dry and really, does any one actually like buckwheat? The other three though were seriously good. A cold, frothy soup concoction that had caviar and maybe cucumber in it was outstanding. The roasted tomato hot bite was also good and I loved the crispy sweetbreads with foam.

For our first course we had summer melon with Edisto cucumber and roof top flowers; Cox Farms beef tartare with Goat Lady gouda and beef tendon. 

I loved both of these dishes but I think Alan felt the smothered cheese on top of the tartare might have been a bit distracting. The summer melon was a perfect hot weather dish.

Next course were the fishes: snapper with summer squash, baby leek, Kafir lime and tarragon; grouper with red cabbage, purslane & black truffle.

The snapper was outstanding; the grouper was overwhelmed by the cabbage & cabbage broth. Both fishes were cooked perfectly and so nicely presented.

Our main dish were meats - Alan having the Duo of Berkshire Pork with corn, cherry, chanterelle and peanut. I had the Cox Farms rib eye with beet, blueberry and Shiso.

The pork was both a loin and belly. The dish was a touch too deconstructed though individual components had great flavor. It didn't all come together as well as hoped. The steak was perfect - fantastic flavor, cooked to that optimal medium rare and served alongside the best blueberries I've ever tasted. Very nice!

To finish up we did desserts: chocolate, raspberry & chamomile and the server's recommendation of the panna cotta with blackberry and marigold.

Both of these were very good - so good we ate all of both which is unusual for us with desserts.

Overall - great experience, great ambiance and service was excellent! Really enjoyed the meal and would go back when the seasonal menu changes. If you're okay with tasting menus, put this one on your list.

Charleston Eats! Peninsula Grill

A few weeks ago Alan and I tagged a few days in Charleston to the end of a family Myrtle Beach trip. Packing in a couple of new restaurants & bars was easy from our centrally located historic Inn on Kings Street (King's Courtyard Inn, 198 King Street - highly recommend).

To kick off the weekend we popped over to Peninsula Grill for a glass of champagne and an appetizer. This was a repeat - we'd been there for dinner at the bar back in September of 2012 and remembered it fondly. We shared the Lobster “3 Way” ~ Lobster Ravioli, Lobster Tempura, and Sautéed Lobster with Warm Tomato Basil Vinaigrette. Plus lots of warm, soft, fresh bread to mop up all the broth. Excellent dish! We paired this with a glass each of bubbles: Taittinger "la Française", Brut, Reims N/V and the Dumont Pere et Fils, Brut Rosé, Aube N/V.

Because we already had dinner reservations elsewhere, we kept ourselves to the single dish. Still a great looking menu and a popular place that fills up quickly. Give it a try it you're in town but if you've been there before and remember the extensive by the glass champagne list from a few years ago, be prepared to be underwhelmed.

~ July 2014

Fat Hen, Johns Island, SC

The last restaurant review from our Kiawah - Charleston vacation is the hardest to write about...so I procrastinated. But here goes! Since the 29th of September was Susan's birthday and it was a night we picked to eat out, she had the honor of choosing where we went. Luckily, she picked one that had been recommended to us highly by a trusted source.

The menu (http://www.thefathen.com/) was nothing short of awesome! So many dishes looked so good we crafted our game plan the day BEFORE we went. We thought the best way to truly enjoy this mix of "comfort food with a Lowcountry, French flair" would be to order appetizers, a mid course of two entrees we would all share and then our individual entrees.

We arrive at the little restaurant for our 6pm reservation and to find it already pretty crowded. They seated us at a table for four (with Connor's high chair pulled up on the corner) right in the middle of the dining room. The place isn't big - a nice sized bar area and a main dining room with maybe ten or twelve tables. It's got a country casual feel to it and there were families and couples dining around us.

According to the preset plan, we ordered French Onion Soup, Crab Soup with cream and sherry, Steamed Mussels in aioli sausce and a platter of sausages. The onion soup was okay but watery. The crab soup the same, lacking the thick richness we love. The mussels on the other hand were awesome. Large and sweet in the most amazing aioli sauce of garlic, herbs, lemon and a white wine butter sauce. This sauce was so good we all took bread to it and sopped up every last bit. I don't remember the sausage at all.

The intermezzo course we ordered to share was the duck confit and the braised short ribs. I think these were stand outs. The short ribs fell off the bone and had the deep, deep flavor you can only achieve by cooking them for ridiculously long times. They had been braised in a veal broth and served with mashed potatoes and garlic spinach. The confit was excellent with a crispy outer skin.

About this time during the dinner Connor thought perhaps he no longer wanted to be out to dinner and that perhaps it was time to go back to the house and have a bath. So debating what to do, we opted to have our third course - the entrees - packed up to go and finish this meal at home. The four dishes we ordered were the meatloaf made from ground beef and pork with mashed potatoes, red eye gravy and collards; the flounder nicoise was sautéed with brown butter, fresh herbs, lemon, capers, olives, tomatoes and served over bacon cheese grits; coq au vin braised in red wine with bacon lardons, pearl onions, mushrooms and haricot verts; and the seared sea scallops with peas, butternut squash, roasted tomatoes, spinache and a buerre blanc sauce.

The issue was the time it took to get home and get everything situated, not all the dishes stood up to the tribulations of the evening. Alan's meatloaf was quite good as was Susan's chicken. But the flounder was inedible and the scallops were a no go. It's hard to judge this restaurant based on the circumstances. Would great food have survived the drive home and still showed their excellence? Were some of these dishes really not that great to begin with? We won't know until we go back and try again...something we'd all be interested in doing. So, until next time Fat Hen!

Cru Cafe, Charleston, SC

To celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary, Alan and I made a reservation on the recommendation of Brian Hider (Pluckemin Inn) at Cru Cafe in Charleston, SC. Located on Pinckney Street, a little off the bustling Market, Meeting and King Streets, it's inside a little renovated house. The place is tiny with eight tables for either two or four people in the main room; a tiny table for two in the hallway off the kitchen and a raised, long table with stools immediately in front of the open view kitchen that could seat eight. There are additionally four small tables on the little porch for outside patrons. We were seated in a corner table in the main room; choosing to sit side-by-side as opposed to across from each other; facing into the dining room.

The menu is small, complimented each night by a few specials. We had been eating and drinking so heavily the entire week on vacation that we broke from tradition and ordered only a salad each and an entree. Alan selected the Caesar salad and the Thai seafood risotto with scallops, fish, mussels and shrimp served with coconut milk, soy, Sriracha, basil, and cannaroli rice. I ordered the fresh mozzarella, tomato and sweet peppers served in a tower with aged balsamic vinegar and the special of the evening, buttermilk fried soft shell crab on greens with vegetables.

This simple menu and these unassuming dishes were an absolute delight! The salads were fresh and crisp with Alan's Caesar accompanied by a large, homemade crouton and lots of finely diced Parmesan cheese. The mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and peppers were perfectly paired with that rich balsamic and fresh grated pepper. Joy!! And the entrees - oh, the entrees!! Alan ordered the risotto after seeing it delivered to another diner when we arrived and stuck with it even after asking how predominant the coconut flavor was (not usually a flavor we like). So happy he did! It was an incredible representation of a great Thai dish with the flavors melding together and complimenting the seafood. The mussels, of which I ate quite a few, were large, sweet and clean. A really rich but not overly heavy single dish meal. My soft shell crab was one of the best I've ever had. The buttermilk batter was light but still had that comfort, Southern crunch that I had been craving. The crab was quite large with that unique flavor and texture only soft shell can offer.

A truly wonderful, casual experience with and intimate ambiance and great food. Highly recommend! http://www.crucafe.com/.
Jenn's rating: 85.

FIG, Charleston, South Carolina

Last Tuesday during our Kiawah Island vacation, Alan, Susan, Rich and I (along with Connor) made our way into Charleston to eat at FIG. http://www.eatatfig.com/. Located on Meeting Street in the heart of this pretty, historic and vibrant city, FIG was highly recommended to us by Brian Hider of Pluckemin Inn and Jeff & Dana. A midsize place with no particular ambiance to speak of, they seated us early and in a corner near the bar area at a roomy table with plenty of space for us and Connor's highchair. Having arrived about fifteen minutes early, we had all ordered drinks from the bar but just moments later they came to escort us to our table. The drinks from the bar were nothing to write home about and I for one was quite happy to have it removed largely untouched in favor of the bottles of champagne we brought with us.

Charleston we learned, are very hospitable with regards to dress codes, babies and corkage fees. All of the restaurants we made reservations with were unassuming, casual and honored a $15 per bottle corkage fee. One even waved the fee when they realized we were celebrating a special occasion. On this particular evening we brought two champagnes with us and planned to order a special bottling of Hirsch Vineyards, "Clay Pigeon" Pinot made for FIG.

Seated and reviewing the menu we decided to do two appetizers each as well as an entree. The menu had so many interesting looking options, it was hard to limit our selections to just those twelve! For the first round, I ordered the cold stone crab claws served with a creamy butter, dijon dipping sauce. Alan had the John's Island tomato tarte tatin with tapenade and fromage blanc. Susan ordered the lamb tartar with shaved parmesan, microgreens and walnuts in a vinaigrette. Rich had the chicken liver pate with toast points and fig mustard.

I almost don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe how wonderful these dishes were. Alan's tomato tarte was a tower of warm happiness...the creaminess of the cheese, the flakiness of the pastry and the sweetness of the fresh, local tomatoes was just magical. Susan's tartar was gorgeous and silky with the compliment of the salty parmesan and tang of the aioli. Rich's pate was smooth and rich, spread onto perfectly toasted bread. My crab claws were large and succulent and super sweet. What an amazing start!!

A few side notes at this point...when we arrived with Connor in tow, our wonderfully attentive server (who was an absolutely gorgeous young women named Becca) offered to bring him out a half and half plate of yukon gold mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes. Even this simple dish was timely, appreciated and really, really good! We all sampled Connor's mash. The service couldn't have been any better...southern charm mixed with swift service and wonderful personality. She also described the special dishes better than anyone, anywhere. Kudos, Miss Becca!

Back to the food...for our second round of appetizers, Alan ordered the Caw Caw Creek Pork Trotters with sunny-side up farm egg and marinated lipstick peppers. These pig's feet were better than the trotter's Alan had had at Benoit in NYC just a few weeks prior - and that's saying something. Rich and I both ordered the ricotta gnocchi served in a bolognese of spring lamb from Border Spring's Farm. This was one of the best gnocchi I have EVER had. The depth of flavor the lamb bolognese had was so spectacular and to have that be the sauce drenching these fresh, light gnocchi was heaven. What a great dish. But it wasn't even the best one of the round. That would have to go to Susan's coddled Sea Island Farm egg with red wine beech mushrooms, celeriac cream and parmesan. This egg was amazing. Served warm in a dish with layers of flavor and textures...it was everything one would want in a single dish. Creamy, rich; both salty and savory...fabulous. I'd go back to FIG again and just order a couple of coddled eggs it was that good.

And then the final round - our entrees. Alan ordered the special of the evening; pan roasted squab with carrot puree, young greens, roast apples and sauce agrodolce. Susan got the grilled, gray triggerfish (a local fish) with capers inlet's clams, sweet potato, butternut squash, fennel and lipstick peppers. Rich selected the Caw Caw Creek suckling pig confit with roasted beets, sauteed young greens and mustard jus. And I chose the Painted Hills hanger steak with romesco sauce, fingerling potato confit, chicory and herb butter. Where to start? This round of dishes were also incredible. Susan's fish was flaky and flavorful; Alan's squab was succulent; Rich's pig was rich and decadent and my steak was without a doubt the BEST hanger steak I've ever had. It was served already sliced against grain and showed off the mouthwatering rare / medium rare preparation. Each bite felt like it might possibly melt in my mouth. There's something to a perfect piece of steak that just satisfies the pallet like nothing else can.

In summary - this is a MUST if you're in Charleston. You'll regret it if you don't. PS. Saw online that FIG stands for Food Is Good and at this restaurant, that's an understatement!

Jenn's rating: 89
Zagat's rating: not yet rated

Peninsula Grill, Charleston, South Carolina

Alan and I arrived at our Kiawah beach house on Saturday, September 24th and got settled in. While talking about what we wanted to do for dinner, although we had no intention originally of driving into Charleston since we'd just been in the car for eight straight hours. But then we realized that it might be our only opportunity to get to Peninsula Grill. Upon calling the restaurant we also learned that the first reservation was for 9:45pm but that the bar served the full menu and was first come, first served. The nice lady on the phone recommended trying to get there before 6:30pm since it was a Saturday night and the bar too gets packed.

Quick showers and we were on our way from Kiawah into Charleston. First good thing to happen was finding out how easy and quick the drive in was...thirty minutes and just a few turns and we were cruising through downtown. Next piece of good luck - stumbling upon a parking garage around the block from the restaurant with available spaces (it would be full not long after we entered).

The Peninsula Grill is in the Planters Inn, a Relais Chateau property. We walked down the little tree lined path to the side entrance off of North Market Street and saw that there is also outside seating. Entering the restaurant, the bar was a little one with only 8 seats. There weren't two empty seats when we arrived at 6:20pm but a quick conversation with Josh the bartender and we were in queue to take over the soon to be vacated spots of a couple just paying their bill. Soon settled into our stools we let our great bar team of Josh & Chris know that we were there for the long haul - dinner and drinking! We started off with a glass of champagne each - mine was the Pehu Simonet "Selection" Brut Grand Cru while Alan tried a glass of the Tattinger Cuvee Prestige.