Chef chimes in on best eats

Southern Living magazine and James Beard nominee Jeremiah Bacon, chef at The Macintosh, recently scoured Charleston for the best cheap eats in town. From hot dogs to sticky buns, local hidden gems include:

Jack’s Cosmic Dogs (817 St. Andrews Blvd., West Ashley; 1531 Folly Road, James Island; Highway 17 N., Mount Pleasant): The Galactic Dog is loaded with chili, cheese, slaw and spicy mustard. It’s a must have! ($3)

Tomato Shed Cafe (824 Main Road, Johns Island): You can’t miss the Tomato Pie ... like a little tomato lasagna with cheese, mayo and dried herbs. ($3)

WildFlour Pastry (73 Spring St., Charleston): Line up for the outrageously large, gooey, Sticky Buns topped with caramelized brown sugar and cinnamon early or else! ($3)

Tattooed Moose (1137 Morrison Dr., Charleston): The Lucky No. 1 sandwich will blow your mind: braised BBQ pork belly topped with house-made kimchi, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, crispy onions, wasabi mayo and a sweet chili sauce. ($8)

Bull Street Gourmet & Market (120 King St., Charleston): Folks come from all over to eat the duck confit hash served with two eggs, caramelized onions, and sweet peppers. ($10)

Green space
The first buildings constructed as part of the Concord Park redevelopment in downtown Charleston has racked up its green credentials.

The 63,000-square-foot office buildings known as 25 Calhoun has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. The building, developed and managed by Atlanta’s Holder Properties and locally based Durlach Associates, is said to be the Charleston region’s first privately developed, newly built office building to pick up the LEED designation.

On the block
This afternoon,National Auction Group Inc. of Gadsden, Ala., is scheduled to auction off 15 condominiums at Anson House in downtown Charleston. That’s about half the units in the 32-condo building at Concord and Laurens streets near the Maritime Center.

Anson House first hit the market for pre-sales in 2005, starting at about $1.3 million. Construction began in 2007, not long before the real estate market’s free-fall. Last year, a unit sold for $690,000.

Bank of America has initiated a foreclosure lawsuit against the unsold residences. The auction will be held on-site at 3 p.m., with registration at 1 p.m. Bidders will be required to pay 10 percent down and close within 30 days.

New posting
A former local preservationist who penned an exhaustive guide to historic real estate in downtown Charleston is back in the Southeast. Jonathan H. Poston has been tapped by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as director of its Hay House in Macon and as senior director of properties. He starts May 7. Poston was a 24-year staffer at Historic Charleston Foundation and he also lectured on historic preservation for three years at the College of Charleston and Clemson University. In 1997, he wrote book “The Buildings of Charleston,” which chronicled the history of the peninsula’s oldest and most significant properties.

Most recently, Poston was director of the Southwest Regional Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a job he took in 2009.