Laura Alberts Tasteful Options

To state the title is to state a mouthful: Laura Alberts Tasteful Options. Whew, we're breathless already.

Thankfully, the menu itself merits a mouthful: lobster and crab wontons; shrimp and scallop pasta; grilled meatloaf sandwich; an egg salad and pimiento cheese hybrid. All told, Laura Alberts offers a varied selection under the capable watch of executive chef Rose Darden, otherwise known as Mama Rose and the former chef at Carolina's restaurant.

The restaurant is also, ahem, tastefully done, terra-cotta floor, gifts and artwork, an extensive beer and wine selection, to-go dinners and al fresco seating, so noted.

As with most gourmet shops, price points tend north at Laura Alberts, many of the main lunch dishes between $10 and $13.

For starters, the asparagus soup was particularly good ($4), neither creamy nor strained like a broth.

It's a nice, warm spring treat, topped with a sprinkling of cheese and croutons. Same goes for the fried green tomatoes ($7): three fine slices, pesto pimiento cheese and fruit chutney on the side.

We sampled the BBQ Shrimp and Grit Cake ($12), but found the dish a tad oily, the creamy stone-ground grits suffering under a mantle of melted cheddar cheese and BBQ bourbon sauce.

But the prosciutto sandwich ($12) deserves a serious golf clap; much love for the sweet discs of mozzarella and tomato and thin slices of prosciutto spilling from wheat ciabatta bread.

Other choices lend appeal, too: blackened rare tuna BLT ($12), brushed with wasabi aioli on grilled ciabatta; Rose's Jumbo Lump Crab Cake ($13); and the above-mentioned egg salad and pimiento cheese sandwich ($8), served with sweet potato fries drizzled in Grand Marnier sauce.

Address: 891 Island Park Drive, Daniel Island

Phone: 881-4711

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon-Sat., Lunch from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.