Gin, vermouth and Campari. The Negroni is deceptively simple. Joy Richard, a bartender at Mash, thinks the Negroni has become a classic because it's complex in flavor and well balanced. "It's plays to a lot of different flavors," she says. "And it's pleasing to the palate."
You could opt for the margarita on tap at Pancito & Lefty and that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Made with fresh macerated fruit and Partida tequila, it's a prime example of a perfect summertime drink.
Iced coffee is a staple of Charleston summers. Too hot for a steaming cup of Joe, the summer swelter calls for a lighter, cooler caffeinated option.
Served in a julep cup with pebbled ice and garnished with herbs and flowers, the Chartreuse Colada is a perfect pairing with the 90-degree heat we've been having.
Cannon Distillery in West Ashley's Avondale neighborhood hasn't been around long. It opened last fall and has three products, all of them vodka. The Grit Vodka is an 80-proof spirit made from corn grown by Geechie Boy on Edisto Island.
Don't think about ordering a pitcher of sangria at Barsa. The fruity red wine concoction is made by the glass, and it's worth the extra care they take.
Rose season has taken a little longer to get here than usual, but this week the temperatures look to be rising into the 70s again. Spring weather pairs great with pink wine, but when it comes to packing up for the beach or pool, my favorite portable option is Wolffer No. 139 (there's also a …
Brewers Brian Bogstad and Ben Mayer love their community at Rusty Bull Brewing so much that they left it up to their fans to decide from what favorite cereal they should make a beer. The winner in the social media poll was Cap'n Crunch's Peanut Butter Crunch, a challenging choice to say the least.
Sometimes you just want to pretend you're a tourist in your own town and settle in at the Thoroughbred Club, one of downtown's most luxurious spots located in the lobby of the Charleston Place hotel. I did that just last week in the midst of Bridge Run chaos when our narrow streets were pack…
With the proliferation of all-day breakfast joints comes the breakfast martini, a phenomenon encountered at both Dap's and Millers All Day.
Kelly Chu is an international gelato ambassador. She collaborates with local chefs customizes Cirsea ice cream flavors for them (can you say WildFlour and Cirsea ice cream sandwich?). And she's been making ice cream for her Chinese restaurant Red Orchids in West Ashley for more than a decade…
When beer guys talk, they'll sometimes drop the word "sessionable," referring to a beer that is easy to drink, usually not too hoppy, not too bitter, and not too high in alcohol.
Ordinary and FIG co-owner Adam Nemirow traveled to Britain last year and says he encountered gin and Seedlip everywhere. Gin goes without saying, but Seedlip was something he'd never seen before. Seedlip is a distilled nonalcoholic water that comes in two versions. As Nemirow says, "One tast…
There's a new beer on draft at Husk, and it's a riff on rice and peas (aka Hoppin' John) made with koji, the ancient Asian fungus that's the starter for making soy sauce, miso and other fermented sources of umami.
A North Charleston craft beer business expects to create 15 jobs under its previously announced plan to relocate to the city's bustling Park Circle area.
Each year, the Charleston Wine + Food Festival hosts a cocktail competition and invites local bartenders to battle it out for the opportunity to have the signature drink of the festival.
The Dewberry is gorgeous. From the gleaming brass bar to the perfect spheres of ice that bob in frothy drinks, everything is elegant and simple. Behind the bar in The Living Room, the bartenders wear white dinner coats and slick their hair stylishly to the side.
Cold-brewed contraptions lead to clever cocktails at 1Kept, a bar and restaurant located within the Renaissance Hotel on Wentworth Street in downtown Charleston. Pay attention as you sit at the bar, and you'll see a collection of wooden apparatuses that look like something Igor would use for…
You shouldn’t be surprised to see a cocktail from Proof in this column since it’s my favorite bar in downtown Charleston. I love the bartenders, the vibe, the free jazz on Monday nights, the boiled peanuts and the salty Marcona almonds. The cocktails are good, too, and probably the main reas…
The perfect time to enjoy The Watch is at sunset, particularly during the colder months. If you do it right, you can watch the sky around the ornate steeple of the Grace Cathedral turn from seductive pink to orange over the bartender’s shoulder as he mixes you a cocktail.
I intended to drink a mocktail, it being a new year and all, but the beet margarita at Basic Kitchen seemed a good compromise. General manager Kelly Holmes describes it as the epitome of the philosophy of Basic Kitchen, which serves clean, veggie-heavy food. Instead of chicken wings, you get…
The Spectator Hotel's bar, despite being only two-years-old, feels old — but not old in a bad way. Old in a moneyed way. As if someone’s rich grandmother had been collecting expensive pieces of furniture and knick-knacks her entire jet-setting life and set about creating a room to quietly ex…
In the midst of last week’s snowstorm, the crud was creeping up on me. A scratchy throat and incessant cough signaled that the sniffles were soon to come. So when local restaurants started posting pictures of hot toddies on Instagram, I decided to brave the icy sidewalks to investigate this …
The Getaway pays homage to Latin culture with a menu of tropical treats, from Chef Emily Hahn’s spicy chicken empanadas to a steamy bowl of Chilean fish stew. The cocktails created by owner and bartender Genevieve Mashburn pull from Latin America with ingredients like yerba mate, Paranubes r…
Best of 2017 - The Warthog
Hardscoop
Local Holiday Cocktail: The Poinsettia
Seasonal Cocktail: French Master 75
Apple Harvest Julep
Twisted Cypress Pumpkin Ale
Gingerbread Martini
Craft Beer: Oh My Darlyn!
Island Coastal Lager
Limited Release: Virgil Kaine Electric Owl
Cocktail: The Warthog
Cocktail: Humble Bee
Canned, local, organic beer
Bottled Cocktails: The Bar at Husk
Cocktail: The Tickler
Sparkling Wine Cocktail: The Sun & Moon Flufftail
Cocktail: Industry Sour
Commissioned beer: Up Sh*m Creek by Revelry Brewing
Cocktail: Summer Breeze
In a single visit to Gillie’s Seafood you could check off half your bucket list of classic Lowcountry dishes: purloo, she crab soup, shrimp and grits, red rice, okra soup. And let’s not forget what just might be the best fried shrimp in Charleston.
Berkeley’s dishes seem simple, but behind the scenes someone has put a lot of thought into each element and took the time to really dial it in. And that makes Berkeley a very welcome addition to the North Central neighborhood.
Coterie experiments with inserting upscale Indian flavors into a casual Lowcountry environment, and the playful, genre-bending aesthetic carries over from kitchen to bar.
At Palmira Barbecue in the Port of Call Food + Brew Hall, you can get whole hog on a sandwich with one side, on a platter with two sides or as part of a two-meat platter, also with two sides. The last is the clear way to go, for there’s plenty on the menu worth trying. In fact, everything on the menu is worth trying.
With its fresh, meticulous décor, the new Post House in Mount Pleasant seems perfectly crafted for our current Instagram age. While the food may not be quite enough to lure diners away from the big names on the peninsula, all the ingredients seem in place for the rebooted Post House to follow in its predecessor’s footsteps and become a long-running neighborhood favorite.
Chasing Sage is at its best with fresh produce front and center alongside a strong but not overwhelming dose of spicy heat, with fresh herbs adding a fragrant accent. The dishes that stand out are the ones without too many elements at play.
Bexley is the first foray into restaurant ownership by longtime Charleston chef Jeremy Holst. The arrival of the new restaurant is big news for diners in Summerville, and for those of us just passing through, too.
The daytime selection at Maya del Sol Kitchen features some of Owner Raul Sanchez's greatest hits from previous Charleston-area ventures. The evening dinners, though, are the real focus. They were inspired, in part, by Sanchez’s time at R. Kitchen and also by his desire to serve an array of dishes, including old family recipes, that don’t fit into the expected format for a Mexican restaurant.
Nick’s German Kitchen arrived quietly in October, just off the Isle of Palms connector in Mount Pleasant. It got there by a curious route, and its slim menu is anchored by a half-dozen variations of pan-fried schnitzel.
Laurel’s larger plates are the most impressive, and their bold flavors more than compensate for any lapses with the smaller dishes. That’s due in large part to the charcoal heat of the restaurant's Josper oven.
The fare at Brasserie la Banque shines brightest when it steps out of the familiar groove and delivers a few bold twists. The offering is billed as “authentic and familiar,” and while some dishes fit that description — steak frites, frisée aux lardons, French onion soup — there are plenty of unexpected bites, too.
I can’t shake the critic’s instinct that it’s silly to endorse a dish which might not be available tomorrow. I kind of miss taking chances, though. In other words: No promises. But here are my greatest hits from the first week of the dining ban.
Spotlighting artisan food producers
Laura L. Middleton was among the Black writers in South Carolina’s branch of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project. She authored “Negro Restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina.”
Danny’s Philly Steak and Seafood all-day restaurant’s menu tilts toward unfussy workday meals.
The sign for The Taco Spot came down, and the sign for Taco Bartina went up on June 15, creating confusion among longtime customers and a new marketing dilemma for staff members.
