Another reason to visit Charleston: cuisine

With chefs adding unique Southern twists to classic dishes, the South Carolina city's reputation for restaurants is simmering.

By KATIE McELVEEN
Published June 5, 2005

	[Photo: Peter Frank Edwards]
	Chef Robert Stehling’s Southern specialties at the Hominy Grill have helped boost the reputation of Charleston, S.C., for fine cuisine.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Located in a former gas station a few blocks from the city's highest rent district, the Hominy Grill is an unlikely place to experience what is one of the largest selections of fine Southern dining in the region. But whether shrimp and grits, pimento cheese, pepper jelly, buttermilk pie and fried green tomatoes are distant memories or new experiences, at Hominy Grill they're in top form.

High-rise biscuits, for instance, are just that, as well as meltingly tender. Oyster stew is like pillowy islands of oysters in a creamy, curry-scented pool. Entrees of ribeye steak or duck breast, accompanied by sweet potato spoonbread, hominy and sauted greens, are reminders that chef Robert Stehling's exceptional cooking is deeply rooted below the Mason-Dixon line.

But while Stehling's location may be unusual, he is not alone in the city's increasingly brilliant range of restaurants.

The Peninsula Grill, for instance, has drawn national attention. In the restaurant's kitchen on any afternoon, pots of stock simmer on the stove as a prep cook dices onions, carrots and celery. Nearby, the creamy smells of chocolate and caramel rise from fresh-baked banana bread.

Yet what's happening there is surprisingly familiar.

"We serve classic American food here," says chef Robert Carter. "But that doesn't mean it isn't sophisticated: It just means it's approachable."

The formula works. At Peninsula Grill, a Mobil four-star restaurant, the blue crab meat is tossed with spinach and ripe tomatoes and served atop fried green tomatoes. The combination of tastes and sensations - tender, crusty, warm, cool - turns the dish into something much more than a salad.

Pork, glossed with a barbecue compound butter and served with sides of braised cabbage and Cheddar grits, is anything but modest. Even that downhome staple of hush puppies has been laced with lobster and a touch of basil.

Carter is among Charleston's chefs making the familiar better with playful Southern twists and local produce. These perfectly executed classic dishes combined with the chefs' special touches are helping make Charleston a destination for food-lovers, even without the odd pairings and verbal bling becoming standard in much larger cities.

Southerners use the expression "high cotton" to describe a time when life can be lived and money spent with exuberance. To carry out the mood at the High Cotton Maverick Bar & Grill, there are huge expanses of exposed brick, deep mahogany panels, wide windows that open onto the street and massive ceiling fans.

The food is robust as well. Carnivores will adore the hefty steaks, venison and flavorful pork porterhouse. But High Cotton isn't just a Southern steakhouse: Perlau, a rice dish that has graced tables here for centuries, arrives studded with ribbons of tender duck, a nod to the region's love affair with game.

Although it's Southern to the core, Charleston's food offerings go well beyond low-country classics.

Reflecting owner Sermet Aslan's Turkish heritage, the food at Sermet's Corner on King Street has a decidedly Middle Eastern flair. Here, calamari is grilled, then napped with garlic and olive oil and served over warm spinach. But there the mix of cultures means you can order sweet potato fries, lavender-scented pork tenderloin or baklava.

Down narrow John Street, near the art museum, is the boisterous and trendy 39 Rue de Jean, a French brassiere that boasts garlicky mussels, crispy frites and tender coq au vin. Yet for visitors who want Japanese food, Rue has a separate menu devoted to surprisingly good sushi.

Back at Peninsula Grill, Carter is transforming unassuming banana pudding into a memorable finale to a meal: a slab of the banana bread is covered with a dome of milk chocolate, Carter's recipe for vanilla wafers and a crown of Tia Maria-infused caramel sauce.

"Charleston is a great venue for food and for life," he says with a smile. "We've got fantastic resources for local ingredients and a sophisticated clientele that keeps us from getting complacent. But we've also got wonderful culture and history. It's a great place to be."

- Katie McElveen is a freelance writer living in Columbia, S.C.

[Last modified June 3, 2005, 09:56:03]