Sassy Southern Cooking with a French Twist

Restaurants

Holly’s recommended restaurants, reviews.

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Turning Over a New FIG Leaf

Recreating FIG’s Classic Arugula Salad at Home

When The Charleston Chef’s Table Cookbook (2009, Globe Pequot Press) and the “New” edition in 2018 were written and published, part of my intention as the author was to give readers the opportunity to relive their the broader memories and impressions of Charleston through a beautiful “coffee table” book, but also to give them the chefs’ tools to recreate their favorite dishes from some of her best restaurants when they returned home.

Never in a million years did I, and probably not most of you, anticipate the massive closures (hopefully for the short term) of not just Charleston’s restaurants, but many around the world due to corona virus disease.  It’s hard for me to think of so many  Mom & Pop eateries shuttered and sleeping, and even more so, Charleston’s eat-in restaurant delicacies denied to consumers, especially FIG’s.  This restaurant encapsulates everything that cooking should be – simple, pure, unfettered, streamlined. Everything here shimmers on the plates with freshness and restraint. Nothing is overdone here; everything is prepared perfectly. Chef Owner Mike Lata’s original local-meets-seasonal-and-simple credo, begun in 2003 when FIG opened, continues to shine in Executive Chef Jason Stanhope’s capable hands today.  This salad, prepared with seasonally fresh (right now!) arugula and only a few other ingredients – all top quality – is quintessentially FIG.

To follow is an excerpt from The New Charleston Chef’s Table Cookbook to help you recreate the salad at home. FIG is currently closed but, like so many, hopes to reopen soon. If you would like to help them sustain the restaurant and their staff click here to visit their GOFUNDME account which has been established to help the restaurant pay their employees during the time of the restaurant’s closure. Now, let’s dig into this simply amazing salad, which would be absolutely delicious at your home Easter table or for any fresh, spring feast.

FIG’S Classic Arugula Salad

(Serves 4 to 6)

James Beard Best Chef Southeast (2015) winner and FIG Executive Chef Jason Stanhope’s clean, pure, and exquisitely sourced culinary style is very compatible with the whole FIG mission. “There is a magic in restraint,” says a reflective Stanhope, who considers his high school/college wrestling and football pursuits and sadly, the passing of his father at a young age as the impetuses to what’s become an amazing career in food. “I took this crazy gamble after Dad’s death to go and gain traction (in my life) and attend Le Cordon Bleu. I completely fell in love with the sports-like aspect of team work, vision, being bigger than self,” he says, alluding to a quote from football great Vince Lombardi. As for FIG, everyone there coddles every step of the cooking and restaurant experience with every ounce of collective energy.”

His classic, simple arugula salad, dotted with crispy shallots and aged cheese, is a perfect reflection of Stanhope’s style. “We like to serve this salad on the larger side, a celebration of a few simple ingredients. All arugula is different so be sure to taste yours before seasoning and adjust accordingly – if it is heartier it might want more olive oil, it it’s already spicy you might back down on the pepper,” he advises.

Stanhope includes a few more tips for making your salad the best it can be at home. “An easy alternative to frying your own shallots is to buy a bag of crispy shallots from an Asian market. But they are simple to make and will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature. We use a Pecorino Canestrato from Goat.Sheep.Cow   but any hard, salty Italian cheese will work here. Using a micro-plane to grate the cheese yields a super fluffy pile that doesn’t weigh down the salad. For this salad, you can’t really have enough crispy shallots or cheese.”

Ingredients:

3 – 4 cups canola oil, for frying

3 large shallots

1/2 cup cornstarch

16 ounces arugula, gently washed and dried thoroughly

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (we use domestic Arbequina)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

4 – 6 ounces Pecorino Canestrato, or any hard, salty Italian cheese such as Grana Padano or parmesan

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt, or to taste

20 turns freshly cracked black pepper, or to taste

Method:

Fill a medium, heavy-bottomed pot about 2 inches deep with canola oil. (The oil will rise when you add the shallots so make sure the pot is less than halfway full). Using an insta-read or candy thermometer, heat oil to 275F. Line a plate with paper towels and set aside.

Peel shallots and slice on a mandolin (or carefully slice) into rings about 1/8-inch thick. Toss with cornstarch to coat and shake off the excess. When the oil is ready, fry the shallots until golden and crispy, about 12-15 minutes. Stir gently, from time to time. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain. Season generously with salt.

Place arugula in a large bowl and gently toss with olive oil until glossy. Season with salt and black pepper. Drizzle in the lemon juice and divide generously among 4-6 plates. Using a microplane, finely grate the Pecorino over each salad. Top with crispy shallots and season to taste with freshly cracked black pepper.

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Bon appetit! Wishing you delicious cooking and safe living at home and an eventual return to patronizing the restaurants we all know and love.

Author, Chef, Cookbook writer Holly Herrick Fondly,

Holly and Rocky

 

 

 

New Charleston Chefs Table book cover

 

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Forty-Five Minutes to Paradise at The Sanctuary

Destination Heaven for Lunch and a Beach Stroll at The Sanctuary’s Jasmine Porch – And a Book Give Away 

I’ve lived long enough to know, if you’re not careful,  that it’s too easy to take people, places and things for granted. Even more so, perhaps, living in beauty and nature-kissed Charleston. It’s one of the most popular vacation and wedding destinations in the world, yet it takes a visitor from out of town this weekend to remind me of Kiawah Island, a gorgeous barrier island just about forty-five minutes from greater Charleston. Though short in distance, the travel along live oak and Spanish moss canopied drives with sweeping marsh vistas delivers a transformation so complete that by the time you’ve passed through the gates to Kiawah, you feel like you’ve landed someplace divine and are shifted into extreme relaxation gear as if by osmosis.

Initially, we had planned to visit Kiawah’s public beach, but since it was lunch time, we decided to visit Jasmine Porch at The Sanctuary, a luxurious destination anytime of the year, but particularly welcome at the debut of the week and the off-season. The massive, early 19th-century inspired and elegant lobby with views of a sparkling Atlantic almost within reach felt almost like our own private mansion, so scarcely was it populated on a recent Monday early afternoon.

The elegant lobby at The Sanctuary invites with gracious hospitality, abundant fresh floral arrangements, and elegance at every turn.

Jasmine Porch is the sister restaurant to the ultra elegant Ocean Room and is situated on the ground floor at The Sanctuary off the main lobby. The food is described as Lowcountry bistro. Here, more than you might expect at a resort, the Lowcountry notes are strictly adhered to by purist and talented Chef Jeremiah Holst, who buys only from local (and seriously vetted) producers of local produce and fishermen. Strict attention to culinary detail is evident in the layered nuisances of the she crab bisque – the flavors of the long-simmered crustacean, the shells’ natural color, nutty butter, and just the right amount of sherry and thickening with Charleston’s own Carolina Gold rice. The same is abundantly evident in the flaky, hot biscuits, and smoky hot pimiento cheese spread, garnished with pickled okra.

The ‘Lunch on the Porch’ at Jasmine Porch features remarkable she crab bisque, a roasted beet salad, fresh crab slider, and fresh fruit or your choice of several substitutes (in this case fries) for no added fee.

Other notables on the lunch menu include the plucky fried green tomatoes, with a delicate touch of acidity countered by the cooling and extreme crunch of a well seasoned panko crust, and chef Holst’s pristine version of shrimp and grits. For dessert, try the moist, fragrant coconut cake layered with crispy shards of shaved coconut and butter cream and served on a cold, silky creme anglaise with notes of fresh vanilla. First-class service from the entire staff makes a visit to Jasmine Porch even more sweet. All this for just $100 (or so including a three-course lunch for two with cocktails and a tip) followed by a complimentary, lingering stroll on a wide and very lightly traveled off-season beach on a sparkling October afternoon felt like an investment with lifelong memory dividends. If you feel like staying for dinner, visit the luxurious Ocean Room, featured in my latest release, The New Charleston Chef’s Table.

The New Charleston Chef’s Table Give Away!

Just in time for the holidays, I’m offering a complimentary, signed and delivered copy of my latest cookbook, The New Charleston Chef’s Table (retails $29.95)  featuring The Ocean Room and some eighty delicious dining destinations, recipes,  Charleston history and culinary lore and gorgeous photography to a randomly selected individual from comments/responses to this blog post. Tell me what you love about Charleston, restaurants, or even just why you want this book for you or someone you love, and I’ll post the winner on Friday, November 9. I look forward to hearing from you.

New Charleston Chefs Table book cover

The New Charleston Chef’s Table (Globe Pequot Press, May 2018) by Holly Herrick

Bon appetit! Holly

 

 

 

 

 

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Best Four Charleston Restaurants and Their Best Dishes

Absolutely Not-to-Be Missed Epicurean Delights in Charleston

At least once a week and probably more often than that during peak season, I get asked by friends, family, visitors, students and people on the street about the best restaurants in Charleston. The next question is invariably, “What should I order?” These are both tough questions to answer when you consider the broad range in taste, budget and even location these people usually represent. But, as a tough professional and personal food critic and trained chef, I always go to the ground rules. For me, these include chefs and kitchen staffs that utilize restraint, balance, and pristine technique in their dishes, use only the best and freshest ingredients, and execute both of these elements on a consistent (as in every time) basis.  In addition, the spaces need to  be immaculate and pleasant and have a professional and informed staff to make my must-do recommendation list.

Of course, in Charleston, there are many that do. But, there are only four that always do that I know of: FIG, Charleston Grill, Little Jack’s Tavern, and Hominy Grill. Each of these gems create the stuff of dreams, daily. Some of them inhabit my own, frequently. And, all of them are places I recommend without hesitation to anyone who asks. Everything is perfect at each of these places, but I’m going to tell you my favorites and why because I don’t want anyone to go through this life without sampling them, because life is too short to miss this kind of deliciousness – the kind that makes breaking any diet rule worth it, at least once.

FIG

A star almost since it opened in 2003, this now super star and James Beard-winning destination at the corner of Meeting and Hasell Streets in downtown is almost impossible to book, it’s become that famous.  A master of restraint and technique, Chef and Partner Mike Lata has curated some of the best talent and instilled the same crafts within, most notably with super talented and affable Executive Chef Jason Stanhope.  If you don’t think ahead to make reservations, try a seat at the comfortable bar (best bet is early or late to ensure seating) and order the silky chicken liver pate. Served with cool and sweet bread and butter pickles, imported French Dijon, and brioche toast points, it’s infinitely better than the very best foie gras, a more humane preparation, and a much better buy at $15. I never want the little square of French perfection to be finished. Add the Yukon Gold potato puree ($10) side to your go-ahead-and-do-it list. It’s smoother than butter and cream, and lovingly fortified with both, but the airy puree of golden potatoes spontaneously lifts every spoonful closer to ethereal heights.  In recent years, the restaurant’s made award-winning improvements to its wine list, too. Locally sourced pristine fish and produce all shine on the menu.

Charleston Grill

Leading the special event dining destination pack since I moved here in 2000 and before,  Charleston Grill remains that white linen tablecloth experience and more. It is jazzy, sexy, cosmopolitan, and subdued, and an ideal destination with  go with a group or all alone to enjoy the live jazz and outstanding service. You won’t feel alone. You’ll feel sublimely pampered in the expert hands of Executive Chef Michelle Weaver and General Manager Mickey Bakst. A star player on the dinner menu and the bar menu, the fluffy, crisp, and tender crab cake is the not-to-be-missed specialty here. As Weaver has described them to me, “One bite is like tasting a mouthful of the Lowcountry.” The golden cakes are all crab and taste all of that plus sweet and buttery and expertly dressed with creek shrimp and a lime tomato vinaigrette.  Sit and stay awhile. You may very well build up an appetite for another.

Exquisite Charleston Grill Crab Cake with Creek Shrimp and Lime Tomato Vinaigrette

Little Jack’s Tavern

This is the place I always take guests to when they’re in town, not only because it will please them, but because, like a greedy little lady version of Wimpy, I’m always craving their Tavern Burger, and really every single thing on their menu. Everything is perfect. The menu is abbreviated, but chock full of nostalgic American, Rat Pack-era bravado and friendly, neighborhood service. Parking is easy (and always welcome), but the “baby” burger as I call it, not the double version, is the number one (closely followed by the first-class service) reason to come here.  The 1/2″-thick patty emanates ground in-house freshness and just enough fat to enhance the sweet flavor of the “Tavern” sauce and tender, griddled onions. Nestled on a soft bun, custom made and baked daily in-house it, it drips with fully melted, wonderfully mild American cheese. It’s so sublime, it’s even on their dessert menu for those that want one more. Also outstanding here, steak tartar, all of the salads, baked egg, fries, and house cocktails, especially the Bee’s Knees.

Hominy Grill

Saving the best for last, Hominy Grill is my most recommended and favorite restaurant in Charleston. That’s because it possesses all the qualities I demand (and outlined at the top of the story), but adds elegant, authentic and homey Southern food (what most people come to Charleston to sample) for both breakfast and lunch in an adorable single house prepared by a man that has to be the one of the world’s most humble and hands-on and talented chefs, Chef/Owner Robert Stehling. His training comes from his childhood in North Carolina and later stints at celebrated Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill and some of Manhattan’s best before he brought it all home to Charleston.

I break all the rules here – diet, budget, restraint. If I had the foresight to know what my last meal on earth would be, I would make sure it was here and I would order a cup of  she crab soup, a bowl of the shrimp and grits, a high rise biscuit with butter and house made preserves and for dessert, the chocolate pudding or the buttermilk tart, or both. Each of these are examples of some of the best food in Charleston, and arguably, the world. The shrimp are utterly Lowcountry local, rife with the sweet, briny flavor for which they’re known and settled on a bed of stone ground cheese grits with a simple, slightly lemmony mixture of mushrooms, scallions and bacon. The chocolate pudding, as a North Carolina- bred friend of mine used to say, is the best thing I ever put in my mouth. Dark, deep chocolate and silky smooth it (like the tart/sweet heavenly buttermilk pie) comes topped with a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream.

All of this ambrosia comes with a price – fame, and ensuing long lines. Best time to come is just before 9 a.m. on a weekday morning. You’ll likely get in the queue in short order and you can make an excuse to sip one of Hominy’s also delicious house Bloody Mary’s on the front patio.

Hominy Grill’s world-class and utterly authentic shrimp and grits is served all day. Get some!

Quite possibly the world’s best biscuit. Feel free to slather with the succulent house made preserves.

Now you know my list. Go out and make your own when you’re in town. Charleston is full of the good stuff! I’ve featured each of these four in my latest cookbook, The New Charleston Chef’s Table Cookbook (Globe Pequot Press, May, 2018). along with many others. You can find recipes for Michelle Weaver’s crab cakes and Little Jack’s steak tartar, too. But, even better to go in person.

Bon appetit! Enjoy Charleston and don’t hesitate to write and tell me about your favorites, too.

Holly

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunday, Savory Sunday (and Sweet, Too!)

Indaco Adds Sunday Brunch to Tasty “Dixie-talian” Menu

The burgeoning bunch of downtown Charleston restaurants serving brunch, especially on smokin’ hot Upper King Street, just got one restaurant bigger, and in my opinion, that much better. Indaco, popular for its sexy, sophisticated bar and dinner scene, added brunch to its menu line-up and kicked off last Sunday with a whopping 120 covers on the very first day.

The menu, co-created by Executive Chef Michael Perez and newly promoted Chef de Cuisine Andy McLeod, stays true to the restaurant’s self-described Dixie-talian roots, or as McLeod aptly describes it, “a broad use of local ingredients with an Italian spin.” Not surprisingly, the menu weaves a series of pizzas (both sweet and savory) from their celebrated wood-burning oven, egg sandwiches, pasta, and classic Italian “primi” courses such as an exquisite sounding Bombolini made with a Meyer lemon marmalata and lemon crema, smoked pork rilettes, and a prosciutto plate with Honey Crisp apples, honey and Parmesan cheese.

Here are some of my favorites:

Light and luscious, "Milk and Honey" showcases Indaco's impossibly creamy and smooth housemade whipped ricotta and crunchy granola with sweet, garden-fresh fruit. A bit of honey sweetens the deal to Sunday morning perfection.

Light and luscious, “Milk and Honey” showcases Indaco’s impossibly creamy and smooth housemade whipped ricotta and crunchy granola with sweet, garden-fresh fruit. A bit of honey sweetens the deal to Sunday morning perfection.

Nutella lovers will revel in the warm stuff drizzled over caramelized bananas and toasted nuts on Indaco's impeccable pizza crust.

Nutella lovers will revel in the warm stuff drizzled over caramelized bananas and toasted nuts on Indaco’s impeccable pizza crust.

Save room for the pasta, whatever you do. The Mezzaluna is a riff on shrimp and grits, with the tenderest housemade noodles prepared with corn/pasta flour, grouper sausage, and Shem Creek harvested shrimp swimming in a ham stock broth. Exquisite!

Save room for the pasta!The Mezzaluna is a riff on shrimp and grits, with the tenderest housemade noodles prepared with corn/pasta flour, grouper sausage, and Shem Creek harvested shrimp swimming in a ham stock broth. Exquisite!

While sophisticated, the space is also children-friendly, particularly the large, outdoor patio. Management anticipates adding live music to the entertainment mix in the coming weeks, once the brunch crowd has settled in. Bottomless Bellinis prepared with peach, a splash of pomegranate and Prosecco or a Mark it 8, Dude adult beverage featuring a blend of vodka, Borghetti, a cereal infused cream (last week it was cinnamon crunch!) and a pinch of cinnamon, will certainly suit Charleston’s vast apres church, libation-imbibing crowd.

Reservations recommended.

Indaco

526 King Street, downtown Charleston, 29403

843-727-1228

indacocharleston.com

Sunday brunch hours – 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Year of Dining Casually

2014 – Charleston’s Year of Low Cost Deliciousness

Most of last year Charleston was showered with a small storm of low cost, casual eateries many of them sprouting up along Upper King Street, and to a lesser extent, downtown, and points west and east. Perhaps it’s because these little guys now outnumber the big, formal, high price point guys by a lot, that I found myself drawn to them more than any other category of restaurant in the past twelve months. Memories of a butter tender, ultra fresh zucchini blossom, lightly breaded and filled with lemon-seasoned ricotta one spring evening at Indaco compete with the recall clamor of a delectable milk poached pork loin at the utterly adorable and French Chez Nous. But, to follow is a list of the places that were so spectacular and relaxed that I found myself returning again and again.

La Tabella Italian Grill

I know it’s not sexy and it’s not hip and I’m certain you’ll never read about this in any national magazine about Charleston’s smoking hot food scene.  To those in the know (and that’s largely a James Island-based clan), they’re onto the gutsy, Italian American goodness you can find here – lunch and dinner. I’m almost hesitant to give this preferred secret destination away, but the staff here deserves high praise. A glorious, three-meat, slightly sweet, slightly acidic Bolegnese wraps its way into every bite of the ultra cheese lasagna that comes with an oregano-smacked house-made vinaigrette and a crunchy, cold house salad. The service staff practically sings with affability and good service.

Amen Street 

This place is sexy – and sleek. Fantastic oysters with clean, bright sauces are shucked at the bar and the fried local fish platter is another local secret. If you get bored (and you won’t) check out the oyster chandeliers that adorn the high ceilings.

Brasserie Gigi

Exquisite calamari graces Brasserie Gigi's happy hour menu.

Like Chez Nous, Brasserie Gigi gave Charleston a warm gustatory Gallic hug this year with authentic, casual brasserie fare. Where Chez Nous feels more like a gem you might find in a small French village, Gigi feels more like Paris. Though Executive Chef Frank McMahon is Irish, his training is classical French and I contend he’s one of Charleston’s best. You can especially taste it in his rendition of calamari – light, airy, tender and served with a fluffy saffron aioli. For reasons I cannot understand, it’s only served on the Happy Hour menu, Saturday through Sunday, 4 to 7 p.m.

Artisan Meat Share

Craig Deihl’s spent years behind the scenes at Cypress mastering the complex crafts of curing, smoking, charcuterie and pate and this year he proudly brought it to the fore at a a brand new store front that carries it all, and puts some of it on fresh bread adorned with gorgeous condiments to produce some of the best sandwiches around. I love the Italian and the the minty pea salad.

HHARTISANMEAT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leon’s Oyster Shop

It’s hard to resist the ease of the drive away from the bustle of downtown’s increasingly congested traffic and the ease of parking at this hot spot at the corner of King and I Streets. More than any other restaurant around, this has been my reliable destination whenever I need a slice of urban sophistication, relaxed neighborhood feel-good service, and some fryer fresh, crunchy, fried chicken. Broiled oysters and all salads, especially the stacked iceberg lettuce with lip-smacking buttermilk dressing never disappoint. Come hungry and finish it off with a soft serve ice cream and a confetti of colorful sprinkles.

For fantastic, casual dining at reasonable prices, also consider these personal favorites from 2014 and likely for years to come:

Heart Woodfire Kitchen

Hom

The Obstinate Daughter,

Crust Woodfire Pizza

Swig and Swine BBQ

Boxcar Betty

Wishing you all a wonderful, healthy, happy and delicious 2015!

Holly

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