+VTU-JLF.BNB6TFEUP.BLF … Brock’s McCrady’s has a $60 four-course dinner. If you can’t get a...

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10/29/12 The Best Restaurants and Food in Nashville and Charleston : Condé Nast Traveler 1/4 www.cntraveler.com/food/2012/11/nashville-charleston-best-food-restaurants-hotels#slide=21 PLACES & PRICES ADAM PLATT NOVEMBER 2012 ISSUE As in other great culinary regions, there’s no bad route to take when searching for a good meal in the American South, and no bad time to do it, although harvest season has obvious advantages. The modern equivalent of Homer’s Odyssey for Southern food freaks is John Egerton's magisterial Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History (University of North Carolina Press, $33), and if you want a manageable, state-by-state guide to greasy spoons and fry shacks, John T. Edge's Southern Belly is the book to get (Algonquin Books, $15). Egerton is one of the founders and Edge the current director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an invaluable resource for the literature, history, festivals, and everything else connected to the great Southern Food Revival. The classic Southern cookbook remains The Taste of Country Cooking, by Edna Lewis, the Julia Child of Southern cuisine (Knopf, $25). My favorite of the many modern compendiums of down-home recipes is The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, by those eloquent sons of Charleston, Matt and Ted Lee (W. W. Norton & Company, $35). Prices quoted are for November 2012.

Transcript of +VTU-JLF.BNB6TFEUP.BLF … Brock’s McCrady’s has a $60 four-course dinner. If you can’t get a...

10/29/12 The Best Restaurants and Food in Nashville and Charleston : Condé Nast Traveler

1/4www.cntraveler.com/food/2012/11/nashville-charleston-best-food-restaurants-hotels#slide=21

PLACES & PRICES Just Like Mama Used to Make

A Guide to Tennessee and SouthCarolina's Best Food

The seafood comes right to the dock at Charleston’s Bowens Island Restaurant, a quieter spot than the foodie crush ofdowntown.

By ADAM

PLATT

NOVEMBER 2012

ISSUE

As in other great culinary regions, there’s no bad route to take when

searching for a good meal in the American South, and no bad time to

do it, although harvest season has obvious advantages. The modern

equivalent of Homer’s Odyssey for Southern food freaks is John

Egerton's magisterial Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in

History (University of North Carolina Press, $33), and if you want a

manageable, state-by-state guide to greasy spoons and fry shacks, John T. Edge's

Southern Belly is the book to get (Algonquin Books, $15). Egerton is one of the

founders and Edge the current director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an

invaluable resource for the literature, history, festivals, and everything else connected to

the great Southern Food Revival. The classic Southern cookbook remains The Taste of

Country Cooking, by Edna Lewis, the Julia Child of Southern cuisine (Knopf, $25). My

favorite of the many modern compendiums of down-home recipes is The Lee Bros.

Southern Cookbook, by those eloquent sons of Charleston, Matt and Ted Lee (W. W.

Norton & Company, $35). Prices quoted are for November 2012.

10/29/12 The Best Restaurants and Food in Nashville and Charleston : Condé Nast Traveler

3/4www.cntraveler.com/food/2012/11/nashville-charleston-best-food-restaurants-hotels#slide=21

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AD CHOICES

Columbia to Charleston, South Carolina

In Columbia, the Hilton may be the best place to stay (803-744-7800; doubles from

$169). For a classic and economical Southern breakfast, Mack's Cash Grocery

serves a perfect sausage-and-egg biscuit topped with a slice of fresh tomato, its version

of Tater Tots, and coffee for $3.74. and its “ye olde” baloney sandwich is the stuff of

legend (1809 Laurel St.; 803-779-9681; lunch from $2). For a more haute experience, try

one of Emile DeFelice’s favorites, Terra, famous for its Crispy “Buffalo”

Sweetbreads and the fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade (100 State St.; 803-

791-3443; entrées from $10).

In Charleston, many companies offer culinary walking tours; Bulldog Tours charges

$42 per person for its Savor the Flavors of Charleston (800-979-3370). Downtown, the

venerable Planters Inn has a gold-embossed volume of the city’s restaurant menus in

its lobby (843-722-2345; doubles from $224; entrées from $29).

Sean Brock’s McCrady’s has a $60 four-course dinner. If you can’t get a table, sit

at the commodious bar, which has particularly inventive snacks (2 Unity Alley; 843-577-

0025; entrées from $29). Brock’s new, more casual Husk books up weeks in

advance. It’s easier to get a table at lunch, and the Husk Cheeseburger is on the menu

(76 Queen St.; 843-577-2500; dinner entrées from $24). Sample the legendary pork

chop at Bertha's Kitchen (2332 Meeting Street Rd.; 843-554-6519; entrées from

$5). To mingle with members of the Charleston food cognoscenti, belly up to the bar at

Mike Lata’s FIG (232 Meeting St.; 843-805- 5900; entrées from $29). For the full

experience at Bowens Island Restaurant, sit downstairs under the memorial

photos of oystermen (1870 Bowens Island Rd.; 843-795-2757; entrées from $7). The

Hominy Grill serves wonderful sandwiches at lunch and an excellent dinner, but to

experience the Southern breakfast in all its glory, order the Big Nasty ($8.50) with a

side of the famous house grits (207 Rutledge Ave.; 843-937-0930; entrées from $15).

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HILTON COLUMBIA CENTER

Columbia, South Carolina

COURTESY HILTON