Sure, I don’t know the location of hotel emeline, but check Chez Nous’ instagram account on Saturday morning for their limited menu options. If something looks good, go.
Husk is fine, but Zero George is probably the most innovative restaurant in Charleston at the moment.
Lewis
or Rodney Scott if you haven’t tried it.
My auntie did several of the desserts at Cru Cafe. Try the Orange Sherbet Cake.
I’ll check with a buddy ITB to see if there’s anything brand new.
We’d invite you for breakfast but our kitchen is ripped out.
She say, “Babas!!”
Definitely worth it. If you are looking for an extended stay look at the “Residences” at Zero George. 1-3 bedrooms available for 1-12 months at a time (the 3 bed is off the market for a while). We used Amex points via Paypal for payment as it is one of Amex’s preferred hotels. They also have a cooking school and they featured DLynn Proctor of Somm fame not long ago. Good times.
Also, don’t skip over Charleston Grill. Go on a slow night and do the tasting menu with wine pairings.
Thanks fellas. Zero George was booked solid when I tried, which is why we ended up at Husk. Maybe next time!
let’s see some comments. Were there highlights?
Day one started with a travel disaster in which our plane was delayed due to mechanical issues. After a six hour delay, plane shows up and we board. Then after an hour sitting around on the plane, we’re forced off, wait another hour, then have flight cancelled due to mechanical failure. No American flights to Charleston the next day, so AA solution was Dallas-Cleveland-Miami-Charleston over two days of travel. No thanks. Looked and saw Delta had Dallas-Atlanta-Charleston arriving midnight Thursday evening. We’d be there for Friday morning, so tried that. First, the last minute Delta tickets, with 1 stop, were like 1300 more than the AA tickets. Second, only after I bought them did Delta make clear that the Dallas flight was delayed, precluding the connection from working and making sure we couldn’t get there on Thurs. So our Leons, 167 Raw, Bulldog night tour were all shot. We rearranged travel to just get there on Friday at 1:15 instead of Thursday at 1:15.
As soon as we landed we went to Emeline and got checked in. Emeline is a neatly decorated and quite hip hotel that was full of relatively young and pretty people. There was a mid to late 20s wedding crowd and college graduation set, and they were largely all smiles and energy.
We promptly headed to Leon’s for oysters, fried chicken, and champagne. Hebrart Rose was nice. I’ve seen menus from Leons with some really incredible grower stuff, but when I went it was mostly growers I can get around here relatively easy. Still good stuff. But Pertrois Morriset, Warris Larmandier, Vouette et Sorbee, Hebrart, Calsac, and others. Still, it is a really good and well curated list. Service was sensational. Fried chicken excellent, oysters good, sides good other than the cole slaw which was sweet and heavy on mayo. Still, among my favorite experiences and mom and I were all smiles and having fun.
Dinner at Circa 1886 was nice. The service was really top notch. Near us was a table of 8 celebrating an anniversary. The head geezer had his phone out with the flashlight on max brightness and he was shining it basically straight at our table. It was annoying enough that I’d just put my napkin on the table to go tell him to shape up because my mom was having to block the light with her hand and it was interrupting our dinner. Staff saw what was happening and manager came over, turned brightness up on lamp near their table, and tactfully had him turn off his cell light. The food at Circa 1886 was mostly very refined. The shrimp and rice grits app was the only elegant shrimp and grits I’ve ever had, with complex flavors, absolutely perfectly cooked small shrimp, and a goat cheese with the rice grits and ham sauce that was somehow subtle and flavorful at the same time. My only adverse note would be that it needed more salt. I had the venison entrée with chestnut sauce and it was cooked perfectly and was very good. The cippolini onions needed a little more time to soften, but that’s a minor whine. My deer was really top notch, was substantial, and very flavorful. My mom ordered chicken fried duck breast with hopnjohn and greens. She enjoyed it, but I thought it was a really uninspiring and frankly boring tasting dish that did nothing for the duck breast. I would have been affirmatively disappointed had I ordered that for my entrée. Apple rum souffle for dessert was absolutely sensational.
Breakfast at Gaulart & Maliclet’s Fast and French was fun and delicious. Croissant magnifique (it was) with ham and cheese for me, chevre and honey for my mom. Great strong coffee, good fruit salad. Fun lively environment. Strong recommend for a cheap, fast, and satisfying breakfast down on Broad street.
Ate outside at Gabrielle’s at Hotel Bennett after Charleston Museum for lunch since just across the street. There was a little outdoor farmer’s market type thing hopping right on the edge of the park, so people watching was glorious. A combination of pretty young people and olds on tourist jaunts. People wear odd things nowadays, which means I’m beginning to fall into the olds category. In any event, glass of champagne, she crab soup, and crab croissant sandwich were all good and satisfying. A good enough execution bolstered by being outside near the market watching the passers by with a glass of wine and awesome conversation with my mom. There was a big college graduation party for Charleston College right near by with a bunch of 22 year olds dressed to the nines having a fun time.
The Charleston Museum was great. The main docent was kind of a dick, but her second in command was wonderful. For example, a woman shows with her 4 year old daughter, a determined little girl wearing a too large backpack with no complaint, ready to explore the museum. Main docent in stern voice: Ma’am you know this is not the Charleston children’s museum, correct? This is an adult oriented museum. Mom: Yes, but you do have a kids discovery section and don’t you have a big section on animals and dinosaurs? Docent: Well yes but… Second in command: I’d be glad to guide you both to those sections if you’d like to being seeing some of the fun exhibits we have to offer! Anyway, highly recommend checking it out.
Fort Sumter tour was interesting. Half is a lovely ferry ride around the harbor. Half is a very limited tour of what was once a fort and which is now mostly a decimated outer wall, 1/3 of its original size. Park Ranger was super into his speech about the history of the fort, which was fun to see. I’m glad we checked it out, if mostly only for the historical significance of the site.
Dinner at Husk was actually really pretty good but not very refined as warned. Shaved ham app was delicious. Charcuterie was really nice. Side of grits among best I’ve ever had because actually just damn fine buttery grits made the right way. Fried oysters were good, but cornmeal batter is, in my opinion, always a bit more rustic than an oyster deserves. My Black Sea Bass was fresh, delicious, and competently done, grilled with salt and pepper and starring the subtle flavor of the fish. A very good and well prepared albeit fairly unexciting dish. My mom had a pork dish that was a combination of loin and belly, and it was extremely flavorful, well executed, and just killer. By that time she was pretty full, so I got to enjoy a decent bit of her meal and it was killer. Crave worthy dish. I honestly can’t remember what I had for dessert but recall it was pretty good. Sommelier was a very nice and intellectaul wine nerd who very clearly knew her stuff. We had a Boudignon chenin blanc to start, which was great, followed by a Cali nero de avola that she had off list which was fun with the pork dishes. Kind of bright tart red fruit with a little funk to it. An interesting wine.
Last was mother’s day breakfast at Tempest. I was late getting this brunch setup and had limited options in Charleston when I booked reservations because we’d been previously discussing departure times and a morning flight was initially in play. Tempest is very close to Emeline hotel, and had some decent reviews so I thought it might be fun. I have a few thoughts here. First, the restaurant was closed and locked when we arrived at 8:56 for our 9:00 reservation. A little front had come through and it was 61 outside. We’d not prepared for any kind of chilly weather and so were basically just left out in the cold. At about 9:05-9:08 someone unlocked the front door, went back in, and said nothing to the line of folks outside waiting to be let in. Then, after giving them my name, they had to have someone run to check to see if our table was ready upstairs. That, to me, was absolutely chicken shit service on Mother’s Day. Give me an effing break.
The bottom floor interior of Tempest is really neat. It has a faux stain glass ceiling that looks really cool. Our table was upstairs, though, which is a nice clean interior, just nothing special. The service theme continued. Coffee with no sugar. big gap to service of first course. Second course served with no utensils so we had to just sit staring while our food cooled until the manager noticed and stepped to it. Had to ask for refill of coffee. Had to ask for more cream. The meal itself was also all over the place. I started with sliced roasted pairs with goat cheese on grilled sourdough. Instead of mandolined pears, layers atop the toast on top of the spread goat cheese, the roast pears were cut into chunks of varying sizes making it rather hard to eat. Cheese spread unevenly. Mom had bagel and lox. Lox and pickled onions were dynamite, but that’s like a whole meal for breakfast, not a first course. Second course we both got shrimp and grits. It was an odd breakfast presentation with very rustic blue corn grits adjacent to poached shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce. All together it was really quite good, but a strange presentation and a strange take on shrimp and grits. The volume of food for the first two courses killed any need for lunch. Dessert was little lemon strawberry basil tarts for me, which were tasty but elementary, and hummingbird cake with bruleed banana and pineapple compote. The banana and pineapple bits were excellent, and the cake was spiced just right, just a hair overcooked. Still, with coffee it was delicious. Overall, I thought Tempest was a mess, and would not go back.
Leon’s was the winner for us. Husk the best overall dinner experience. My venison at Circa 1886 the best individual entree.
Art walk on Friday evening was very enjoyable. Wow, what a range of galleries. Some were really excellent with beautiful works from local and foreign artists. Others were hot trash with pieces that look like they were done by first year art students at a local community college. Common theme was very friendly gallery owners. It was really interesting to see what vibe they were going for. David Lange Studios was jamming, young crowd, louder electronic music, extremely high energy. Then a half block down is a very high end place with no music, older, wealthier group, soft communication. It was nice to see all of it. We hit about a dozen galleries, saw a few things we liked, got some additional information on a couple of artists. It’s the first Friday of the month. Worth doing.
TL;DR Version:
Leon’s kicks ass. Love it. Wine list at time was good, but not as exhilarating as I’d seen online. Food great other than slaw.
Circa 1886 was great service, some great dishes, but some flat dishes. Excellent service.
Gabrielle’s was good but really only very enjoyable because of setting, outside table, perfect weather, tons of great people watching.
Husk was probably best overall meal. Black sea bass entree a little boring but cooking was good, pork dish and starters were great.
Tempest was a mess.
glad you salvaged a nice weekend.
Nice reviews.
You’re a good son.
Zero George is awesome.
We are going back in a few weeks but Zero George is booked. Love it last time I went. We did lock down Husk, on Kane’s reco, and Peninsula Grille, which I have been before and liked. Plus we are staying at the Plantar’s Inn, so right down stairs.
We really enjoyed Leon’s and FIG (the tomato tart tartine was awesome).
Cru Cafe is fun, esp for lunch.
Their orange sherbet cake dessert was created for them by my late auntie.
Really enjoyed Chubby Fish when I was there last year. Edmunds Oast too.
We used to go to Charleston a lot.Fig, Leon’s and Edmunds Oast were always faves. EO used to do 1/2 off wine on Monday nights. $65 for Bouchard Val Vilaine there is one my great list buys in my history of list buys. Good old days.
Chubby Fish! Best seafood in town alongside the Ordinary. Doesn’t take reservations, so you can get on the list then go around the block to Tippling House, which is the N. Rhône capital of Charleston.
EO never seems to make it on to lists of must-visits, but I think I’ve yet to have a dish there that was less than excellent, let alone a meal.
Full agreement here 
I used to love that pickled shrimp on toast dish. Man that was good.
Somehow, we got back into Zero George, so we are booked for four there. Yay!
