The Grocery, Charleston, SC

Put This On Your Dining List

Just off King Street on Cannon Street is one of Charleston’s newest restaurants, The Grocery.  If I am capturing this correctly The Grocery is designed to reflect grocery stores of long ago. Where people came to chat, set a spell, break bread together, share stories, food and visit.  We did just that.

Joined by another couple all four of us were a tad nervous when we entered the restaurant and there were just a few tables seated. Ut-oh, we thought, this could have been a bad choice.  An empty restaurant is never a good sign. Boy, were we mistaken.

I have to say that our server was one of the most knowledgeable that we’ve come across here in the Low Country.  She had a casual, easy going style while suggesting menu items, but certainly didn’t push us, which was nice.  After she explained The Grocery’s concept we started to review the menu to see what we would “share” at the table.

The menu is divided into “snacks”, “bites”, “tastes”, “plates”, “table”,  and “side” options.  As you go through the options they escalate in price. We decided to choose a few things from the “snacks” ($4-$13) and “bites” ($9-$13).  Our server explained that the portions would be on the small side, which good to know.

When our appetizers arrived it was nice to see that a lot of thought was put into what they would be served in. No white plate ware at this place.  The plating on crocks, old fashioned coke bottles and casserole dishes did not go unnoticed.  It actually was a great touch.

We were all hungry  and ordered several appetizers.  The Charred Onion Dip with Kettle Chips was outstanding - a great flavor, but not over powering. The homemade kettle chips were also terrific.

 Charred Onion Dip with Kettle Chips

The Fried Oysters were also a plus.  Placed back in their shells with a spicy deviled egg sauce and topped with sweet house made pickles was a great compliment.  The ‘Piggy Plate’ though, stole the show.

Fried Oysters

On a small ‘pig shaped’ cutting board arrived some of the best items of the evening.  House made ‘City Ham’,  pork cheeks, mortadella, and pates along with sweet and sour pickles, pickled radishes, crostini and hearty grain mustard were to die for.  This is an item I would highly recommend since we almost fought over the last pieces.

Piggy Plate

Piggy Plate Condiments

Unfortunately the ‘Crispy Pimento Cheese’ was overcooked, small cheese balls that were mostly breading and not-much cheese.  I would pass on this bite.  They had zero flavor at best.

Crispy Pimento Cheese 

Our entrees were selected from the “tastes” section of the menu.  Again the presentation was impressive.  I had the Pappardelle, Pancetta, Parsley and Poached Egg dish which was served in a small crock like dish and looked beautiful.

For some reason I thought that the egg would be incorporated into the dish but it wasn’t and it sat on top of the pasta.  Our server told us that it was “their take on a carbonara” and to mix the egg into the pasta.  Being not my cup of tea I passed on this option.  Although flavorful the dish was over seasoned with pepper and the pasta was overcooked. 

Pappardelle

The Tile Fish special dish of the evening was perfectly cooked and served with brussel sprouts.  Although the server informed us that the “tastes” section of the menu would be “about 4 ounces” that’s a lot smaller than you’d think.  Our entrees, though tasty, were also tiny for the price.

Tile Fish

The Beef Short Ribs were fall-off-the bone tender, though miniscule. The bone marrow served on the side did not receive any positive reviews, but that’s just a matter of personal taste. 

Beef Short Rib

Lastly, the ‘suggestion’ of Lamb Shoulder with Chick Peas and Sautéed Greens was flavorful, but again, very small (mostly shoulder and not a lot of lamb). There was also a piece of house made sausage on the plate that was very good, but didn’t seem to be a good match for the dish.

Lamb Shoulder

I guess you could say that about all of our dishes. The accompanying items to our entrees made us wonder how they “fit” with the main items on the plate. Not that they didn't taste good, they just didn’t seem to fit with the entrees. 

We also shared a Cauliflower Casserole and Roasted Root Vegetables as side dishes that were ample for the table - pricey, but ample ($8.00 each).

Roasted Root Vegetable

Cauliflower Casserole

All in all I liked The Grocery a bunch.  I do, however feel that their “Tastes” section of the menu are overpriced.  The Tile Fish special was smaller than a deck of cards and my pasta was about ¾ of a cup. My advice would be to stick with the “Snacks” and “Bites”.

BTW our concerns when we first arrived and the restaurant was empty were quickly squashed.  By the time we left the restaurant was packed and on a wait list.  Add The Grocery to your list of restaurants to try!!

We gave The Grocery 4 out of a possible 5 plates. 

Zagat Tags;
#tidal #restaurant

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Big Billy’s Burger Joint, N. Charleston, SC

Big Disappointment

From the owners of the Noisy Oyster comes their newest concept, Big Billy’s Burger Joint in N. Charleston near the Tanger Outlets.  Unfortunately, I found it disappointing.  It’s not like we didn’t give it a try, this is our 3^rd time here.  I just didn’t write about the other two thinking they were new and had to work the kinks out. Now, not so new, many kinks remain.

When you enter the restaurant the first thing you see is an incredibly large tiki hut that graces the entire center of the building. The theme here is ‘margaritaville’ and Jimmy Buffet’s music is the mainstay.  But hey, can you ever hear too much of ‘Wasted Away in Margaritaville?’ The answer is yes.

Tiki Hut

There were very few patrons either at the table or bar area and our service was swift.  We decided to start with the Baked Jalapeno Pimento Cheese Dip as we looked through the menu.

Billy’s is not a fancy place and the menu is simple.  Sandwiches, Salads, Wraps, all of the usual suspects dot the pages.  There is a “build your own” burger, chicken sandwich and salad section that caught our eye and we quickly placed our order for a chicken sandwich and a burger.

Our dip took quite some time to arrive and when it did it was burnt.  From the picture you can see that I’m not exaggerating. So here’s what I don’t understand.  The line cook takes it out of the broiler, sees that it’s burnt and sets it in the window.  The manager, who is also expediting, sees that it’s burnt and hands it off to our server, who also sees that it’s burnt and brings it to our table.  Really?  We sent it back for a second try.  The second one was better and pretty tasty. But returning it made our lunch a disaster.

Pimento Cheese Dip (round 1)

Pimento Dip (round 2)

We sat and watched our lunch dying in the window as our appetizer was served.  Again the manager pulled our lunch items, cold as they were, handed them to a server and they were sent out to our table just a couple minutes after our appetizer (round 2) was served. Since they were DOA when they hit the table, we sent these back as well.

In a restaurant that seems like it has such a simple formula – burgers, fries, salads, etc., how does is go so wrong so quickly?  Apathy perhaps… it’s really hard to say. 

Chicken Sandwich

Burger with Guac

When our lunch (round 2) finally did arrive (we probably had been at the restaurant for close to an hour by now), it was actually okay.  Not great by any stretch, but okay.  My husband’s burger was close to mooing, it was so rare and it had been ordered medium.  My chicken sandwich was AOK and the tater tots that accompanied it were perfect.

Billy’s serves their side items, fries, tots, etc., in mini fry baskets which is really a cute touch.  But if you’re a place that’s supposed to be all about burgers for goodness sake, at least get those right.  This is one place that I’ll be skipping in the future.

We gave Big Billy's 2 out of a possible 5 plates.

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Food Truck Hoedown - Charleston, SC

Time for a great Food Truck Hoedown! Join us for great food and music! We will have Southwood & Dixiedicks playing live!  Food Trucks include: Strada Cocina, Pot Kettle Black, Geechee Island, Tokyo Crepes, Zahh Pizza, Jacks Cosmic Dog, King of Pops, Taco Boy, Local Market Coffee Bar DON'T FIGHT THE LINE AT THE DOOR!   GET YOUR TICKETS NOW AT WWW.ASNAPPYEVENT.COM  Bonfire on site as well! This will take place Feb 11th, 7-11 PM!  ckets can be purchased at  www.asnappyevent.com or at the door!  Located at All Seasons behind CVS at the Corner of River Road and Maybank Highway!

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Virginia’s on King, Charleston, SC

Walk On By.....

Virginia’s on King is a restaurant that we’ve walked by many times and always said, “We should try that place.” Today was the day we did.  The restaurant is quaint and comfortable and the service was good, but that’s where the pleasantries end.

In a town where there are SO many great restaurants this ranks up there for me as one of the worst. Sorry, but I’m being honest about my experience.

We were famished and decided to start with the fried pickles.  Although they were tart slices of well seasoned pickles they were undercooked and the batter fell off of them when you attempted to eat them.  Not such a bad thing since the batter had zero flavor.

Fried Pickles

Next we were served complimentary broccoli corn bread.  It seemed to be stale and was very dry.  Can lunch be any better, we thought?

Broccoli Corn bread

My Grilled Pear and Frisee salad was terrible.  The shrimp (a $4.99 up charge), were under cooked and loaded with soot from the grill.  The salad itself was incredibly overdressed in a flavorless dressing. Add to this the mushy, stale spiced walnuts and we were about to call it a day.

Pear Salad

I asked for my shrimp to be placed back on the grill for a few minutes since they were so under cooked.  We also asked for some sweet potato fries that were hot, since ours were ice cold when they arrived with my husband’s sandwich. When a restaurant has seven tables seated for lunch, how does this happen?

My husband’s Philly Cheese Steak daily-special lacked flavor and the “strip steak” was incredibly tough.  The blue cheese coleslaw must have been stored near the grill as it tasted smoky and quite frankly we thought it was past its shelf life.

Philly Cheese Steak

So with all of these elements to our $43.00 lunch if you get the urge to walk into Virginia’s on King as Dionne Warwick once sang, “Walk on by.”

We gave Virginia's On King One plate out of a possible 5.

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Gaulart & Maliclet Café Restaurant, Charleston, SC

Simply Charming

Venture off the beaten path of the highly trafficked Charleston tourist crowd, turn on to 98 Broad Street and you will discover a local restaurant staple that has been doing business here for well over 25 years.

Gaulart & Maliclet, known to locals as “Fast and French” is simply charming.  It’s a small shot gun space that has bar and very limited high top seating.  If there is a space to be had there is a chair and some sort of make shift seating in place.  If you’re looking for something roomy, this is not the place!

We arrived on a damp and dreary day for lunch.  Although I didn’t know what to expect I did know that friends of ours actually met at the restaurant while having lunch and were married a few months later.  How romantic is that?

We were quickly seated in the back of the restaurant and perused the menu.  For a tiny, tiny place the menu is extensive.  Lunch specials, soups, salads, lunch plates, vegetarian options… you have quite the selection.

Panoramic View Of Fast n French

Our server stopped by quickly to see if we were ready to order and we actually needed a few minutes to decide.  It was the only time that we would have expeditious service as our service became spotty at best.  Be that as it may, we were ready to place our order.

My husband chose a simple Croissant with Turkey and Brie.  It was to be served with your choice of soup or salad. They offered two cold and three hot soup options and he landed on the lentil soup.  I choose the O’Rye which was toasted Canadian rye bread, pate, blue cheese and your choice of soup or salad.  Wouldn’t you know it, the day I order this they are out of blue cheese.  

Ham and Cheese Croissant

The server suggested that I either get two pates or a sampling of Morbier Cheese which she described as “stinky cheese”.  It’s actually known as the funny French cheese with a black streak running through it.  It sounded interesting, but I opted for the pates.

The kitchen is on their game here and our lunch arrived in no time.  Service is scant though as we never saw our server again except to bring us our check.

O'Rye

Lunch was good but not what was ordered.  My husband received a ham and cheese croissant, albeit tasty, not what he ordered.  We weren’t able to get mustard, etc. to add to the sandwich because our server remained MIA. This was disappointing.

Morbier and Bread

My lunch was good but the Roquefort dressing was thin and watery and not very flavorful, which surprised me.  The pate however was outstanding and quickly snapped up. I did finally flag down a server and asked for an additional side of Morbier cheese.  It was served with 3 slices of French bread and it did not disappoint in its’ taste or aroma. 

The checkout process can be a bit laborious. Your check is taken to the cashier at the front of the restaurant.  It took us as long to get our lunch as it did to cash out our bill.  This was a bit of a drag after a nice lunch.

All in all,  I’d recommend Gaulart & Maliclet.  I’m interested in trying their dinner offerings and will be sure to go back there soon.

We gave Fast And French 3 out of a possible 5 plates.






Zagat Tags;
#tidal #restaurant

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Avondale Restaurant Week Feb. 6-12

Did You Miss Charleston Restaurant Week?  Can't Get Enough Of A Good Thing?

All the "cool restaurants" in the Avondale area are giving you another chance to experience the prix-fix menus featuring 3 courses for $20 at participating Avondale restaurants. The restaurants participating are:

• Triangle Char and Bar 
• Pearlz Little Oyster Bar 
• The Roost 
• Mellow Mushroom 
• Al Di La

"Avondale Restaurant Week was something I just came up with after Charleston had restaurant week," said Michael Lotz, general manager for Triangle Char and Bar on Savannah Highway. "Not a lot of people trickled over here. We had a couple of restaurants that were participating, but we want so many people to come over and check out Avondale and see how many venues we have to offer."

On the busiest nights there will be valet parking offered. 

Thanks to TheDigitalCharleston for the image.

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