Journalist By Nature: Charleston Cuisine

Elizabeth, food guide extraordinaire

The cuisine of Charleston chefs is a particular shade of Southern green; green in the sense of supporting local farmers by using their products in the dishes they create for the restaurant trade. Our beautiful and talented food guide did her research and steered us to some mighty good eats. Here's a rundown on the places and dishes.

SLIGHTLY NORTH OF BROAD

Don't worry about the acronym. It doesn't ring true as you enter this one time warehouse turned restaurant venue. However, don't attempt to just drop in on this famed bistro as the wait list won't excite you. However, should you plan ahead and reserve a table, the food will get you energized. The wait staff is excited about their offerings and will describe them in delicious detail, including the sources. The busy open kitchen and front entry bar exude a buzz that makes you want to dive into the menu and try one of everything! For our Friday night dinner we began with the house Sangria punch and appetizers of caramelized pear salad with dried cranberries, blue cheese, pistachio nuts dressed in a champagne vinaigrette and a beet salad with radishes, orange pieces, ricotta cheese, pepperoncini on greens dressed with EVOO. Stunning in their simplicity yet interesting in the contrasting colors, tastes and textures, these salads would be great at a summer deck luncheon. The entree selections that we shared were stuffed Carolina quail breast with cornbread stuffing and braised greens and the inventive charcuterie plate laden with an impressive array of pate, mousse, rillettes, head cheese, three restaurant-made mustards, pickled okra, stemmed caper berries, cornichons and pickled onions on a bed of arugula with a generous side of grilled baguette.

S.N.O.B.

Speaking of okra, that oft-maligned mucilaginous green ribbed southern vegetable, let me say a few words. I agree. All my encounters with okra as a Pacific Northwesterner have been gagging, to be sure. But in the South, where they know how to prepare okra, it is elevated to a delightful crunchy pickled vegetable, a different tempura-type appetizer and a solid, crisp last minute addition to main dishes although at times used as a thickener in the regional gumbo. Originating as a food crop in Africa, it made its way west to the New World in the 18th century with Portuguese slave traders who saw it as a cheap and healthy way to feed their captives. It was also brought by freed slaves who later returned from West Africa to supply their families in the New Orleans region with the religious-embued vegetable where it was made into a stew to please the gods of fertility and procreation.

HUSK

This award-winning restaurant occupies an historic house on Queen Street and makes strict use of only local ingredients as well as encouraging the revival of heirloom crops such as the ancient grain farro and sorghum, a grain-based syrup, by highlighting them on their menu. They eschew the traditional Southern foods such as fried chicken and collard greens in favor of more inventive offerings. Our appetizer was crispy julienned pig's ear in lettuce wraps with pickled cucumber slices, red onion dressed with teriyaki sauce. The accompanying Dragoon punch, sipped slowly as we relaxed on the front porch, was a wonderful taste of Charleston history. Dried black-eyed peas and overgrown dried okra pods made for interesting centerpieces on the tables.

Shrimp and Geechie boy grits, smoky tomato broth, wood fired ramps and sweet peas with surry sausage was an unusual presentation for the ubiquitous grits of the South. Served in a bowl rather than on a plate, it was a satisfying blend of comfort food with a touch of daring. The cornmeal fried oyster po' boys with fried potato wedges filled one diner's need for substance and the side of sweet cornbread was always at hand to fill any gaps.

Along the porch railing, planter boxes sported salad greens and other edibles as a decorative tribute to local produce. The unusual porch swinging benches provided amusing activity for young and old alike while waiting for seating. The rooms of the house are each used for a more intimate dining experience with original flooring, doors and windows adding to the Southern ambiance.

CHARLESTON COOKS

This East Bay Street kitchen equipment and supplies store offers a side room cooking experience in an expansive kitchen setting where classes are taught by seasoned chefs (yes, it was a pun) and guest cook-writers. We attended a demonstration class where you sit at narrow tables, observe the prep and cooking process, take notes and then enjoy the results of the teacher's efforts. This class menu was smoked pork chops, Hoppin' John beans and rice, pineapple chutney and Chess pie. Along with the cooking instructions students get a local's view of Southern food history, anecdotes about traditions and hints on prep and cooking techniques. Of course you can buy all the tools and pans at the store.

The smoked pork chops were cooked on the stove top in a special smoking pan containing water-soaked wood chips, a rack for the meat and a sliding lid to contain the smoke. Unless you have a commercial ventilation system, this cooking method would be best done in an outdoor kitchen setting. The Hoppin' John is the basis for a one-pot meal as the Gullahs make, so that with the addition of more vegetables and perhaps some meat, it would be a complete meal. Here, it contained Carolina Gold rice, a short grain and locally grown rice, black-eyed peas that had been pre-cooked and bacon pieces also pre-cooked and chopped. The pineapple-raisin chutney, full of onions and peppers as well as the fruit was sweetened with brown sugar, given a tang from the vinegar and a little heat from the added Sriracha sauce. Cooked until thick, this piquant condiment perfectly offset the pork and livened up the Hoppin' John. These last two dishes made our Easter ham dinner one of the best ever!

Dessert was Chess Pie, the name derived by tale from a question and answer a Southern couple shared. He commented "What a delicious pie. What kind is it m'dear?" She replied "whah it's jes' pie." Hence, "jes' pie" became Chess Pie by auditory interpretation alone. In actuality, it is a warm chocolate mousse pie. The chef made hers in individual silicone cupcake "papers" to facilitate serving sizes. The pies easily pop out of the silicone forms so there is no messy pie cutting process. The demonstration lead me to purchase a set of forms and they really do make for easy baking. After class, we toured the kitchen shop and found several silicone-coated cooking utensils that we couldn't live without.

POOGAN'S PORCH

Named for a dearly departed pooch, this dining establishment also occupies an historic home on Queen Street, not far from Husk. Sated from a marvelous lunch AND the cooking class tastings, we stalled on getting to our reservation for the night. The waning light of sundown and the warm, slightly humid evening air brought us to this creamy yellow and white-railed house. It was as if we had been invited to dinner by the family and were ushered upstairs to a table by an open french door with a view of the pink building with white pedimented windows across the narrow street. Never in a rush, we were allowed plenty of time to relax and consider the menu which our waiter gladly expounded on as we inquired about his favorite dishes. The popular sweet cornbread made a timely appearance on our table and then the She-crab soup arrived. This was originally made with She-crab, or female crab roe, but as the crab population declined, the female crabs were declared endangered and not allowed to be taken from the waters. Now the soup is made from crab (male) meat, heavy cream and sherry with a tiny flourish of crab meat on top. Although touted as being an exquisite soup, I found it rather bland and would prefer my own seafood chowder to this variety.

Yielding to the siren song of Southern buttermilk fried chicken, I was completely taken with the preparation of this common fowl. It is marinated overnight in buttermilk, then dredged in a succession of flour and more buttermilk several times before being deep fat fried. Expecting some heavy, greasy exhibit of heart-clogging KFC-styled chicken, I was pleasantly surprised to bite into a light, non-greasy, juicy chicken breast faintly seasoned but thoroughly displaying the Southern touch. Mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh asparagus rounded out my plate, but the chicken was the star. I will certainly try my hand at this method with perhaps a pan-frying rather than deep fat frying.

Our other diners enjoyed iceberg wedge salad, reminiscent of salads before baby greens, dried cranberries and feta cheese became trendy and crab cakes with stewed tomatoes and crisp okra. We left the fried alligator salad for another time. Doubling as a small entree, the fried green tomatoes were surprisingly crisp and actually tasty, contrary to my own late summer green failures which ended up hot and mushy and flavorless. Desserts were never tried as we were always too full by that time of night. The next trip perhaps?

HIGH COTTON

Our final morning in Charleston found us requesting less food but more sights. After an early morning cruise to and tour of Fort Sumter we returned to the East Bay Street area to have brunch at High Cotton. This is another restaurant in the Maverick Southern Kitchen stable of eateries. Without reservations on a Sunday morning there was no table available so we opted for seating at the bar. Cheery, chatty bar maids made quick work of our orders and soon we were staring at way too much food! The Farmer's Market omelet with a side of grits proved to be an overload. With a basket of sweet cornbread to boot, we could have shared this plate. But other, even more amazing plates arrived, one stacked with almond french toast looking more like a piece of art than a meal, and a grilled salmon salad outfitted in frisee, tomatoes and eggs in an herb caper vinaigrette. Locally roasted coffee soothed our taut tummies and reminded us of some pretty great Portland roasts that we love.

WAFFLE HOUSE

Seen throughout the Southeast, this 24/7 single item menu greasy spoon diner happily embraced us as the only customers at 11 p.m. as we dogged our way north to Norfolk, Virginia. We had dallied too long at Myrtle Beach, enjoying the sunset and pastel colored, stilted beach houses there. But freshly baked waffles with a side of bacon or eggs and a cuppa really hit the spot as we contemplated another four hours of driving along unlit I-95. The staff was doing their nightly cleaning, busting a groove with their mops and brooms and singing along with the local radio rock and roll station. They were happy for a diversion from their work and attended to our every request with a smile. Every traveler to the southeastern seaboard should give this stop at least one try!

Next stop on the blog train is the Magnolia Plantation. It will be our last look at Southern history before we take up the great Northwest trails for a new season of sights and thrills. Stay with us!