Best Day in Charleston 2011

I could tell you about reuniting with “the girls” at Social. I could tell you about sand between my toes and Shem Creek dolphin-watching with my family. Or maybe the fact that Charleston left me a reminder: bronchitis and an ear infection. Fact is the trip was too chock-full of good stuff to tell you [...]

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Ghosts of Charleston

It’s ironic that on June 6th, for my 29th birthday, I received two albums: Sara Bareilles (Kaleidoscope) and Punch Brothers (Antifogmatic). It’s ironic, because listening to earlier albums by these artists got me through Charleston, South Carolina, alive. And now, for the first time since I left, I’m going back next week. Charleston, South Carolina, [...]

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Raw Oysters at Casey Moore’s

As far as I know, I ate my first oyster at an oyster roast on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. At the time, I was a novice. I showed up, dressed up, ready to party. I didn’t realize we would be surrounded by oyster-scented mist and flying shells. I didn’t know I had to “shuck” anything. [...]

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Poe’s Tavern and the Burgers of Insanity

Poe’s Tavern was the first restaurant I visited in South Carolina, literally within an hour of my arrival in the Lowcountry. It’s in a secluded spot for someone who’s not used to jumping islands for food, on Sullivan’s Island next to Mt. Pleasant. Poe’s is named after the famous (infamous?) author Edgar Allen Poe, who [...]

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Feels Like Home: Muse Restaurant and Wine Bar

There are people and places in life that feel like home to me. Listening to Ryan Adams, for instance, is reminiscent of metaphorically crawling back into the womb. The warm, electric touch of certain human hands can put each of us in a state of false security. Even smoking clove cigarettes in dark cemeteries on [...]

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French food on the Market

On my first walk through downtown Charleston, I looked like a tourist. I had a brand new map in my hands and a camera around my neck. About a half dozen strangers came up on the street, asking if I was new in town. (I should have just written “OHIO” on my head and gotten [...]

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Taco Boy and sand in my purse

I can’t believe the weather in Charleston today. There’s an inkling of summer in the air, and the touch of summer has made us all beach-crazy. In the seventy degree heat, you can just feel the creep of jungle July, when we’ll be wishing for March all over again.   I made my way to [...]

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FISH!

I had an insanely good meal last night at Fish Restaurant on King Street, downtown Charleston. The meal itself lasted a good two-and-a-half hours, and everything I tried was perfect. I mean it. PERFECT.   1) THE WINE! I don’t like zinfandel. Well. I didn’t like zinfandel. Now, I love zinfandel. It was called Writer’s [...]

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A Saturday lacking in work

Picked up some grub at a place called Iacafano in Mt. Pleasant last night. It’s hidden in a shopping center off Coleman Boulevard (same shopping center as Wild Wings). It’s a quaint, homey place with family photos on the walls and big screen TVs behind the bar. No, it wasn’t my first time eating there, [...]

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Win some, lose some

I quit my job as a hostess at “the evil restaurant which will remain nameless” on Wednesday night, although the decision had already been made after my shift on Monday. Technically, the decision had been floating around in my head for weeks. As soon as I’d realized I was losing faith in the goodness of [...]

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