Charleston Real Estate Market

       January has an “R” in its name and you know what that means! It’s time for the Lowcountry Oyster Festival!! Dubbed one of the Top 20 Tourist attractions by the Southeast Tourist Society, this annual event put on by the Charleston Restaurant Society will be held the 25th. Two tractor trailer loads of oysters (that’s over 65,000 pounds) will be brought in to Boone Hall Plantation for the World’s Largest Oyster Roast. Accommodating up to 10,000 hungry visitors, there will be oyster shucking contests, oyster eating contests and as scary as this sounds, a best dressed oyster contest.      The prelude to the festival is the Oyster Recipe Contest which will be held on Friday the 16th at the Culinary Institute of Charleston’s Palmer Campus. The briny oyster stars in this local chef competition.

       Who’s the Best Teen Chef? High School seniors dreaming of enrolling in culinary school can enter the Best Teen Chef Competition 2009 at the International Culinary School at the Art institute of Charleston. The top prize is a full-tuition scholarship to study culinary arts.

     If  your culinary skills aren’t up to competition standards, you might want to investigate the basic kitchen training for teens and young adults at Chop Chop Culinary Boot Camp on James Island.

     Looking for the perfect cup of coffee? Charleston Coffee Roasters offers a free Coffee Cupping on the third Thursday of each month at 12:30. Learn the tradition of tasting coffee from our own local roaster.

Filed under: The Chef's Table on December 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Foster and I used to have a little restaurant called the Half Moon Café. Now, once and a while, we’ll go to a restaurant and it reminds me of that place and time. We don’t go out to eat that much because it’s really hard to get past plate cost vs. dollar in a lot of places. The value just isn’t there.

 

We are breakfast diners. The menu is usually so limited that it gets very boring, so we are always looking for somewhere special to go. We tried the EARLY BIRD Diner Saturday morning. It’s located on 17S just past the car shops, where Alex’s used to be. If you’re looking for quality over quantity this is the place. Not to say I wasn’t full, I actually left food on my plate. But there’s no sloppy all-you-can-stuff-in buffet where everyone can mingle their germs into a stew. Yum, doesn’t that sound attractive!

 

The diner has so much going for it. Nicole and Dexter are the top dogs here. I was told that Dexter used to be at Rosebank Café. They serve good grits, fresh tall biscuits and the apple butter was homemade, divine and 24 hours in the making. I now know what those bottled versions were trying to do. There was also a white grape jelly, house made.

 

Foster and I both had the special omlette and I must say it’s just like I would make it. Fresh lightly wilted spinach with just a light smathering of goat cheese and sprinkled with bacon. The flavors were complementary, balanced and very fresh tasting..

 

The coffee was ok, not the best, but still a good solid brew and better than most.  The service friendly, not pushy. All in all the best breakfast I’ve had all year. What a great find!

 

Lunch looks good too; I’m thinking the roast beef with cucumber and creamy chive spread on black bread. Sounds good, as do the soups. OK, I’m there, hope to see you too.

 

Open

Tues – Thurs      7a-4p

Fri and Sat –       8a-4p

                           6p-4a

Sunday Brunch 10a-3p

Closed Monday

Filed under: Around Town, Business News, Lowcountry Lifestyle, The Chef's Table on December 14th, 2008 | No Comments »

I got out the mixer to try a Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  Since blueberries are so plentiful, I thought I’d add them. They have more antioxidants than any North American fruit and walnuts are richer in Omega 3 than just about anything. These two are amazing powerhouses. The trick I’ve always used is to dust additions like blueberries with a tad of the recipe’s flour and fold them in lightly at the last moment unless you are baking in a lavender theme. Dusting with flour keeps nuts or berries or any of those additions from sinking and collecting on the bottom. Read more »

Filed under: The Chef's Table on June 1st, 2008 | No Comments »

Two good friends met me at the restaurant which is over by the Terrace Theatre on Maybank. We snuck in early on a Friday so we didn’t have to make a reservation. It’s a committment thing. The surroundings were nicely done, not overdone which could be so easy in a themed restaurant. Read more »

Filed under: Lowcountry Lifestyle, The Chef's Table on May 20th, 2008 | No Comments »

As many of you know, I was a chef here in Charleston for many years (my feet tell me too many) and also on private yachts out of Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. So, from time to time when I run into a good lunch table or breakfast spot, I thought it’d be fun to pass it on. Also, maybe some observations on food in general and websites I’ve found. So here goes. Read more »

Filed under: Lowcountry Lifestyle, The Chef's Table on May 20th, 2008 | No Comments »