A few days in Charleston, SC

I took a 48 hour trip to Charleston with my friend.  It was such a great time.  Exploring, eating, chatting and sweating.  Like all other cities right now, there is the old town and there is the part that is starting to change.  You can see it happening. There is absolutely a young crowd that is moving there.  Millennials want to live in urban areas.

We flew in, dropped off our stuff and started to move.   First walk by was the Charleston City Market that is loaded with stalls of stuff.  Not impressed.  Could have been so great.  Alas.  Instead of forging out to one of the places I had written down for lunch we just walked down the street to Hyman’s Seafood.  The place is now run by the fourth generation of Hyman’s.  We had the pleasure of chatting with Eli Hyman who runs the joint.  That might have been the best part.  He was nice enough to send over a classic dish.  Fried green tomatoes over grits and coated with cheese sauce and chives for a nice touch.  Rich is an understatement.

The place gets the nod in many Southern magazines.  Everything is either fried with a very intense hard crust or loaded with cheese and butter.  Yikes.  We did plenty of damage regardless.  Favorite was probably the hushpuppies.  We did have the pimento cheese dish called Southern Caviar but just not my thing.

We needed to talk the meal off and headed into the old town.  Our first stop was a store called The Commons.  Wonderful products for the kitchen and a few other items tossed in there.  Really beautifully curated.

Our next wander into was a small oasis of fresh products; Goat, Cheese, Cow.    A tiny little shop with cheese, salamis, crackers, wine, jams, etc.  I’d live there.

The houses are just beautiful to look at.  The old architecture that has been kept up is pretty amazing considering the humidity, the close proximity to water, etc.

We continued to stroll through the streets and down walkways until we got to the water.  The smell reminds me of visiting the Chesapeake Bay as a kid and sailing on it.  There is a unique sell of the ocean when you head south in those bays.

Our next stop was going to be the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market but there had been an accident on the bridge getting over there.  Gas spill that basically closed off the bridge for hours on end.  The good news is we weren’t there without being able to get back.  The bad news is we really came to see farmers markets.  Alas.  We regrouped and stopped by Burbages Grocery which happens to be the second oldest grocery store in the area, since the 40’s.  It was entertaining talking to the two women who own the place now.

We started to walk back to the hotel through the district that looks like every district in America.  I always find it a little depressing.  Nothing different, nothing inspiring.  We did stop in a small chocolate shop, Christophe, where everything is made.  Beautiful wares but to ship back to NYC during the heat was outrageous so we passed.  Alas.

Back to the hotel for a quick freshen up and out to dinner.