Over the 4th of July week I traveled back home to the sunny and oppressively hot shoreline of South Carolina. While on vacation we made a trip to Charleston to show my landlocked friends SC’s most enchanting city and to dine at Husk Restaurant. The hot spot is the newest establishment of the James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock and culinary chef Travis Grimes and a true southern culinary experience.
We made our way down the cobble stones of Queen Street to the welcoming porch of Husk, a two story restaurant with sprawling Charleston-style wrap around porches complete with a joggling board. After a morning of boutique shopping, perusing art gallery’s and sight seeing along the battery we were famished.
To start we toasted to the trip with a delightful Willamette Valley chardonnay by St. Innocent and decided upon the first coarse – Cornmeal fried North Carolina trout with spicy buttermilk, Kentucky glazed crispy pig ear lettuce wraps with pickled cabbage and cilantro and a skillet of Benton’s bacon cornbread. Everything was wonderful as well as interesting. The pig ears were Asian inspired but a blend of strong flavors, the trout took some work to eat but the fish was sweet and the cornbread made you want to slap your mama!
The next course I ordered shrimp and grits, the most southern of dishes. The rest of the table noshed on Atlantic Red Porgy (similar to snapper) with South Carolina sweet corn, okra, eggplant, smoked tomatoes and green tomato chow chow, soft shell crap with potato wedges and a lamb bbq sandwich. The table was silent as soon as the first coarse was presented. The chef does his best to acquire locally grown produce and fresh seafood… it says so on the menu but the best part was watching the kitchen staff cook the bbq outback, just like Idgie Threadgoode did at the Whistle Stop Cafe in “Fried Green Tomatoes.”
If you find yourself in Charleston, make a stop at Husk, but plan accordingly because dinner reservations are booked out for the next 3 to 6 months. If you can’t get dinner reservations then stop by The Bar at Husk next door. The old carriage house is sure to take you back to the old south.
LUNCH: mon-sat 11:30-2:30
BRUNCH: sun 10-2:30
DINNER: sun-thu 5:30-10
DINNER: fri & sat 5:30-11
BAR: 4-close, daily
843.577.2500
76 Queen St.
Charleston, SC 29401
This article brought to you by the good folks at Urbane Apartments Royal Oak Michigan, Urbane Apartments Ferndale Michigan,Urbane Apartments Birmingham Michigan, and Urbane Apartments Dearborn Michigan
