The Granary, the Southern-themed restaurant that opened last December in Mount Pleasant’s Belle Hall Shopping Center, thrives on contradictions.
Who would expect a stylish farm-to-table restaurant to spring up right across from a major supermarket? The Granary’s fans note the irony, but that doesn’t stop them from walking right in, past the refrigerated display of house-made charcuterie, to a long narrow table that functions as a “community bar.” The table’s close quarters promote amiable banter among the clientele, who come dressed in everything from T-shirts to French cuffs.
Chef Florie acknowledges the contradictions. “It’s a restaurant,” he says, “that probably belongs downtown. … It’s also a place where people can drop in and not feel they should be dressed up.”
The food is just as inclusive. “Basically,” Florie says, “it’s charcuterie and vegetables. I reasoned that people who aren’t into charcuterie are probably into vegetables and vice versa.” That means there’s something on the menu for everyone.
The menu features the chef’s selection of charcuterie and pickled vegetables, plus small plates and dishes ranging from smoked pork chops to fresh fish. Flavors and ingredients start in the South then go beyond—consider, for example, his acclaimed duck wings with “ten-spice” kimchi and buttermilk blue cheese, or his grilled squash with curry spice and ramp butter. Florie rails against the boring “mixed green salad.” His salads are a canvas on which the individual colors and textures of the ingredients pop.
Despite the international accents, Florie’s cuisine never loses its Southern focus. To do that would be to deny his roots: His grandparents on both sides were farmers and, his paternal grandmother, born in the Canary Islands, was, for some 25 years, personal chef to the mayor of North Charleston.
Visit thegranarycharleston.com or call 843-216-3830.