TEMPEST

THE FOLKS WHO LIT UP THE CORNER of North Market Street with 5Church Charleston have sailed back into the Holy City with a new seafood-centric concept designed to celebrate all...

SOUTHERN LIGHT

HUSK, THE 10-YEAR-OLD LOVE LETTER to Southern cuisine, is ready to recapture the hearts of Charlestonians as it opens its doors and safely welcomes back friends and family to its...

DELANEY OYSTER HOUSE

SALTWATER RUNS THROUGH Shamil Velazquez’s veins. The Delaney Oyster House executive chef hails from the island of Puerto Rico and says “it was music to my ears” when he was...

A STEAKHOUSE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

IF YOU ARE AMONG THE IN-THE-KNOW CROWD, you’re probably privy to the sizzling scene at one of Charleston’s top upscale eateries. Burwell’s Stonefire Grill takes the concept of the classic...

THE WAY OF ALBARIÑO

Blessed with “verdant valleys, rocky highlands and Atlantic surf,” the autonomous community of Galicia lies at the northwest corner of Spain, extending from the Cantabrian Sea down to the border...

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

TUCKED AWAY ON RESIDENTIAL SOCIETY STREET, is a place regulars have affectionately dubbed the “Charleston Cheers.” Slide onto a stool at the cozy bar inside Muse Restaurant and Wine Bar,...

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

As I stumbled around making coffee that morning, the announcer on the local classical music station mentioned that it was the birthday of Stanley Kubrick, the great film director. What...

PUB PARADISE

One of Charleston’s newest brew pubs is a beer lover’s haven and so much more. In a mammoth space on Daniel Island, Dockery’s is blending innovative food, live music and...

TURNING UP THE HEAT ON BROAD STREET

One of Broad Street’s newest addresses is home to a restaurant determined to upend the status quo—not exactly what its name suggests. Just shy of a year ago, The Establishment...

MUSINGS

Cabernet Sauvignon has been described as the world’s “most renowned” varietal. We tasted several Cabernet Sauvignon wines to see how winemakers have responded to this inspirational grape....

A PERFECT PACKAGE

When the decision was made to shutter Fish Restaurant after a 17- year run on King Street, owner Patrick Properties Hospitality Group (PPHG) embraced it as an opportunity. PPHG had...

ROOFTOP RETREAT

There’s no better time to be outside in the Lowcountry than now, when temperatures begin to fall. And there’s no better place to celebrate the season than at one of...

VINO SARDO

Old-time religion meets old-time wine meets new-time wine...

A WINNING CONCEPT

In Charleston, the competition for hearts and stomachs is fierce. The Holy City has been attracting national attention and culinary talent ever since Hurricane Hugo ushered in a renaissance that...

EFFERVESCENT LIMOUX

Traversed by the Aude River, not far upstream from picturesque Carcassonne, the city of Limoux sits serenely on the shoulders of the Pyrenees in southern Languedoc....

THE ART OF HOSPITALITY

“Our goal is to have people feel good when they leave, but not necessarily know why,” Patrick Whalen, owner of 5Church says to me. Based on the restaurant’s rave reviews,...

CABERNET, IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER

He was one of the more colorful actors of his generation, a larger-than-life guy with “mythic presence, an image of beatific stoicism, grace under fire” and “wry unflappability in the...

TALES OF TERROIR

Terroir. What is it exactly? According to Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine, terroir is the “much discussed term for the total natural environment of any viticultural site. No precise...

HIGH-SPIRITED

Gorgeous new digs are turning heads at one of Charleston’s latest entrants to the downtown restaurant scene, and the menu is getting its share of attention, too....

GRATEFUL WINES

Our iconic American Thanksgiving celebration commemorates the travails and eventual triumphs of a band of English nonconformists who landed in what is now Massachusetts in December of 1620....

CULINARY CLASSICS REIMAGINED

We had just devoured the last bite of Pavlova (more about that later) and were ready for a little exercise when executive chef Josh Keeler stepped away from the exhibition...

DARK BEAUTIES

Cork. What a wonderful substance! It’s sustainable (it grows on trees) and versatile. Impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and with fire retardant properties, cork can be used to make all manner of...

LITTLE JEWEL BOX

Whether you’re hunting down a hot spot for dinner or a space to say, “I do,” consider a visit to the Old Village Post House Inn....

RENEWAL

The quilted landscape of western Sicily stretched out before me—a patch of vines here, a square of silvery-green olive trees there, a rectangle of young grain in the distance....

REVOLUTION

Things are changing in Sicily. If you are familiar with Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s wondrous novel, The Leopard, or the movie it inspired, you may recall what Tancredi Falconeri said...

THE ARTFUL PALATE

Muse Restaurant & Wine Bar is a celebration of Mediterranean foods and wine—and so much more....

HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR ENOPHILES

As the season of giving draws nigh, you may want to exchange gifts with wine-loving friends. Here are three options that our wine columnist likes....

OREGON PINOT NOIR

They said it couldn’t be done: grow Pinot Noir in Oregon. They were wrong....

COOL CLIMATE WINES

It was six or seven years ago that I first tasted wines from Sonoma County’s MacRostie Winery (macrostiewinery.com). I liked them, and I resolved to visit the winery the next...

PEAK SEASON

With a recent facelift, an unwavering commitment to locally sourced ingredients, and a streamlined wine and cocktail menu, FIG is better than ever. It’s very hard to improve upon perfection,...

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

The red wines of Spain’s Rioja region lope along from strength to strength, gaining steadily in repute as the years pass. The blancos—whites—are not yet as well known as their...

A DRAMATIC COMEBACK

The century-old warehouse glows in the cool spring night, its fresh stucco, dark French doors, gas lanterns and weathered stone steps inviting you in. It is a happy sight to...

A CULINARY LEGACY

Like many major cities on the culinary map, Charleston enjoys an increasingly well-rounded assortment of cuisines and trendy restaurant motifs to match. But how many food-forward towns can boast an...

TENUTA DI CAPEZZANA

It must have been a splendid wedding—the union of Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de’ Medici, the pride of the Medici clan, with Henri de Valois, Duke of Orléans, second...

ALWAYS A CLASSIC

For those of you who remember the early days of the Charleston “food scene,” you’ll recall that fine dining options were few and far between. I am thinking of the...

THREE FACES OF FURMINT

Nobody quite knows where the Furmint grape originated. A white varietal, it is cultivated today under various names in eastern parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire— especially in Hungary near...

RISING STAR

It was a good day for all the food-obsessed folks residing East of the Cooper when Dianne and Cecil Crowley changed their minds about retiring. Over the next two decades,...

WHEN THE LIVIN’ IS EASY

One thing we know for sure: Vinho Verde wines are not green—citrine, pink or red they may be, but never green....

THE RIGHT MIX

When a restaurant has dominated a corner overlooking two of Charleston’s busiest streets for nearly two decades, it’s doing something right....

RENAISSANCE

It may well have been the Phoenicians who first grew wine in Sicily. The ancient mariners founded colonies in the western part of the island as early as 1000 B.C.—including...

Poetry in a Bottle

He liked to write using green ink, an odd choice for a dedicated Communist like Neruda. Why not use colors traditionally associated with his comrades on the Left—black or blood...

East Meets West

Our Lowcountry winters provide just enough chill to make me crave a rich cassoulet while consumed in a cozy banquette with a friend or two. Who doesn’t love the homey...

Reds of Rioja

All Rioja is divided into three parts. Rioja Baja is the lowest of them, approximately 200 meters above sea level; Rioja Alta is the highest, rising to 800 meters; Rioja...

Making a Splash

Our endless Southern summers showcase the best the Lowcountry has to offer: glistening whitesand shores, teeming with sun worshipers, wind-surfers and boaters of all kinds—and the surrounding coastal waters, teeming...

Three Chardonnays

Authors just love Chardonnay. They write about it all the time. In the more than 12 million books Google has digitized so far, Chardonnay is mentioned more often than any...

Thoughts From a Place Called Home

Nothing more defines the heart and soul of a Southern home than the front porch and momma’s cooking....

SOMETHING’S COOKING

Known as the Lowcountry’s most complete kitchen store, The Coastal Cupboard, in Mt. Pleasant’s Belle Hall Shopping Center, is a foodie paradise, stocked with gourmet foods, wine, cookware, cutlery and...

Orvieto Wine

There are many fascinating things to see in Orvieto—the Etruscan necropolis, stunning frescoes in the cathedral, St. Patrick’s Well—all legacies of the city’s long and tumultuous history....

Southern-Style Seafood

When you’re yearning for an iconic seafood platter served up Southern style in a setting equally iconic, R.B.’s is the place to go. The rambling restaurant is perched on prime...

Heretical Wines

Somebody must have been telling lies about the Cathars. A hodgepodge of peaceable ascetics who held admittedly quirky views about sacraments and such things, they lived quietly in parts of...

Something for Everyone

When talk turns to the table and artisanal meat enters the conversation, Craig Deihl’s name is quick to come up. The executive chef of Cypress Lowcountry Grille, Deihl has been...

Restaurateur Steve Palmer

Restaurants have been a part of Steve Palmer’s life since he started work as a dishwasher at age 13. In 2009, when he began working with Oak Steakhouse, he formed...

For Signature Events

When planning the perfect party, you don’t want to mess around with libations. That’s why Boris Van Dyck should be the first person on your guest list....

Classic Chianti

Thomas Mann had things about right. “Deep is the well of the past,” he wrote. “Should one not call it bottomless?”...

Steaks with Sizzle

A tradition born in the kitchen of Grill 225—Market Pavilion Hotel’s luxe destination restaurant—sums up the ethos of the Charleston landmark: a hand-rolled cookie called koulourakia is left at every...

17th Year Anniversary