Quite Progressive

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and I  have to say it was one of the best Mother's Day celebrations I've ever been a part of. The day started with coffee from Caviar & Bananas followed by pain au chocolat (mine), croissant (mom and Caroline) and the chocolate-almond croissant (Billy, of course) from the new boulangerie/patisserie downtown on John Street called Macaroon Boutique. We savored our French pastry down in Battery Park and enjoyed the calm of the blue water and lovely breeze softly moving the oak tree leaves...

...our evening ended with a progressive lunch/dinner that began downtown at the Pavilion Bar atop the Market Pavilion Hotel on the corner of East Bay Street and North Market Street. I have to say, I was really unimpressed. First of all, my mother is an interior designer. I cannot help but be detail oriented when it comes to the layout, material choices, execution and color choices of a venue. The Pavilion Bar is akin to being atop the Eiffel tower expecting a gourmet meal of Coq au Vin but being served (and charged for) Kentucky Fried Chicken instead. The Lobster and Portobello Mushroom pizza was much better than I expected it to be, but for $21.00 much more could have been accomplished. Again with the price gauging. From there it was on to Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar. I happen to have done marketing for this restaurant (I work for the owner's catering company). The last time I ate at Amen Street, I was sorely disappointed. This time, the restaurant redeemed itself. My mother ordered a sampler of the east coast and west coast oysters. The table shared the fried calamari, which was absolutely fabulous. The calamari is served with a delicious lemony aioli and a corn salsa. The flavors are really spot on. Billy and I shared the mussels. The mussels' broth was really delicious, but a little sweet in my opinion due to the tomatoes. We also shared the Berries salad with grilled grouper. The salad was great, but the grouper was not really that great.

The night ended with a meal and some great beer at Closed For Business. As a table we shared the Crispy Green Beans (delicious), and then Billy and I split the Duck Pot Pie which was accompanied by a small side of the Market Salad. The Duck Pot Pie had no salt, so it was somewhat bland. However, the market salad was INCREDIBLE and I bought all of the ingredients at Whole Foods this morning to hopefully make it this week: fresh kale and arugula salad with grapes, pistachios and ricotta salata cheese tossed in an orange vinaigrette. I'm substituting the pistachios for pecans, but I promise you this was one of the best salads I have ever had in Charleston. Topped off with some great Irish cider, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day.