A Night In Jacob's Kitchen

The bar had been set high before I even walked through the front door of Jacob’s Kitchen, the southern restaurant located at 148 Civitas Street in I’On. I called earlier in the day to make a reservation. “Are we celebrating anything this evening? Girl’s night out? A birthday? Are there any dietary considerations we should be made aware of?” asked Dan, the voice at the other end of the phone.

“No,” I replied, “Though we do have a vegetarian joining us.”

“Not a problem,” said Dan. “We offer a variety of vegetarian choices. We’ll also be happy to modify any of the other items on the menu.”

“If the phone service is any indication,” I thought, “Tonight is going to be fantastic.”

I was wrong.

The Atmosphere

Jacob’s Kitchen is a small restaurant attached to the Inn at I’On. The association with the boutique inn is discernable considering the hostess’ stand feels a bit like a hotel check in. Though comfortable, the restaurant’s interior is nondescript. The walls and napkins are beige, the tables and chairs are brown and the hanging light fixtures are black. Unfortunately, Jacob’s Kitchen doesn’t offer the warmth or hospitality one would expect from a restaurant that’s part of a boutique inn, let alone one located in I’On.

The Service

The service was, by far, the most disappointing aspect of the meal. My two cohorts and I were having some difficulty deciding what to order, as many of the menu items sounded good. Our server was attentive at first, coming back to check on us twice before he left us to “give us some time to decide.” He gave us far too much time; time enough to notice that he had taken drink and dinner orders for one table that had been seated many, many minutes after us. Time enough for the table to our left to become disgruntled enough to get up and leave due to being ignored.

During the meal itself, our server never refilled our water glasses. After placing our dinner orders, we overheard another server reciting what sounded like the evening’s dinner specials to the table behind us. This was the first we had heard of them. 

The Food

As far as the food is concerned at Jacob’s Kitchen, there aren’t many dishes that scream traditional southern cuisine. Shrimp and Grits ($12) is the only obvious exception. There are, however, southern touches here and there, which align with the restaurant’s ‘new southern cuisine’ theme. The Kobe Beef Burger ($10) is topped with pimento cheese. The Olive Oil Braised Duck ($16) includes a warm white bean and asparagus salad, and the Kobe Beef Meatloaf ($12.50) is partnered with succotash and red eye gravy.

To start, I ordered the Asparagus “Fries” ($6). Fried in beer batter and served with a Cajun aioli, I’d definitely recommend these to anyone. Each asparagus stalk was fried to perfection; the batter itself was crispy, delicious and fluffy. The asparagus themselves were cooked all the way through yet still had a crunch. The Cajun-spiced aioli was a nice touch, though not completely needed.

As an entrée I ordered the Bronzed Scallop & Shrimp Salad ($13). Grilled shrimp and scallops arrived before me atop mixed greens tossed in a buttermilk lime dressing served with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, a large fried grit crouton, cucumbers, crumbled goat cheese, and mesquite grilled onions. I found myself taking extra bites willing myself to like this uninspired salad. Aside from the cold grilled mesquite onions and undercooked scallops my biggest complaint was the disharmonious flavors in the buttermilk lime dressing. The tang of the buttermilk did not work in concert with the tang of the goat cheese. The addition of lime did not help. Three different notes of sourness resulted in unpleasant discord on my tongue. I left almost all of my salad on my plate.

Of course, I tasted everything else that came to the table.

Jacob’s Wedgie ($5.50) was a great take on the classic wedge salad. The iceberg wedge was crisp, ice cold and refreshing with just the right amount of bacon, tomatoes and a fantastic house made blue cheese dressing.

The Steamed Mussels ($9) were good but not outstanding. As she began slurping the lemon-herb and white wine broth at the bottom of the bowl my friend came across bits of sand and grit. The flavors were good, just a bit too lemony for me personally.

One large bite into one of the Shrimp Spring Rolls ($7) and I wondered, “Where’s the shrimp?” Though the portion size is large, the Shrimp Spring Rolls aren’t anything special.

The Verdict

It will be awhile before I return to Jacob’s Kitchen.  The service was aggravatingly disappointing and the food was a let down. Sadly, my time and money would have been better spent dining in my own kitchen.

Breakfast at Charleston's Café

As familiar with the Charleston dining scene as I am, it can be a difficult deciding where to eat. Charleston’s Café is one of my go-to places. Trust me, this is where you want to be eating breakfast.


THE ATMOSPHERE


Charleston’s Café, located just off of US-17, is not fancy by any means, but that’s okay. The moment you step inside its doors you immediately recognize it as an establishment where the food comes first and the décor doesn’t really matter. Nondescript wooden tables and chairs fill the dining rooms and a large black chalkboard lists the daily specials.


THE SERVICE


Unfortunately, the service this visit was definitely lacking due much in part to the large Father’s Day brunch crowd.


THE FOOD


My eyes scanned the list of daily specials before we were seated. The Belgian Waffle Sandwich with Bacon, Scrambled Eggs and Fried Chicken with Maple Mayonnaise was already a lead contender before I’d opened my breakfast menu.


I couldn’t pass up a twist on the classic chicken and waffles and decided on the special, though I asked that my eggs be cooked over easy instead of scrambled. My cohort ordered one of Charleston Café’s most popular items, Amber’s Choice, a crab cake topped with eggs, hollandaise, shrimp and smoked sausage.

A Twist on Chicken and Waffles

Amber's Choice

Our breakfast entrées came out quickly. I was presented with a mountain of food: the best waffle I’ve ever had topped with a layer of maple mayonnaise, crispy bacon, juicy fried chicken and crowned with an over easy egg that anointed the entire dish with runny gold.


My cohort’s meal wasn’t as satisfying. The crab cake had an odd metallic taste suggesting that the crab was probably canned. Too much lemon disguised the metallic flavor with as much success as perfume masks foul odors. Everything else on the plate, however, was good.


Having consumed enough calories to sustain a small army, we ordered dessert. We split an order of the Bourbon Pecan Pie and the Deep Fried Vanilla Bread Pudding. Don’t light a match near the Bourbon Pecan Pie—or take a Breathalyzer test after eating a slice. The Deep Fried Vanilla Bread Pudding was a great idea in theory, but the execution of the comfort food favorite completely failed. The outside of the bread pudding was fried food heaven but the inside of the fried bread pudding was grossly unexpected. Its texture reminded me of the soap-making scene in Fight Club.

Bourbon Pecan Pie

Fried Bread Pudding

THE VERDICT


Charleston’s Café is the perfect place for both locals and out of town guests as the menu offers a variety of traditional and local, southern inspired fare. There’s something on the menu for just about anyone and you can’t disagree with the restaurant’s reasonable prices. Be prepared for a potential wait during peak brunch times and make sure to check out the specials board.

Restaurant Review: Eurasia

It took us most of Saturday to decide on a place to eat. We tossed ideas in the air and shot them down like a marksman blasting clay pigeons. We wanted someplace quintessentially Charleston and yet new. Our solution? Eurasia.


Located off of Houston Northcutt to the left of Whole Foods in Mt. Pleasant, Eurasia is delicious. Its menu changes from time to time (the seafood stew that drew us there initially wasn’t offered during our visit) focusing on regional Southern fare with Asian influences.


To start, we ordered cocktails. I ordered a Firefly Fuzzy Fly—which is basically a skinny version of a fuzzy navel. My friend, Amanda, ordered the Blueberry Mojito. My cocktail was sweet as can be and went down way too smoothly. This is where things begin to get a little bit fuzzy.


Our waitress raved that the vegetable spring rolls were “outrageously good!” and “the best in the world.” So, of course, we had to have an order. Served with a spicy nostril-clearing Chinese mustard and another dipping sauce (I told you—things got fuzzy) the bias-cut veggie rolls were gone in a flash. From what I recall, they were good but not the best in the world. It can be easy to oversell a product when you’re an enthusiastic employee but it’s always better to undersell than under deliver.

On to the entrées (and a dark and stormy for me)! I ordered the green curry seafood bowl. I’m a sucker for seafood and curry, so this was an obvious selection for me. I wish I had ordered something else. The green curry was overpowered by what my drunken palate told me was sweetened coconut milk. I couldn’t taste the delicate nuances of the green curry itself. The seafood was cooked beautifully and so was the rice (no small feat!) but the saccharin curry was just too much. So, I didn’t finish my entrée and drank more.

Amanda ordered something with fish and really good mashed potatoes. Her dish was by far the winner that night. At this point she handed me her unfinished second beverage.

As it was a celebratory meal we couldn’t pass up dessert. By this time my friend Lauren had popped in for a cocktail and to join us for the sweet ending to our dinner. Amanda and I both wanted the doughnuts and coffee crème brûlée but our server told us we’d be better off splitting the dessert—the crème brulee was pretty big. Not big on sharing (we are only children) we ordered another dessert, an inside out s’mores bombe that came with a campfire: a flaming pile of salt.

The clear dessert winner was the crème brulee. Two orders would have just been fine with everyone. The doughnut holes were hot and freshly fried (YUM). The inside-out bombe was… interesting. The glaring problem with the s'mores-inspired bombe was its consistency. There were too many similar soft textures and no crunch to break up the smoothness. 

On a final note, I have to applaud how nice and helpful the staff is at Eurasia. Our waitress was clearly excited about where she worked, something that's great to see anywhere but especially in a service industry. The owner remembered my friend, Lauren, who hosted her birthday dinner this year at his restaurant. We'll definitely be back.

Restaurant Review: Husk

Husk serves southern food made with local ingredients-- a concept with which, you, I am sure are familiar, but not the way executive chef Sean Brock does it. The menu changes regularly reflecting the seasons and produce availability (again, nothing new) and practically every item includes it's components place of origin. You won't be bored to find southern-fried chicken or fried green tomatoes on this menu like you will on so many others that claim to specialize in southern cuisine.  Husk's menu is far more original as it pulls recipes and inspiration from your great-grandmother's table and seasons it with a hip perspective. 


At first glance, the February 24 lunch menu made my deep-pit-of-the-stomach hunger only more intense. It was difficult to choose between the fried (homemade) bread and butter pickles with tarragon cream, pork rillette with pain de mie, pear butter and other accompaniments and Caper’s Inlet Blade Oysters with Husk muscadine vinegar and shaved fennel to start but my love of bivalves won me over. 


The fine people at Husk (almost) understand when you start with a superlative product you don't need to gussy it up with fussy, competing flavors. The oysters, plump and pruriently juicy, slid nonchalantly from their pearlescent shell slides urged into my mouth by the accompanying muscadine vinegar, a nice foil to the oysters' refreshing oceanic saltiness. To that end, the shaved fennel must have been an afterthought. The texture of a raw oyster should not be meddled with. Even the subtle crunch of a small, translucent piece of shaved fennel detracts from the fabulous softness of a raw oyster. Luckily, the fennel was easy enough to remove. 

For my second course, I selected the salad of Kurios Farm butter lettuces with shaved turnips and watermelon radishes tossed in a peanut vinaigrette. The salad was phenomenal. For the first time I understood why this type of lettuce includes butter in its name: from the moment my knife touched the spring green leaves they almost tore themselves as they were so tender. The beautiful pink of the watermelon radishes and the sharpness of the turnips provided visual interest and a palatable balance to the butter lettuce and the peanut vinaigrette. My one and only complaint is that a salad of this size was $10. The flavors were exceptional but the price was unacceptable.

Would I return to Husk? I suppose I will. In retrospect my biggest issue with the restaurant was it's pricing and not its offerings. To that end, if there's a long line at Husk, you won't find me in it.

Poogan's Porch: Biscuit Eater's Heaven

I'm a biscuit eater.

Now before you take that to dirty town, remember I am a southerner and we love us some biscuits. If I had known the extent of how delicious Poogan Porch's biscuits were in college I would have made a new friend called diabetes. That, or morbid obesity.

My mother met my boyfriend over brunch at Poogan's Porch. Poogan's was his suggestion. He made a great second-first impression by taking us there.

Never one to pass up eggs benedict of any kind, I ordered the Fried Green Tomato Eggs Benedict with Peppered Bacon. Are you salivating yet? You should be. These perfectly poached, quivering, delicate eggs weren't perched atop lame English muffins-- oh no-- they were cupped by biscuit halves. I ate everything on my plate. I suggest you order this and do the same.

My mother ordered fried green tomatoes and a cup of gumbo, one of the best she's ever had. I tasted it myself, she wasn't lying.

The boyfriend ordered the fried chicken biscuit-- a solid choice. He didn't let me take a bite, but his plate was cleared in about four seconds.

After we were all finished a basket of biscuits appeared at the table. These were, of course, supposed to be served before our meals arrived but each of us happily ended our meal with some of the best biscuits we have ever had; warm and slathered with homemade honey butter.

I'm a biscuit lover.

Lovely Low Country Supper

One of the many benefits of living in Charleston has been the opportunity to sample traditional low country cuisine. I always find it interesting how the geography of a community shapes and influences its culinary traditions. When it comes to low country cooking, it is obvious how the geography of coastal South Carolina and Georgia molded the traditional dishes I have come to love, especially low country boil. The proximity to the ocean brings to the pot the shrimp and crayfish. The agrarian traditions of the South of course lend itself to the addition of the corn and the red potatoes.


Boy oh boy do I love Lowcountry Boil (known to some as Frogmore Stew or Beaufort Stew)-- it's a hearty one pot meal that is all about delicious proteins melding their flavors together along with fresh corn on the cob and red potatoes. I'm making mine with shrimp, beef kielbasa, crayfish, red potatoes and yellow corn. I'm serving mine tonight along with some homemade blue cheese coleslaw. 

(Image 1: Blue Cheese Coleslaw; Image 2: Shrimp, crayfish, Yellow Corn and Smoked Sausage; Image 3: Red Potatoes with Old Bay & Crab Boil sachet before the "boil" starts.)