48 hours in charleston
what do you do when you have 48 hours in charleston? you eat and you drink.
we made the most of charleston this past weekend – as you can see above. i’m honestly glad to be home with as much money as we spent eating and drinking. my body and wallet both needed the rest.
if you plan on making a weekend trip to charleston sometime soon, this is a nice little rundown on some places you should try. i love lists, so i will do my best not to go into any sort of great details regarding the above restaurants.
first and foremost, stay downtown on king or meeting street. we stayed at the king charles inn which is an incredible location, but our room was old, small, and stinky. (i think it used to be a smoking room.) i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. the grand bohemian was next store. if you have the cash, stay there.
quick note on shopping…shopping in charleston is not great except for one exception: indigo & cotton. that place was a very pleasant surprise. it’s a couple of blocks from king st and carries gitman bros vintage, engineered garments and several other hard to find menswear staples. the dude working there couldn’t have been any nicer as well. i also really enjoyed a candle store called candlefish which needs to be in nashville. (yeah i fucks with candles.)
here’s where you should and shouldn’t eat:
minero – sean brock’s (of husk fame) mexican restaurant. went for lunch on friday. get the chips and salsa and the tacos. the steak taco was my favorite, but try the al pastor and catfish as well.
the mackintosh – heard great things about this place. loved the buildout, but the vibe was bit sleepy. we tried a couple of bar menu items – the ricotta gnudi and the scallops. both were ok. no socks were knocked off during this consumption.
the darling oyster – we went to be adventurous with our tastebuds, but ended up getting hushpuppies and the shrimp cocktail. both were outstanding as well as the setup. the bar was definitely livelier than the mackintosh.
xiao bao biscuit – holy shit. this place is amazing. one of my favorite meals of the weekend. A+. went with some sort of spicy beef rib and a cabbage pancake. i loved every bit of it.
kaminsky’s – we tried to get into fig for dessert which was an hour wait. the hostess instead recommended this tourist trap. high school couples were there on dates. that should have been our cue to turnaround and go someplace else, but we stuck it out. we got the tollhouse pie and berry cobbler. both were stale and tasteless.
hominy grill (below) – brunch on saturday. the charleston nasty biscuit. whoa. i thought getting the sausage gravy on the side would keep it lighter. nope. we went back to the hotel and napped immediately after breakfast. very cool spot. solid food. plus, there’s a nice little bar window to order drinks while you wait.
husk – husk is one of my favorite nashville restaurants. i had to stop by there. we had a beer (coast kolsch) and some benton’s ham in the carriage house. the bartender there was awesome. he found us through the chaos of saturday happy hour and took great care of us. don’t leave charleston without hitting husk.
bin 152 – the husk bartender recommended it for wine and cheese. A+. we had a glass of wine and a cheese and charcuterie plate. if i’m ever in charleston again, i will be here multiple days.
o-ku – sushi. oyster roll and scallop roll. both average. we lucked out and sat at the bar. wouldn’t have been worth the 2 hour wait, but decent none-the-less.
fig (below) – went back to fig for dessert. bread pudding and some butterscotch creme brûlée tasting thing. bread pudding was a D and butterscotch creme brûlée was a B+. need to try it for dinner, because the gnocchi looked bomb.
glazed – alex really wanted a donut, so we stopped by here on the way to sullivan’s island. she got a dark chocolate glazed donut and i got the maple bacon glazed. both were decent. good option if you are just needed a donut in your life while in charleston.
the obstinate daughter (below) – brunch on sunday. A+++. one of my favorite meals of all time. definitely the best eggs benedict i’ve ever eaten. the old danger pizza was solid too (ask for 2 eggs). do not miss this place if you’re visiting charleston.
that’s it for charleston. i’m going to try and post more city guides as often as i can in hopes that other people find them, so they can cut out the bullshit when traveling.
to take the train 
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