Charleston, SC best bbq & biscuits/gravy
 

I'm going on a road trip early April from Chicago to Charleston, SC. I want to get some of the best BBQ food and biscuits/gravy since I'm going to be in the south. Any recommendations? I prefer to visit small mom&pop places rather than chain restaurants.

I am sure SueWoo will direct you, but for BBQ you are probably not getting the best thing Charleston has to offer. You need to look for CHARLESTON food, in my opinion. Yer lookin' for BBq in all the wrong places!! LOL

OH, wait. You aren't looking for it in Charleston necessarily.
On your way south, on I26 stop in Saluda for BBQ. Can't remember the name, but it's good.

I hope you are stopping in Asheville NC on the way down. Great town.

Others may have specific restaurant recommendations but the Cracker Barrel restaurants have good biscuits & gravy -
http://www.crackerbarrel.com/trip-di...cfm?doc_id=173

In Charleston,visit Hominy Grill for biscuits & gravy or shrimp & grits.

http://hominygrill.com/

I totally agree with all of the above. If you really want good que IMHO use this link:

http://www.ncbbqsociety.com/trail_map.html

The que in the Charleston area is mustard based which does nothing for me. Momma Brown's has closed. If you want a SC barbeque experience go to Sweatman's in Holly Hill or Brown's in Kingstree.

I don't know what's up with people wnatin barbeque and biscuits in Charleston (there's another one on TA) but all I can tell you is, while visiting, get food you can't get at home. We are famous for many things, langrobe and I am sure you have googled us. But just in case you haven't here's a starter list. Gretch and starrs, chime in. It's early and I haven't had my coffee:

shrimp and grits, she-crab soup shad roe, collards and cornbread, oyster roasts, flounder, wreckfish, fried green tomatoes, okra soup....

I'm no help with Charleston recommendations for those two menu items.

If you come to NE GA, the best can be found at -

Tomlin's BBQ -
http://www.tomlinbbq.com/
http://www.wheresthebestbbq.com/inde...blog&Itemid=11
There were one of 5 finalists in a national contest held by Regis and Kelly's show.
But, they aren't open in April.


Miss Meg's - for both biscuits and gravy AND fresh seafood from the coast -
http://www.missmegsrestaurant.com/
http://www.missmegsrestaurant.com/testimonials.html

A young couple bought an existing breakfast place and serves some of the best breakfast food you can get anywhere. They moved up from the coast and tried Thursday Night Seafood dinners (the place previously didn't serve dinner). It was such a hit they have seafood dinners three nights a week. The place is not much to look at but as some of the best food anywhere. They define "mom and pop" place with great food. A friend would eat their three times a day if possible.

It would be a detour but maybe an option on your return trip?

Sorry. That last post wasn't helpful at all.

If I were going back to Charleston I'd go back to Magnolia's.
At my favorite restaurant in Savannah (the Pink House) I order 3 appetizers (one as an appetizer and two served together as a meal). I agree with suewoo and I'd choose "Charleston specialties" in Charleston.
Here's their menu -
http://www.pressomatic.com/hmgi/uplo..._mags_menu.pdf

If I were there I'd order the fried green tomatoes, the blue crab bisque and the golden beet salad. Everything on the menu will be wonderful though.
http://www.magnolias-blossom-cypress...sp?catID=20428

aliska offered a biscuits and gravy suggestion.

Enjoy your visit!

One decent BBQ option in Charleston is Bessinger's. It's the mustard-based type.

The best food experience I had in this city was at SNOB.

suewoo, you restore my faith.

My family is from upcountry South Carolina, so upcountry that you could see Georgia and North Carolina from my parents' front porch.

I am afraid we would not have looked to the Low Country for biscuits, but we didn't much like anybody else's biscuits any way. Ours were flat, rather than puffy, and that's the way we wanted them.

What we did like from the Low Country that we never had at home was Dirty Rice and things like Perloos. We ate a lot of rice, but only plain rice with gravy. I also never ate anything like a Frogmore stew until I went to Charleston (well, Sullivan's Island)as an adult, but now I cook it myself in Massachusetts. Grits were served with butter or gravy, but shrimp and grits were unknown upcountry, though oysters were shipped in weekly by the barrel when my father was young, and he had a mean way with oysters in the kitchen.

Now that, Ackslander, is upcountry. Was it in Pickens County? Mama was a Pickens from those Pickenses.

Frogmore Stew is the best way to entertain. Few restaurants serve it but sometimes you can find it under the name "Lowcountry Boil".

And bachslunch, SNOB is consistently great and offers local fresh food. Their lunches are the best deals in town.

starrs, Pink House is owned by the same people as Anson's here in Charleston. You might want to try it. You know I luz me some Pink House!

Now I think I need some grits. It's restaurant week so I have a lot to do! :)

We visited Charleston from England in 2009. We had a couple of lunches at Virginia's Restaurant on King Street. Fantastic food. The UK has imported so many of your national dishes, but grits - not yet! Virginia's shrimp 'n grits might just change that! Her she crab soup and her fried green tomatoes could also cross the pond.

If you pass through Wilmington SC on the way, have dinner on a balcony at the Riverboat Landing Restaurant. Nothing better on a warm evening.

Anson's? Really?! I'll try it the next time I'm there.
Thanks!

Another vote for when in charleston eat like Charlestonians. They probably eat BBQ if they live there, but it isn't THE place to eat it. NC is THE place to eat it!!
Glad the other posters liked Virginia's. It is more "in town" and we had a delicious lunch--huge servings.
Sue, tried to get reservations right away at Circa 1886 and not able to. We decided to just stay in pawley's.

suewoo, it was Oconee, not Pickens, but you are certainly in the right area.

Hello suewoo, I am Ackislander's sister, who doesn't post very often or at least not in the same threads as his, but yes, Oconee County. I remember Walhalla school lunches of cornbread, greens & pot likker, scuppernongs, and pinto beans with fatback. Now that is Up Country!

Walhalla is where all the 15 year olds from Georgia went to get married :-)

CharlotteK that is so great! We had barbeque and red slaw for school lunches in Albemarle, NC, my hometown. It is because of that fact that I cannot bear anything yellow on my pork sammich.

starrs we call it Holla Wolla. It is a beautiful place. I don't get up there enough. You have to pry me out of Charleston with a big ole crowbar.

If you get up there head up the road just a bit further. I have a place up there. And we can get the great BBQ at Tomlin's :-)

We should make a plan!