A Food Review of the Charleston Downtown Culinary Tour
If you’re in Charleston + you’re a foodie + you want to experience something fun and totally unique for dinner, you must try a food tour with Charleston Culinary Tours. For about $60 a person, you get to try out roughly 12 courses from about 3 different restaurants. It’s an experience that will leave you ridiculously full (in fact, if you’re a light eater, you may want to sample each course so you can actually finish the tour) and a few history facts smarter. Since it’s heavy-laden with food, duh, the tour incorporates a bit of walking between restaurants along with a brief Charleston history lesson throughout the streets you pass. The specific tour we took was the Downtown one but you could opt for Upper King Street or Mixology (and a few others!) if you prefer. Overall, the food was amazing. I definitely enjoyed certain dishes more than others and it was fun meeting other people on the tour.
Our food adventure started with Southend Brewery, an industrially decorated smokehouse located on Bay St. We were given four courses, one of which came from a sister restaurant. Out of the 4, the smoked pork bbq was my favorite. So if you happen to come to Southend Brewery on your own, sans a tour guide, be sure to add the bbq to your list of things to try (all the courses we received are also offered on their menus).
Charleston She Crab Soup with Aged Sherry & Mixed Herbs
Fried Green Tomatoes with Pimento Cheese
Pulled Pork + Coleslaw
Fried Shrimp Corndog
Walking off the first four courses and heading to restaurant #2.
Our next destination was Eli’s Table, located on Meeting St. This restaurant served our samples family style. Our entire table received platefuls of each course and we helped ourselves to whatever we wanted to try. The sweet potato pancakes were a huge hit and they were my absolute favorite. If you want to try local specialties, the shrimp and grits is a must. And best of all, both are offered on their menus.
Sweet Potato Pancakes with Candied Pecan Butter
Shrimp & Grits in Tasso Gravy over Creamy Stone-Ground Grits
Chicken & Biscuits with Hot Honey Glaze
Breakfast Potatoes
The final stop was Leaf, a restaurant located on Beaufain St. Leaf had a more upscale interior whereas the other two restaurants were more laid-back. By this time, the rain had started and we were all FREEZING. It was nice coming in to a warm place where we were greeted with chicken noodle soup. The grilled cheese was also a hit. The soup and mousse are both on Leaf’s daily menus. Unfortunately, due to the rain and dim lighting, I wasn’t able to capture a great photo of the risotto or the mousse or even of the outside of the restaurant. Blogger Fail.
And that wraps up our food tour. As I’m sure you can imagine, we were STUFFED afterwards. It was a fun experience that I can recommend to all.
Chicken Noodle Soup
BLT Grilled Cheese with Truffle Fries topped with Manchego
Not Pictured:
Risotto with Fried Scallop
Triple Chocolate Mousse
Thanks to Rutledge Social for adding this culinary tour to our fun blog day!
