Charleston has always been a land of dreams for me. It had a charm that Columbia can never muster. It has an aged patina that makes Greenville look like the modern city it is. Charleston is a land of dreams.
Charleston has always been a place I have associated with food. It was in Charleston that I first remember eating Taco Bell. Now that was back in the day before every town had a Mexican restaurant for every 30 citizens. It may have been the first Taco Bell in the State. I still remember having tacos and tostadas. It seems to me that the quality was much better way back then, it may just be my memory playing tricks on me. We would stop into the Taco Bell on the Savannah Highway in the West Ashley. We vacationed at Edisto Island and usually took one day to go and look around Charleston. My parents met and married while they were in Charleston, so they loved to go back.
I miss the old Charleston of my youth. They had some great mom and pop shoppes around the city and now it seems to be more like a strip mall. I am sure that there are some great shoppes around town, it just not the same. Maybe that again is just my memory playing tricks or maybe with the Internet and shipping there is really nothing we cannot get at anytime. Charleston uses to be special for there you could find things that you just did not see anywhere else. Charleston has historical been a international city, with the historic and still busy port bringing in ships from around the world. In the early days of our state, Charleston was a link to the rest of the world.
I still love Charleston and we go as much as we can. We have tried several restaurants in the last few years that we liked and hope to go back to. I know that Hyman's is a tourist trap, but I have been eating there for years. The food is good, sometimes it has been just OK, but for the most part it has been good. I remember eating with my family there and my friend Sandy.
The Noisy Oyster our kids liked with the giant open windows to the street. Yes, I know this is a tourist thing to do, but they loved the hustle of the street and all the people walking by near the market. There are too many great places to try and name where you can get a good meal. Just ask around, read the travel blogs, and you will find a place I am sure.
My wife is a huge Wild Wings fan. We would eat at the downtown location and sometimes over at the one in Mount Pleasant. She is not the biggest seafood fan, but I love her and she is trying.
I think for me Charleston is as much about the memories as the food. Eating with Mom and Dad, Shea and I going Fall Break of my Senior year at Erskine. Kelly and I on our honeymoon. Many a trip with my wife and family since then and the many adventures with the Lake boys from nearby Mount Pleasant.
If you are a home cook then you need to go see Fred. It is a cooking store on King Street near the Charleston Place Hotel. This was a unique store that had many things that in the days before the Internet were very hard to find. The owner was a wonderful lady who we love to go by and speak to every time that we are on that side of town.
Yes, while Charleston has changed it is a land of dreams. It is place with many memories for me. It reminds me of my youth and the hopes and dreams that I had as a child. It is a place where if you love to eat, you will not be disappointed.
Good Eatings!
The Hungry Preacher!
