Charleston Travel Guide

F&W’s guide to Charleston features spectacular restaurants from expert chefs like Sean Brock, incredible soul food and obsession-worthy pecan sticky buns.

Top Picks

Charleston Restaurants

Insider Picks
- Husk
Splurge
- Cypress
- Fig
- McCrady’s
Classic
Best Value
- Alluette’s Café
- The Glass Onion
Coffee & Sweets
Bars
- Enoteca
- The Gin Joint

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Hotel Pick

Wentworth Mansion

This mansion's 21 rooms have modern amenities, plus antique details such as hand-carved marble fireplaces, intricate woodwork and Tiffany stained glass windows. Chef Marc Collins oversees breakfast, which might include sautéed shrimp and organic Carolina grits or rice-flour pancakes with maple syrup and homemade rabbit sausage. wentworthmansion.com.

More of the Best Bed & Breakfasts

Charleston Restaurants: Husk — Located in a beautifully restored circa-1893 Queen Anne, Husk showcases Southern food and ingredients. Every single item on the menu comes from below the Mason-Dixon Line, from the salt to the seafood.

Editor’s Pick — Located in a beautifully restored circa-1893 Queen Anne, Husk showcases Southern food and ingredients. Every single item on the menu comes from below the Mason-Dixon Line, from the salt to the seafood.

Best Fried Chicken in the U.S.

Husk’s Delicious Research

Forget the focus on super-secret batter recipes. Star chef Sean Brock is hard at work trying to answer the question, “Just how many fats can chicken be fried in?” Brock’s chicken, which is available by reservation only and requires 48 hours notice, is fried in butter, chicken fat, bacon fat and country ham fat.

Haunted Restaurants

Poogan’s Porch

The Charleston police receive so many calls about a distressed woman dressed in black trapped inside this upscale Southern restaurant that authorities disregard new reports. The woman is believed to be the ghost of Zoe St. Armand, who owned the house in the early 1900s.

Recipes from Charleston Chefs

Spring Panzanella with Asparagus

Recipes for panzanella (a Florentine bread salad popular in the summer) typically call for tomatoes, but in the spring, Mike Lata prefers using seasonal ingredients like asparagus and radishes.
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Cornmeal-Almond Cake with Strawberries and Mascarpone

This buttery cornmeal cake contains more than a half-pound of toasted almonds, giving it an excellent, nutty flavor.
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Carolina Pulled Pork

Traditional Carolina barbecue begins with a whole hog smoked over coals; here, Sean Brock cooks pork shoulder for 12 hours in a 275° oven before smoking it for about 1 hour in a backyard grill.
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Garlic-and-Herb-Crusted Leg of Lamb

This leg of lamb is perfectly juicy in the center, with a fantastic crust.
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The Charleston Bog

Mixologist Ralph Rosenberg wanted to create a bourbon drink that was appealing to non-bourbon drinkers. The result is this lightly sweet pink drink.
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