Catholic Culinarian in Classic Charleston South Carolina

If you follow us along on our adventures, you can see that I frequently travel for my work with Grace Before Meals. I’m incredibly grateful to the groups of people, dioceses, and food shows that invite me to speak.  I’ve had so many amazing opportunities to give presentations at conferences, retreats, parish missions, and even secular events around the country.

(A recent event in Northern California)

Unfortunately, I don’t always have a chance to enjoy the sites or taste test the local food culture.  But this past summer, I had the opportunity to visit a great food city for some of my seminary work as the priest/faculty representative at an ordination.

This trip combined work, inspiration, history, life lessons, and great southern food!

(Museum display of where former slaves lived on plantations. In one-room homes, families celebrated their blessings, even when they were enslaved. Thank God we have a Savior that liberates us from the power that enslaves us most – sin!)

By the way, thank you, Mount St. Mary’s, for being a sponsor and supporter of our movement – this great university, so close to Baltimore, D.C., Gettysburg, Maryland, and the heart of Rome!  If you have college age students in your family, consider “The Mount” as a place to grow in intellectual development, leadership qualities, and spiritual renewal.

(Mount St. Mary’s University hosts more than 1,700 high school teens for a weekend of spiritual renewal. See Mount2000.com.)

Back to the Blast:  One of my spiritual directees, Matthew Gray, now Father Gray, was ordained in the Catholic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Charleston, South Carolina, on July 2, 2011.

(St. John the Baptist Cathedral.)

These days in Charleston were warm, in fact sticky and sweaty hot!  But I did my job as a faithful foodie and sought out great restaurants that feed the body.  Of course, I visited these restaurants only after a little stop at some inspired religious sites that nourished the soul.

Right around the corner from the Cathedral is a two story restaurant with top floor porch dining that boasts the impressive title of “Top Restaurant of 2011,” according to Bon Appetite’s foodist, Andrew Knowlton.  Husk, a high-end southern comfort restaurant serves up delicious country-fried foods with gourmet flare.  The restaurant’s bustling activity is muted by the husk-colored furniture and fixtures, accentuated by beautifully elegant wall coverings and window treatments.  The feeling you get from the restaurant’s décor resembles the food:  earthy, natural, and spiked with flavor!  The wait staff kept a friendly, professional, and food-centric approach to serving.

This is a higher end restaurant, so if you’re willing to splurge, but not break the bank, I recommend going there for lunch.  Lunch menus offer smaller plates (something I prefer), providing diners with diversity and the chance to save enough room for dessert.  In this case, however, I forgot just how filling southern food can be!  Even the appetizer plates were substantial!

Characteristic of low country foods, the chef is unabashedly all about flavor and not necessarily healthy eating.  Their offerings of crispy chicken skins, pork rinds, pork rillettes, and fried bologna sandwiches prove the restaurant’s purpose:  to respect southern comfort food and celebrate it with precision.

(Fried bologna sandwiches and port rillettes.)

Even though all my dishes had high fat content (after all, fried chicken skins and pork rinds aren’t exactly health food), the chefs accompanied these dishes with pickled greens or sweet acid infused jams.  Side dishes like peach chutney, sour beans, and wet coleslaw helped cut through some of the fat.  The meals offered a proper balance that made eating fat-nestled nuggets “guilt-free.”

Ironically, while I was at the restaurant, Bon Appetite representatives were also there writing an article and taking photos of the acclaimed chef and the culinary creations, a.k.a., “food beauty shots.”  One of the Bon Appetite “people” even said the signature Husk Burger, which combined beef, pork, and homemade pickles, was one of the best he’d put in his mouth!

(Me with Nick, a Baltimore seminarian, dining on fast food burgers – definitely not the best burgers we’ve eaten, but we prayed in Thanksgiving anyway!)

I had to order it after overhearing that praise.  And while I thought it was good, I was ready to offer the Bon Appetite critic a sample of my Asian Burgers in a veritable “Throwdown!”

Overall this was a great restaurant, again, just a short walk from the Cathedral.  But between the Cathedral and Husk I counted at least 10 other restaurants that would have probably pleased the palate quite satisfactorily.  So while in the heart of this historic city definitely take your pick of gastronomic genres.  And with regards to Husk, I would rate this a top-notch restaurant too:  I give Husk a 1 Hail Mary out of 10 – which translates to – pretty darn good!  One Hail Mary is almost 5 out of 5 stars – the highest rating in my book (only because NOTHING is PERFECT on this side of Heaven).

(Southern fried “crackling,” a.k.a., pork rinds; a.k.a, ” chicharrón;” a.k.a., “guilt-ilicious.”)

Another stop took me to historic Fort Sumter, a national fortress located on Sullivan’s Island, about a 20 minute drive from the city center.  It’s a nice day trip, especially if you’re into historic maritime battles.  Since Baltimoreans have a historical fort as well, Fort McHenry – where the Star Spangled Banner was written – I was actually more interested in the little Catholic Church nearby.  I found it rather interesting that the closest church to this major monument was a Catholic Church – especially in the heart of the Bible Belt!  I made a spiritual parallel to the Catholic Church, that, like the fortress, provided South Carolinians protection, safety, and even “victory” over their personal battles.

(Stella Maris Catholic Church, Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.)

A Grace Before Meals member and faithful foodie gave me the great recommendation for a food stop after our visit to the Fort.  It’s called Poe’s Tavern – a thriving, high-vibed, eclectic burger shack about one mile away from the Stella Maris Church.  I definitely would recommend it, even though you may have to wait a bit during the summer lunch crowd.  The Edgar Allan Poe themed menu items were as eclectic as the crowd that filled the place:  young, old, preppy, punkers, and everyone in between – including a priest on vacation!

(Poe’s Tavern’s unique burgers, fries, and delicious coleslaw.)

The prices for this place were pretty good, and the wait staff did a good job managing the crowds.  My only knocks would be that they were slow and the place could’ve used a little spic and span, even for a relaxed “shack” look.

I’d give this place about 4 Hail Mary’s out of 10 (which translates to 3 out of 5 stars), with suggestions to improve the wait time for the food and to increase the number of staff to help manage the busy crowds.  The food, while good, needed a bit of seasoning as well, even though I greatly appreciated the unique menu motif.

South Carolina’s successful tourist industry can be attributed to the great food and typical friendly hospitality.  Equally impressive is the quality of the local Christian and Catholic communities I visited.  It seems that Catholics in that part of the world take their faith as seriously as their food, which always makes for a great visit and a reason to return!

(A typically pleasant side street in downtown Charleston)

A prayerful thought:  The South Carolina flag has two Christian symbols:  The palmetto tree (a small palm tree) and a half crescent moon.  The palm tree symbolizes life, as it’s rooted firmly near a water source (God) and can withstand the pressures of gusty winds – a sign of confidence.  The crescent moon actually symbolizes the Blessed Mother, who illuminates with a sliver of light during some of our darkest nights.  This flag, in a sense represents my sure confidence in the Diocese of Charleston, especially with the new priests and seminarians that I’m privileged to teach.  May God continue to bless all of our GBM community members with a firm faith, seeking the beacon of hope that comes from our Blessed Mother’s love for God.  Amen.

(Newly ordained, former spiritual directee, Rev. Matthew Gray, being interviewed after the momentous ordination.)

Do you have any restaurant recommendations or critiques you’d like to share with the Grace Before Meals community?  Have you eaten at husk?  If you wrote for Bon Appetite, what would you say is the best burger you’ve ever had?  Your comments and questions are valuable to our movement.  Please let us know your thoughts BELOW.

Ask Fr. Leo for fatherly advice.

Posted in Faithful Foodie, Grace Before Meals, Prayers, Restaurants, Restauraunt Reviews | 1 Comment