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Category: Around Charleston

Local Wine Shopping…

… in the Time of COVID-19 Since Gary and I typically buy wine 12 bottles at a time (for the case discount), we are never out of wine. The current inventory stands at 60 bottles of white and rosé and 70 bottles of red. But where we do our local wine shopping is super important to us. As we manage our way through the quarantines in this time of COVID-19, it is essential to support our friends locally.  Each of these stores is doing curbside pickup and phone orders. Supporting Your Local Wine Shop Locally, we are big fans of…

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Wine Dinner – Innate Wines & Edmund’s Oast

Innate Wine Dinner at Edmund’s Oast If you are a wine enthusiast, one of the best value’s in Charleston is a Wine Dinner at Edmund’s Oast. I have attended at least five or six of these dinners. Each time they blow me out of the water, and I think that this is the best they have ever done. The reality is that they do the pairings so perfectly that your senses are in high gear. While last night was amazing, fun, delicious, perfectly paired, quenching, unique, and fantabulous. They all have been. You should make a point of getting on…

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CHS Wine & Food – Culinary Village 2020

This past weekend marks the end of the 2020 CHS Wine & Food Festival. I am already looking forward to 2021, but before I get there, I want to share my thoughts about this year’s experience. And when I say experience, I mean, at the Culinary Village only, as I do not attend any of the formal tastings, seminars or lunches or dinners*. CHS Wine & Food – Culinary Village – Friday Tickets for the CHS Wine & Food Festival go on sale sometime in August of the previous year. Tickets for any of the most popular events sell out…

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Martin’s Tennessee Whole Hog BBQ

Barbecue holds a special place in the hearts of cities all over the country. And yes, each city thinks of theirs as “the best.”. There is Kansas City BBQ, Memphis BBQ, Texas BBQ, etc., etc. Of course, South Carolina has its style of barbecue with its mustard-based sauce as well. Fortunately for those that live in Charleston, we are lucky enough to have a couple of styles come to us, including Lewis Texas BBQ,   The most recent entry into the market is Martin’s Tennessee Whole Hog BBQ. Now we have Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog Barbecue, and he is South Carolina…

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Wine & Company on Upper Meeting St.

Wine bars have exploded all over Charleston. For the longest time, the best that I could tell, there were just two, Bin 152 on lower King St. and Avondale Wine and Cheese in West Ashley. Then the trend hit Charleston, and there seemed to be a new one opening every few months, as well as pre-existing bars tweaking their offerings to become a wine bar. My unofficial count at this point is fourteen. Some might argue that there are more, but I am happy with my count. But there was one I kept coming up in conversation, Wine & Company,…

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Baker & Brewer = EVO without the Drive

EVO Pizzeria Long before everyone was making brick-oven pizza, EVO Pizzeria was doing it in the Park Circle area of North Charleston. To me, brick-ovens makes the best pizza, so I loved going there whenever I had a craving. While EVO remains one of my favorite spots still today, now there are brick-oven pizzerias all over town. So while EVO reigns supreme in my eyes, I rarely made the drive anymore. So when I heard that EVO Pizzeria was joining forces with Holy City Brewing to open a spacious location in the old DeSano Pizza building downtown, I was out…

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Drayton Hall – Tourist in My Own Town

This past weekend, Gary and I had a house guest. Katia, who was my classmate in D.C. when I was taking the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 2 Certification. We hit it off and became study partners and subsequently friends. She reached out looking for hotel and restaurant recommendations for a weekend trip to Charleston. I recommended the “Hotel de Dean-Link,” which is the same location as our Church of the Screened in Porch. She loved that idea and chose to stay with us. She toured Charleston on her own Friday and Sunday but on Saturday we all…

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Barsa * Unrecipe * Summer Sips

This is a post that I should call This, That and The Other because it is different topics that are unrelated to each other but are all themes of my blog, eating out – this week at Barsa; creating food- a simple Unrecipe appetizer; and drinking and sharing wine – New Summer Sips. Hopefully, that means that there is something in this post for everyone. But before I go there, I have to tell you that last week was insane as I pulled off a hugely successful invitation-only tasting with Gratus Vineyards. Typically, I would not host a tasting when…

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