Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [133]
You’ll taste the zest in Gullah’s gumbo, which is dense with shrimp, chunks of spicy sausage, and pieces of chicken. It is thickened with okra, which gives it a brilliant vegetable bite, and it has a perfume that will make you dizzy with hunger even before you spoon it up. Gumbo is optional, but Gullah rice is essential, available as a meal unto itself or as a side dish for such entrees as fried shrimp, smothered pork chops, or oxtail stew. It is a stunning dish, chockablock with shrimp, shreds of chicken, discs of sausage, and nuggets of vegetables, the rice itself tinted a glistening mahogany color and fairly radiant with peppery flavor.
As balm for a tongue with taste buds humming from all that spice, there is a wonderful broccoli casserole, and we must say that we were as impressed by it as by the more complex Gullah specialties. It is a real southern dish—broccoli transformed from a plebeian vegetable into something that is rich and full-flavored by the addition of cheese, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Far, far from modern al dente broccoli, this casserole is soft and profoundly comforting.
Other not-to-be-missed local specialties include she-crab soup with a slick of high-proof sherry floating on top, crunchy low country fried shrimp and oysters, and superb soul-food pumpkin pie for dessert.
Hominy Grill
207 Rutledge St.
843–937–0930
Charleston, SC
BLD | $$
Our first meal at the Hominy Grill was breakfast, and it was spectacular. The sausage patties that came alongside our sunny-side-up eggs were rugged and crusty and brilliantly spiced—a joy to eat when pushed through some yolk or sandwiched inside the tall biscuit that came alongside. Bacon was excellent, too—double-thick, crisp, and full-flavored, just begging to be cosseted in that hefty biscuit or eaten in alternating mouthfuls with a forkful of smooth-textured grits.
We were equally impressed when we returned for lunch and plowed into thick shrimp gumbo and a serving of Brunswick stew sided by good corn bread. And who could resist a distinctly southern BLT made with crunchy discs of fried green tomato? Buttermilk pie was the perfect dessert.
The Hominy Grill building was at one time a barber shop, and the striped poles that signify the tonsorial profession still flank the front door (on the inside). It’s a spacious room with an old stamped tin ceiling, wood-slat walls, and slow-spinning fans overhead.
Hyman’s Seafood
213 Meeting St.
843–723–6000
Charleston, SC
LD | $$
What we didn’t eat one recent evening at Hyman Seafood: amberjack, cod, flounder, mahi, mako, monkfish, snapper, hokie, salmon, tilapia, trout, tuna, and black drum. Those were the fish of the day on the blackboard, and below them were grouper, stuffed wahoo, and fried lobster tails, which we didn’t sample either. Local oysters were coming in and available on the half-shell or fried, and we didn’t even have appetite enough for them. The point is that Hyman has a big, big menu—mostly seafood, with a few token meats and pastas—and it’s bound to be a little frustrating to pass up so many good things.
What we did have was swell: she-crab soup that is ridiculously thick, rich as cream sauce itself and loaded with meat; a broad dish with thirty steamed spiced shrimp; and a house specialty, crispy flounder. This is one large, beautiful fish that has been scored in a diamond pattern and broiled so the fork-size sections of meat develop a crusty edge and virtually seem to lift off the bone. This is one of the East Coast’s top fish-eating experiences.
Hyman’s is a tremendously popular place, frequented by tourists and locals alike. If you