Charleston, South Carolina
At the beginning of February, Oxford got more snow that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I’m from the coast and I grew up with a beach vacationing family- to this day, I’ve never been snow skiing (I think I’d tear a muscle, but I’d still like to go strictly for the apres ski part…I digress). In the midst of the most snow Mississippi has seen in 20 years, William and I were dying to go somewhere warm and fun. I think initially he wanted to surprise me, but he knows me and therefore brought this idea to my attention so that I could have input. We ended up choosing Charleston and I am so glad we did!
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the area, Oxford has so many things but a commercial airport is not one of them. We set our alarms for 2:30 on Friday morning and got up to drive to the Memphis airport to catch our flight. After a quick stop in Atlanta, we were in Charleston by 12:30. We stayed at the Hilton Waterfront in downtown Charleston, which has the most beautiful view of a marina!
The first stop on our tour was to get lunch— remember when I said we got up at 2:30? The most we’d eaten was the complimentary Cliff bars from the flight (shoutout to Delta). We walked about half a mile to this cute place near our hotel, Brown Dog Deli. Quick, easy, and some really good sandwiches (complete with funny names)— William got the “Cardi B” buffalo chicken sandwich and I got a fried green tomato BLT. It was exactly what we needed!
After lunch, we walked over to King Street and ducked in and out of some stores. Before walking back to our hotel to get ready for dinner, we stopped at Jeni’s Ice Creams. Nothing local to Charleston, but I’ve always wondered what the hype about Jeni’s was about…and now I know. 10/10.
That night, we knew we wanted to go across the bridge so we headed to the Shem Creek area for dinner and drinks, and ended up at a much recommended destination, Saltwater Cowboys. This area reminded me so much of home— very relaxed and local atmosphere. This was a highlight of the trip for us. We made a new friend, too— Scott Hansen, the part owner of Island Coastal Lager. This is an up and coming beer company that’s making it’s way down to Mississippi, soon (and they’re already stocked in retail establishments in Tennessee). He gave William a hat and told us to spread the word. Check them out!
Saturday was a day full of fun. I had made reservations at 82 Queen for brunch several weeks ago, so we knew that was on the agenda. We got dressed and headed over to the Battery area to grab a coffee and walk around before brunch, and ended up running into one of my friends from high school! We chatted for a minute and she gave us some recommendations on places to go, including Harken for a coffee.
82 Queen was AMAZING. I rank it as my second favorite meal of the trip. I’m a self-proclaimed Eggs Benedict connoisseur (I used to make it for my roommates after a night of drinking in college), and this was truly the best one I’ve ever had. William got a shaved pork sandwich that was really great, too. The courtyard seating was perfect on the sunny day that we went there! After brunch, we went to the Citrus Club on top of the Dewberry Hotel (great vibe) and then the Gin Joint. Gin Joint was one of the cooler bars that I’ve ever been to because you can order a drink called the “Bartender’s Choice.” There’s a list of about 10 or 15 adjectives, and you pick two, then the bartender makes you a cocktail based on those. I picked “spicy” and “fruity” and ended up with a peachy bourbon cocktail with house-made habanero simple syrup. Very good, and VERY spicy. William got “boozy” and “refreshing” and ended up with a variation of a gimlet. Very, very cool vibes. After we had a nice buzz, we went back to our hotel and cooled off at the pool for about 30 minutes before getting ready for dinner and heading back to King Street.
Saturday night was a BLAST. Everyone we talked to (shoutout to my friends Alex, Rachel, Ryan, and William’s coworkers for their recommendations!!) said 167 Raw was an absolute must. We listened. They don’t take reservations, so we put our name down around 6 PM and had a 2 hour wait. We got margaritas at a place on East Bay Street, RuRu’s, before walking around and peeking in the stores that were still open. I’m a sucker for a bookstore, so we walked into Buxton Books. On a cart in the midst of their many shelves were an assortment of books wrapped in brown craft paper scribbled with descriptions. The idea was called “Blind Date with a Book,” in hopes that people would choose a book based on the description, and to quite literally not “judge a book by it’s cover.” I’m a sucker. I immediately bought one, which turned out to be “The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home,” by Heath Hardage Lee. Naturally, I was sold when I read that Reese Witherspoon owns the movie rights. Can’t wait to read!
Back to the food. We sat at the bar at 167 Raw and- OMG- I could literally talk about this meal for hours. I kicked things off with a dirty martini, and even that was the best martini that I’ve ever had (and truthfully…I might be a self-proclaimed vodka martini connoisseur, too). Course One was raw oysters (8 of them, because 6 is too few and a dozen was too big of a commitment). Amazing. Phenomenal. There’s not enough words without me sounding like that sound-bite of Lady Gaga. We split fish tacos and the tuna tataki for the main course. Fish tacos were great, and perfectly seasoned with garnishes (cilantro, slaw, you know the drill). The main star of the show was the tuna. Truly, the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Hands down. I am actually working to recreate that bad boy this week, so maybe an update to come if I’m successful (and I am praying that I am or else we’re going to have to go back to Charleston sooner than later). I could go on about this meal, but I’ll leave it at this: if you are in Charleston, ever, you must go to 167 Raw regardless of the wait. It WILL be worth it. And the guy at the bar said their slowest day was Tuesday. Use that info wisely.
After dinner, we met up for drinks at Prohibition (my version of the cocktail I had there coming SOON) with one of William’s friends that just moved to Charleston. He owns Kennedy Gray, a men’s clothing line of henleys, polos, t-shirts, and pullovers. Kevin is awesome, and so are his clothes. And truthfully…I recently bought a henley for myself. If anyone needs a gift for someone in their life, check out KG. He’s on Instagram, too!
Sunday we decided to be #fitfam2021 and walk to breakfast and around the College of Charleston campus. 25,000 steps later, and I wonder why I’m still exhausted today. We grabbed breakfast to go at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit (very good) and walked around the Battery and Rainbow Row. And after that, I officially have a thing for window boxes…
To wrap up the trip, we had a true Sunday Funday and went to Revelry Brewing and Palmetto Brewing Company before heading to dinner at Leon’s, another wildly recommended spot. The char-grilled oysters and smoked mahi dip were 10/10. The vibe of the restaurant gave me very similar vibes to Volta in Oxford, just with a different menu. Part of the charm is the ability to order buckets of beer that come in mini cans/bottles (William tells me these are called “ponies,” verbage that’s completely new to me). They also have soft-serve ice cream. Yes.
Total recap: Charleston is AMAZING. There are so many drool worthy restaurants to check out, and you can do it without breaking the bank. We booked the whole trip on points, which had us staying about a mile and a half from downtown. We took some Ubers, but also walked a ton of places. It was so worth being able to have more flexibility on eating and drinking! King Street is great for shops and restaurants, as is East Bay, but walking further down south of Broad Street to see the gorgeous and historical homes is a must, too. If we didn’t love Oxford so much we’d probably move to Charleston after this trip (not kidding). We will definitely be back!!