Jestine's Kitchen - Charleston, SC

May 1, 2011

      After living in the South for awhile, I figured it was time to try Jestine's Kitchen because I wanted to see what the restaurant's true identity was - a massive tourist trap with tremendously overrated Southern food, or a venerable Charleston institution that was worthy of the label and the long wait in line.  Just reading the reviews made me kind of curious, just to find out if this restaurant was more Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, because at a certain point, food is either good or not, isn't it?  Unfortunately, the answer to that is actually no, it depends on how much experience you have eating a certain food (i.e. have you grown up with a particular cuisine your entire life, or is it your first time eating it?).  And yes, there is a long line and wait for this restaurant, especially on the weekends, so if you feel like eating here, unfortunately, it isn't as simple as "let me just show up and try their food."  

     So, if you're interested in going to Jestine's Kitchen for the first time, I am going to offer two different answers (they are kind of tongue-in-cheek, only because I figure I might as well have some fun with this), depending on which group you fall into, but y'all are first going to have to answer one question:  Have you grown up in the South, or lived here for more than five years?  If yes, go to answer #1.  If you said no, because you are a visitor from the Northeast, Midwest, West coast, or possibly overseas, I suppose, or you haven't lived in the South long enough to be have tried any, or very little, Southern food, then go to answer #2.  

Answer #1:  You like Southern food.  A lot.  You don't go outside to go and bbq hot dogs or hamburgers, etc., because you know that bbq is properly used as a noun, not a verb - you obviously go and grill out, or cook out.  Sweet tea runs through your veins.  You say "Yes Ma'am, Yes Sir" or  "No Ma'am, No Sir" and possibly "Bless Your Heart" without thinking twice, and will smack your child silly if they don't do the same thing.

     Thus, because you have lived a true Southern life, you are going to be EXTRA irritated by the wait for Jestine's Kitchen.  You are going to grouse about it, complain about all the tourists who don't know any better while waiting in line, and then when you finally eat their food, you are going to be able to easily name five or more different restaurants (either meat-and-threes, or southern buffets) off the top of your head that have better Southern food than this place, which you wouldn't have to wait long for.  So my advice, if you really still want to see what the big hubbub is about, I advise only trying their food in the wintertime during the low tide of tourist season.  Because a long wait isn't worth what you are going to eat, because you have undoubtedly already eaten something better some time during your life here.  And Jestine's Kitchen does offer decently good Southern food (although a bit more expensive than usual), just not enough to justify all the craziness you are going to have to experience just to eat it.            

Answer #2:  You are a visitor that isn't from the South and wants to visit Charleston because you heard it is a nice, charming Southern city (and it is, btw).  You do go out and bbq hot dogs/burgers on the weekend or Memorial Day, and have never been corrected on your usage of the word "bbq".  When you order "tea" at a restaurant, you expect it to be just regular ol' iced tea without any sugar, or maybe hot in a china cup, but definitely not so saturated with sugar that it could possibly put a diabetic person into an instant coma.  If someone says "Yes Ma'am, Yes Sir" or  "No Ma'am, No Sir" to you, you are probably going to look at them quizzically and then ask them to call you something else, because when they say that to you, it makes you feel kind of old.               

      Because you are what Southerners label as a "Yankee" (or even worse, if you are from the crazy West Coast, and don't even get a label), you should go to Jestine's Kitchen for your visit to Charleston whether it is fall, winter, spring, or summer, because it is likely going to be among the best Southern food you are likely ever going to get outside of the South.  You will be ok with the wait, because you probably have waited in line for an hour to eat something before, and it really isn't going to be that big of a deal for you, especially because you are on vacation and don't plan to visit Charleston/the South again for a little while at least.  The food at Jestine's Kitchen will definitely be the most authentic Southern food that has ever entered your mouth, and you will come out of the restaurant happy that you went.        

Ok, now onto the important stuff - the food.  =)  I came with a bigger party for this meal, and so I got to try a lot more food than I usually do.  We ordered an appetizer for the table, an order of fried green tomatoes.  It was decent, but I wish the fried batter coating was a bit thicker, because it flaked off it a bit easily.  

An order of cornbread - there is no more important accompaniment to any Southern meal than cornbread, and it was decently good here - not dry, and I liked that they put honey with the butter.  

The first of several entrees we ordered for the table - a meatloaf sandwich, with some fried okra (yum, I always enjoy fried okra!) and cole slaw.  

One of the daily specials that Jestine's Kitchen offers - a shrimp and sausage gumbo.  I liked it a lot - it was thick, slightly spicy and very flavorful.  

The entree I ordered for myself - some fried chicken.  The first thing that caught my eye about this fried chicken platter was how GIGANTIC the fried chicken pieces were.  They were seriously the biggest I had seriously ever seen - the photos really don't convey how large it was.  Regardless, the fried chicken was good - it was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, decent amount of salt and other spices.  Not the best fried chicken I've ever had, but definitely within the second tier of good, quality fried chicken.   

The last entree we ordered, the fried pork chop plate, with a side of green beans and mac and cheese.  This pork chop was pretty delicious - I loved the breading on the pork chop, and it was decently juicy on the inside as well.  

For dessert, we ordered a slice of Jestine's Kitchen's coca-cola cake.  This was an excellent slice of cake - admittedly, I didn't taste the coca-cola really, but it was rich, moist, and sweet.  Definitely something you must order if you go.   

Magnolia's - Charleston SC

Magnolia's is a classic "New Southern" restaurant, if there ever was one. Before it opened in 1990, Southern food was simple, home cooked food, but Magnolia's ratcheted up its dishes with visual appeal and introduced new flavors into the cuisine, to such an extent that there are a whole lot of restaurants in this vein now. The decor of the restaurant is much more "old" Southern than the cuisine, though, and has a southern plantation kind of feel to it. It has become one of those Charleston institutions that is a must-visit for anyone coming to visit the city, and on a recent visit to Charleston, I happily obliged in trying out the food here. =)

Because we were on the coast, we were almost obliged to order something with seafood in it, so we started off with a bowl of blue crab bisque, with fresh chives.

As a main course, I ordered a southern classic: Buttermilk fried chicken, served with cracked pepper biscuits, mashed potatoes with sausage herbed gravy, collard greens, and cream-style corn. I'm going to be honest - I was kind of underwhelmed by the dish, mostly because I think the fried chicken was cooked too long...I found the buttermilk coating of the fried chicken to be a bit too thick and crunchy, and the chicken was a little dry and not as juicy as a lot of other pieces of fried chicken I've had in the South. The biscuit had the same problem, in a way - it was baked too long, and came out a bit dry, and was kind of thick-tasting as well. The collard greens and corn were delicious though, but overall, I don't think this was the best representation of Southern cuisine I've had so far.

For our second main dish, we ordered another reinterpreted Southern classic: shellfish over grits. The shellfish consisted of shrimp, sea scallops, and and lobster over grits with a lobster butter sauce, topped with pieces of fried spinach. The grits were pretty good, but not as smooth and creamy as the grits at Hominy Grill (also in Charleston), but the seafood was fresh and cooked very well.
The highlight of the night was dessert: we ordered the sweet potato bread pudding, served with a scoop of brown sugar ice cream. This was a bit of Southern dessert heaven, and was one of the better desserts we've had in the South, sweet with great texture. Definitely a great end to the meal.

Doc's Barbeque and Southern Buffet - Columbia SC

Doc’s is a relatively recent entry into the world of southern bbq buffet in Columbia (circa 2006), but since its opening, it seems to have endeared itself to the hearts of many of the locals. I think it has a fantastic location for those famous/infamous Gamecock football tailgates (it is on Shop Road, right near Gamecock stadium), and it has a pretty decent variety of southern food, including some interesting specialties that I haven’t seen so far in my jaunts through the South. It is also one of the cleaner, nicer looking southern bbq buffets I’ve been to, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. =)

So what’s so interesting about its food offerings? Let’s take a look at the food they offered on my visit there:

First, the hot vegetable offerings – some corn on the cob, collard greens, green beans, and baked beans.

Gravy, hash, and rice…

Some fried offerings: Fried chicken, fried catfish nuggets, and a dish I didn’t try (and therefore am unable to identify at this time…!)

Mac and cheese and corn casserole…

And of course, pulled pork: for those of you that are purists, this photo might offend you, because it is all presauced…a vinegar based bbq, Doc’s “sweet blend” bbq (a mustard based bbq, not that sweet, from what I remember…), and more of the sauce on the right side, which I thought was a nice touch.

Some cold vegetable offerings: cole slaw, potato salad, and pickles.
And dessert, a chocolate cobbler. Can you ever go wrong with a chocolate based dessert? =)

For those of you that are a bit more adventurous in your southern food offerings, Doc’s offers something particularly different: fatback. For the uninitiated of you (of which I previously belonged to, before Doc’s), fatback is basically a pork rind with the skin on. A cut of fatback includes both the pork skin and the fat right under it, and in the South, is fried until crispy and crunchy. I tried it, but to be honest, I found it was like eating a really crunchy piece of lard (at least, what I imagine a piece of lard to be, if it was thinly sliced and fried to a crisp). It was really oily and without much flavor. I was glad to try it, but only because I know not to eat it ever again =P. But hey, for those of you who love pork rinds or chincharrones, this just might be the thing for you. =)

One of the two plates of food I had at Doc’s. I tried both the vinegar and mustard based bbq, and of course, a whole lotta fried chicken! =)

After eating their food, I feel like Doc’s is like the poor stepchild to the two other main southern bbq buffets in Columbia (aka the two pigs, Palmetto Pig and Little Pigs) with regard to two of the most important measurements of southern bbq, the pulled pork and fried chicken. While neither the pulled pork or the fried chicken isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t quite as delicious as other places I’ve been to. But, for those that like a good variety in their southern bbq buffets, Doc’s is still a pretty good choice.

Lady and Sons - Savannah, GA

On our first trip to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia (one of my favorite cities in the South so far), we took some time to stop by one of the most well-known restaurants in the city, Lady and Sons. As everyone knows, the restaurant is owned by Paula Deen and her sons, and it offers everything you can imagine when you think of Paula Deen...plentiful and overflowing amounts of Southern dishes, which will leave you in a calorie and cholesterol-busting food coma. =)

I remember reading a review calling this place an American temple to gluttony - while I think that was a bit of an overstatement, the restaurant IS owned by Paula Deen (tons of butter in her recipes, and creator of the Lady's Brunch burger, the infamous burger made with two krispy kreme donuts instead of bread), and so if you go, are you REALLY expecting healthy salads and other light options? The southern food isn't the best I've had so far, but regardless of your expectations, I think this is one of those places that everyone should visit at least once, at least for the experience. Some people call this a tourist trap, but I think it really offers the kind of friendly, gut-busting food experience I think I might have if I went to Paula Deen's house and had a meal there, albeit in a gigantic three-story restaurant designed to hold every single tourist that visits Savannah (just kidding with that last comment. It is pretty big though).

So the first thing I learned about this restaurant is that Paula doesn't take reservations. Seriously? Well, that isn't quite accurate...you can make reservations at the restaurant starting the morning of the day you want to eat, but not any earlier than that - there is a maitre'd that stands outside, and you make a reservation with them for either lunch or dinner (in the above photo, the stand where the person is located is on the left-hand side of the photo). On weekends, the line starts up at 8:00 in the morning for lunch and dinner spots, and gets pretty long. I actually ended up getting there late, at about 8:45 in the morning, and just barely got a table for 2 for 11:00 in the morning on the third floor of the restaurant (all the floors are the same, from what I can see - each floor has offers its own Southern food buffet area, and has lots of tables for people to sit at). From what I can remember, the dinner spots were equally as filled up by then.

So here was the 11:00 group - a whole lotta hungry people waiting for the restaurant to open. There were so many of us that they asked us to wait across the street!

Shortly before 11:00 am, this lady came out and literally rang the iron triangle to announce the opening of the restaurant for the day. Ahh, what a spectacle. =) She hollered at our group and asked all of us if we were ready to eat - after she rang the triangle, she got everyone so excited that I almost thought the group was going to run en masse straight for the doors in a gigantic mob...fortunately, the actual process is a LOT more organized.

So after the lady rang up her triangle, a matire'd came out and called each of the party's names. The whole process didn't take too long - we were towards the end of the group, and we ended up waiting about 10 minutes before our name was called.

So when you get seated, they immediately start plying you with food, starting with Paula's delicious cheese biscuits (sorry for the blurry picture). And yes, they will serve you as many as you want, for you biscuit gluttons out there.

In addition to the cheese biscuits, you also get served some hoecakes (basically cornmeal pancakes). They are made fresh - I watched as someone made fresh hoecakes at an area next to the buffet - and the hoecakes are delicious, but very filling.

Without really thinking about it, we ordered a fried green tomato appetizer (with an onion relish and a roasted red pepper sauce). Normally, we usually don't have a problem finishing off an appetizer and our main course, but not here. I think if I came back, I would not end up ordering an appetizer, not because it was bad, but because they offer so much food that it was really too much for just the two of us. The fried greens tomato dish iteslf was pretty good - a nice crunchy outside, although I wished the red pepper sauce had a little more punch.

Jen ordered a chicken pot pie for her main course. The top of the dish, the cross-hatched pie top that you see, was pretty intimidating when I first saw it - it is a super-buttery, and really flaky puff pastry pie top. The inside was pretty heavy and creamy, but definetly filled chock full of chicken and other vegetables.

I ordered the Southern all-you can-eat buffet, and it was definetly a treat. Although there wasn't any pulled pork bbq like what I have experienced in South Carolina, they had a whole lot of other food to compensate. This first photo of the buffet was my attempt to capture all the hot food they offered.

I loved this buffet - first of all, there were three types of chicken - fried chicken, baked chicken, and bbq chicken. Now that's what I'm talking about! =)
Lots of different typical Southern vegetable dishes - from left to right, creamed corn, collard greens, lima beans, black-eyed peas, and green beans.
On the right, they offered sweet candied yams (top), and mac and cheese (bottom).

Last, and definetly for this buffet, the least, was a slightly sad salad bar - the ingredients were fresh enough, but no one was eating from it - the salad was kind of like the ignored step-child of the buffet.

Here was one of the two plates of food I ate of the buffet - my favorite was the fried chicken. It wasn't the best I've had in the South so far (Palmetto Pig is my favorite), but it was juicy and crunchy, if a tiny bit too greasy for me. But the flavor was great. As for the rest of the food, everything was delicious and flavorful. I gotta admit, Paula does it well.

Lastly, dessert - a banana pudding. A nice ending, but I was seriously about to explode by the end of the meal - I don't remember a time where I was ever quite so full. Between the biscuits, hoecakes, appetizer, and buffet, I was seriously filled up to my absolute maximum. The walk we took afterwards around all the beautiful squares in Savannah's downtown was quite helpful. I didn't eat dinner that day because I was so full! But the food was good, and both of us definetly enjoyed ourselves. Thanks Paula and Sons!

Shealy's BBQ - Columbia SC area (Batesburg-Leesville)

Shealy's BBQ is probably one of the favorite and more well-known southern bbq buffets in South Carolina, and for good reason - it has an incredible spread of Southern food that I haven't seen matched at any of the bbq restaurants I've been to so far (but they don't have one of my favorites, hush puppies, what's up with that??). It is deep within the SC countryside, almost a one hour drive away from Columbia, with at least twenty to thirty minutes of that drive off the I-20 exit. But the drive is good in a way, because by the time you get there, you will definitely have developed an appetite for the food, and it is all-you-can-eat! =)

The restaurant itself is very large, with at least three large areas to seat everyone (you get assigned area to sit in after you pay), but it still fills up very quickly. When we got there, we still waited in line for about ten-fifteen minutes or so before getting a seat, but the line moves pretty quickly.

With these Southern BBQ buffets, my general approach is to take photos of individual parts of the food spread to show what they offer, but there was so much food here and it was so busy that I didn't have a chance to take photos of the area like I usually do (and, I ended up missing some of the food - I got all the hot food that Shealy's was offering, but totally neglected their cold vegetable section...cole slaw, potato salad, salad greens, etc. So the fact that you don't see photos of that doesn't mean they don't offer it!). Instead, I got individual portions of everything that I could get my hands on...I was stuffed by the end of the meal, but can't say I didn't try to show y'all everything at Shealy's! =)

For my first dish, I grabbed some of my favorite Southern foods: fried chicken, hash (for a hash explanation, please look at my post for Little Pigs), creamed corn, some green beans, and some corn bread.

I couldn't fit everything I wanted to on the first plate, so I grabbed a bowl as well, and grabbed some mustard and vinegar pulled pork bbq as well as collard greens. Yep, a bowl of meat. =)

One of the specialities at Shealy's is their pulley bone chicken - a piece of fried chicken cut around the pulley bone. Where is that, may you ask? I previously had no idea before going to Shealy's, but I found out it refers to the wishbone area of the chicken. This piece of chicken was cooked pretty well; it was pretty juicy despite being white meat, and the texture of this chicken piece was a bit chewier than eating a chicken breast, if that makes any sense. Interesting, but I still prefer my dark meat. =)

I enjoyed the fried chicken at Shealy's a lot (but not more than my favorite place in Columbia, Palmetto Pig) - I thought it was good enough to grab some more in a second round, along with some other hot food they offered: some lima beans, pasta (not my favorite, I should have grabbed some cole slaw or potato salad), as well as more creamed corn and a dinner roll (you're better off with the cornbread IMHO, they are no different than any other dinner roll I've had purchased in a market).

After two plates and a bowl of meat, I was definitely ready for dessert. And Shealy's does not disappoint! Two types of fruit cobbler (peach and apple), two types of pudding (banana and an unknown flavor), as well as apple pie! I love my desserts, and this was quite enjoyable for me.

If the first dessert plate wasn't enough, I also saw a soft-serve ice cream machine on the way back, and being a dessert glutton, I wasn't going to leave Shealy's without eating some soft serve as well! =) They definitely have something for everyone! (Thanks to Alyssa for letting me borrow her IPhone for photos, got so excited about this place I forgot my camera!)