The Grocery: A Neighborhood Place
We love The Grocery's tagline: A neighborhood place featuring ingredients from our favorite farmers, fishermen, foragers, and artisans. Their philosophy respects ingredients and their origins. They use canning processes and use the produce throughout the year in unusual ways, which is pretty cool. Our mother and grandmother used to can produce, and we believe it's a lost art that is coming back.
The owner and executive chef at The Grocery has been nominated for multiple James Beard awards, and we understand why! They were also included in Southern Living's 20 Best Charleston Restaurants, which is a significant honor considering the restaurant choices in Charleston.
The Grocery's atmosphere feels like an old grocery store but more upscale. It's comfortable, with wooden tables and a cozy ambiance. They also have a community table, which feels like you are sitting in your grandmother's farmhouse if she had one.
Start with a cocktail served in a pretty glass. The dirty green tomato is our favorite. It's The Grocery's signature martini, and if you like a bloody Mary, you'll like this one. It's made from green tomato juice from their canning program. If you like it, come back to The Grocery for happy hour, when it's only $5 Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 6 in their beautiful bar area.
The menu at The Grocery is cleverly divided into sections like a grocery store: produce, seafood, and meat. We started with the smoked fish dip, served with benne seed crackers —a Charleston classic. If you like a smoky taste, be sure to try this one. And when in Charleston, you have to have a benne wafer.
We don't usually like paying for bread, because you know, it used to come with meals? However, in this case, it was totally worth it. The Grocery's sourdough boule with whipped butter and Maldon salt is chewy and so delicious. We also ordered the octopus, which is a seasonal offering. It was good, but it had a lot more potatoes than octopus. I get that since it's not cheap, but still.
If you don't mind a rare steak, try the steak tartare. It's tender and flavorful, and the Thai peanut sauce, pickled peppers, and lime give it an Asian flair.
Order the Yellowfin Tuna Crudo with snap peas and ramps. It's sushi-grade tuna without rice, so it's just really fresh tuna with good flavors. The Grocery changes the recipe sometimes, and we've also seen it on the menu with olives and cured egg yolk.
If peaches are in season, finish your meal with The Grocery's peaches and prosciutto with fresh basil. They aren't necessarily on the dessert menu, but we enjoyed them because they were so naturally sweet and delicious, perfect for dessert.
We want to try The Grocery's 'Sunday Supper,' a four-course rotating menu for $49, because it sounds like a great way to sample some of their creative menu items, and they have many options available.
