CHARLESTON MAGAZINE'S NEW ONLINE DINING GUIDE
The City Magazine Since 1975

High-Styled Eats and a Long-Awaited Farm-to-Table Arrival

High-Styled Eats and a Long-Awaited Farm-to-Table Arrival
August 2019

Our taste-and-tell guide to some of the latest food-and- beverage openings in Charleston



Wild Common

The former Cannon Green restaurant on Spring Street is leaning into its new identity as a high-styled experience. Birdcage light fixtures, “living wallpaper” projections, and the high-backed leather banquette emphasize a spirit of blithe grandeur that chef Orlando Pagán grounds with a sumptuous tasting menu. Small bites, such as the Forbidden Rice arancini with Parmesan and horseradish aioli, offer playful reconfigurations of familiar dishes. While you can order à la carte, if you have the cash to spare (and you’ll need it—a snack and main, without alcohol, will set you back nearly $50), opt for the four-course meal, which showcases the gamut of Pagán’s talents: from stuffed quail to cherry coke sorbet. Best to opt for seats in the fetching dining room, where service is both attentive and informed. wildcommoncharleston.com

Herd Provisions

After a four-year wait, this food truck-turned-butcher shop/restaurant has opened its doors at last. Quality is the top concern here; many proteins are sourced from Virginia-based Leaping Waters Farm, where heritage cattle and pigs roam on owner Alec Bradford’s 843-acre farm. Inside the Wagener Terrace space, beyond the retail counter and butchery window, is a handsome dining room that offers both lunch and dinner service in a casual, warm setting. Get the poutine, fortified by short rib gravy and dappled with Vermont cheddar curds. Vibrant sides, such as the heirloom tomato salad with feta, plums, watercress, and bread crumbs, drizzled with basil oil, offer balance to the mains, which are as hearty as one might expect (porchetta, chicken pot pie, meatloaf). And if extreme farm-to-table is your bag, a server can tell you the name of the cow from which your steak came. herdprovisions.com

Resources: 

Photographs (Wild Common-2) by Lizzy Smith & (Herd Provisions-2) MaryKat Hoeser