Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Charleston, South Carolina: Beauty, History, Ghost, And Some Damn Good Food



I have to say some of my best day trips, that often have led into a whole weekend stays, have been completely random and unplanned. My trip to a beautiful city named Charleston was no exception. One day me and the misses were driving around bored when I said, "hey lets go to Charleston". And just like that off we went, armed with enough cash for gas money and a modest bite to eat, we didn't pack a single thing. If I could do it all over again I would have at least charged the GPS fully ahead of time.The last hour of our trip was me completely winging it. We arrived around noon. The first thing that came to mind was, "wow this is a really nice looking city" the second was "Damn there are a lot of tourist, where the hell am I going to park". 15 minutes later we found a place to park and began our exploration. Right off the bat you can't help but to notice the architecture and the all the pastel colored buildings. Come to find out, Charleston or Charles Towne, as it was first called, was established in 1670 by Anthony Ashley Cooper on the west bank of the Ashley River, Charles Towne Landing, a few miles northwest of the present downtown. Charleston was captured in the Civil War without much property damage, so the historic part of town has buildings that are hundreds of years old. 




We had explored the riverwalk, the battery, and the historic mansions, skipped the graveyards(just isn't my thing) and the ghost tours, we were getting hungry and had another tour in mind. It was time to eat, all the good smells coming from the surrounding restaurants let me know with out ever eating there, that where ever I stopped I was going to enjoy my meal. Less then a minute of walking around King Street we made our decision. 


Bull Street Gourmet & Market. An upscale eatery offering simple, yet elegant, deli sandwiches, soups, salads and breakfast bites, as well as a variety of homemade prepared foods, deli meats and cheeses, produce and boutique wines and beer. The newest branch, Bull Street Gourmet & Market, opened in August 2011 on lower King Street and offers an expanded menu, a grocery and wine selection, extensive catering services and a line of Bull Street label products[http://bullstreetgourmetandmarket.com/]. The prices were reasonable, most salads and sandwiches will run you $8 or so. The salads our huge, fresh, and delicious with a real nice meat to veggie ratio. The sandwiches are great also. I went with the chicken salad sandwich, my only gripe with it is that a guy like me can really eat and I felt like I should have had two of them because one just wasn't enough.
Bull Street Gourmet Chicken Salad $8.00 
Grilled Shrimp Panzanella $10.00
All in all our meals were great, so much so that we literally had to talk each other out of getting something else. For fifteen minutes we debated, "we should be straight on gas if we get another one". Having a 3 hour drive home we let logic win that debate. It is a place I definitely will return to and recommend to all who have never been. 

For more information on Charleston and it's many food destinations check out: http://www.charlestonly.com/ 

If you have been to Bull Street Gourmet & Market and or have recommendations for other great downtown Charleston food destinations feel free to leave a few suggestions in the comment box. 





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