What’s the deal with Charleston, anyway? By now it’s no secret that the Holy City is, pound for pound, every bit as formidable a food destination as Chicago or San Francisco. Since the New Southern renaissance turned the spotlight on Charleston a decade ago, restaurants have been opening at a gold rush pace, garnering the kind of media attention and food world cred usually reserved for towns with, like, more than 125,000 people. (For context: It’s the smallest city in America to have an Eater office by a factor of five). Culinary talent has been seeping out of larger markets for years—blame gentrification, blame the Internet—and it all seems to be trickling towards the Palmetto State. But why? Why Charleston and not Sacramento or Albuquerque or Knoxville or Baltimore? We talked to some of the city’s favorite chef-transplants—and biggest boosters—to see what pulled them in.
“You’re sitting at a bar, talking about some product that you’re looking for, and two days later somebody calls you up and says, “Hey, heard you were looking—I’ve got this product I think you should check out.” It’s a really small town, and that kind of thing actually happens.” –Damon Wise, chef/owner, Scarecrow & Co. (not yet open), moved 2015
“I wanted to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. I’ve always wanted to live in NYC, and never did—the price scared me, the grind scared me. But I wanted to make restaurants happen and, frankly, the chances of becoming successful in a smaller market are much higher. That’s appealing.” —Brooks Reitz, owner, Leon's Fine Poultry and Oysters, Jack Rudy Cocktail Co., moved 2009
“I started second guessing NYC after my first trip here. You’re exploring this little walkable town, there’s so much history, the beach is right there, and you eat at the restaurants and people are cooking at such a high level. New York is still amazing, but you have kids and your priorities change. We wanted them to have a quality of life and still be able to have a restaurant and cook amazing food. Here, we’re able to be happy and do what we want to do—we get to check off all the boxes instead of just a few.” —Michael Toscano, chef, Le Farfalle (not yet open), moved 2015
“I don’t think tourism accounts for more than twenty percent of our business—most of our customers live in downtown Charleston. People are excited about the food we’re doing. I know chefs in other cities that have to dumb things down or dial back the spice, and that sucks. Here, we’re making noodles out of pork skin and people are wolfing them down—I mean, that’s the dream!”—Joshua Walker, chef, Xiao Bao Biscuit, moved 2010
“Is southern hospitality what drew us all here? I’d like to think so. I mean, when we moved here, our neighbor didn’t even introduce himself before he started unloading our moving truck. The sheer amount of warmth we experienced when we got here was astonishing." —Joshua Keeler, chef and co-owner, Two Boroughs Larder, moved 2010
“I’ve never seen any other place where you can work so closely with farmers. The dairy, produce, the dry goods, the fish, I know where all of it comes from. Everyone talks about farm to table. In NYC, it was a thing for a while. But in Charleston, it’s not a thing—it’s just what we eat. And I appreciate that." —Shuai Wang, chef, Short Grain Food Truck, moved 2014
“Those of us who’ve been here a long time, the chefs who’ve come up the ranks together, we’re all curious about what’s happening, new food new people. Whether or not it changes what we do, it makes us think, and helps us reflect on and sometimes reinvent the food that we’ve been making that people love so much. We’re all helping each other out—without giving away all our little secrets. Those of us who are doing it the right way are bound together in that, through food and hospitality.” —Craig Deihl, chef, Cypress and Artisan Meat Share, moved 1995
“The fisheries here are fantastic—the clams, the oysters, the fin fish—I don’t think anyone in the southeast Atlantic can possibly beat us. We’ve got sophisticated fishermen and shrimpers and crabbers who’ve been taking feedback from chefs for a decade, who’ve implemented the kinds of post-harvest practices that chefs in other places dream about. It’s the land of plenty in so many ways.” —Mike Lata, chef, FIG, moved 1998
“What drew me in was the opportunity. I hadn’t spent a whole lot of time in Charleston, but of course I’d read extensively about the food culture. When I was getting ready to leave Chicago I remember thinking, “Hey, I’m 32, not 22!” Moving to a great food town like Charleston offered the kind of competition that chefs thrive on with a camaraderie that you just don’t get in other cities. The food community is working for the better good, putting aside a lot of ego in favor of what’s really important. That, and I could live in a big space five minutes away from the beach and not pay out the nose for it.” —Tim Morton, chef, Mercantile and Mash, moved 2015
“I made a big list of all the great culinary schools in America, and I was going to drive my VW Bus around the country trying to find a place to land, with my long hair and all that. Charleston was my first stop, and I remember walking down King Street and East Bay street, smelling shrimp and grits, salt air, seeing the architecture and white tablecloth restaurants, meeting these friendly people. I stopped my trip there. I know I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to understand this city’s cuisine and push it forward. And I’m from Virginia! That’s just how intoxicating this city can be." —Sean Brock, chef, Husk, moved 1998
“I had met some cooks in Salt Lake City who had come from Charleston, and they wouldn’t stop talking about how great it was, so I thought I’d check it out. We were walking down state street, popped into this boutique called Ellington, and all the people in there were drinking wine and greeting us like long lost friends, and we just knew we belonged here. There’s a sense of hospitality here, a general civility that’s unlike anything else in the country, and there’s a magnetism to that.” —Karalee Fallert, chef/owner, Lee Lee’s Hot Kitchen, moved 2000
“Truly, I moved to Charleston on a whim. I grew up reading southern writers, and I’ve always been captivated by the fantasy of the south—the locust trees in the summertime and all that. I was cooking at the Fargo Country Club, and enrolling in culinary school at Johnson and Wales was my excuse to get out. Sure, I could’ve gone to culinary school in New York or Providence but, well, those places are still cold. Growing up in North Dakota I wasn’t trying to move from 30 below to 10 below, you know? I had no idea at the time that Charleston would turn into the incredible food city that it is today.” —Jill Mathias, chef, Chez Nous, moved 2000