From a landmark restaurant's last call to a walk-in-only seafood institution finally taking reservations, Charleston had a consequential month in the press.
Peninsula Grill is closing, Chubby Fish is finally bookable, babas on meeting is taking over Rodney Scott's old King Street address, and the IAAM just opened one of the most serious new exhibits in recent memory. The past month in Charleston press reads less like a calendar and more like a ledger of things you should have already acted on. Here's what's worth knowing before November.
The Post & Courier calls 'They Lived' — a reinterpretation of the museum's 1850 daguerreotypes of seven enslaved people, long weaponized by Harvard scientist Louis Agassiz for discredited racial science — 'one of the most significant new exhibits in Charleston this year.' The exhibit opened during IAAM Homecoming week and asks viewers to reckon with the individuals in those photographs as people with interior lives.
Three separate Post & Courier briefings in August delivered the same verdict: Peninsula Grill, the Relais & Chateaux anchor of Planters Inn, is closing as the hotel undergoes renovations — 'one of the peninsula's last white-tablecloth holdouts,' in the paper's words. Chef John Ondo, a Charleston native who once worked the line here before being hired back as executive chef, won't be cooking at this address indefinitely.
The Post & Courier confirmed in late September that Chubby Fish — Spring Street's dock-to-table institution, long famous for the nightly line that forms before doors open — will begin offering a limited number of reservations through OpenTable, ending its walk-in-only era. As the briefing put it: 'Get on OpenTable now. Those slots will go fast.'
The Italian-leaning café on Meeting Street has signed a lease for 1011 King Street — Rodney Scott's BBQ's former address — as the Post & Courier reported in August, a closure that came alongside co-founder Nick Pihakis's personal bankruptcy filing listing $44 million in debts. A daytime café format on one of King Street's more prominent restaurant footprints is a significant turn for the block.
The Neighborhood Dining Group — operators of Husk — confirmed to the Post & Courier this month that they'll take over a newly built Mount Pleasant dining space that changed hands for $5 million and never launched under its original concept. No name or opening date yet, but NDG's track record in Charleston makes this one worth watching at the permit stage.
The Post & Courier reported earlier this month that the German-Southern beer hall on East Bay is opening a second location in West Ashley — a meaningful territorial move for a concept that has carved out a real niche downtown with its self-pour Bier Wall and jagerschnitzel-meets-BBQ-pork-belly menu.
The Middleton Place Foundation secured a $650,997 federal preservation grant to stabilize the plantation's 18th-century chapel and Spring House — two structures that have been closed to visitors for some time, per the Post & Courier's October 7 report. This is the first concrete step toward reopening them.
The Post & Courier reported in September that the operator of Church and Union — the converted Market Street church with Top Chef alum Jamie Lynch in the kitchen — is facing an escalating legal dispute with investors alleging $5 million in misappropriation. Worth knowing before you book a reservation or use a gift card.
The Wentworth Street hotel formerly known as the Grand Bohemian has rebranded as Hotel Operis, repositioning around Charleston's performing arts and culture scene — 'a repositioning, not just a rename,' per the Post & Courier's October briefing. Worth updating your recommendations accordingly.