<a target="_blank" href="http://mccradysrestaurant.com/">McCrady’s Restaurant</a>

2 Unity Alley, Charleston, SC 29401

(843) 577-0025

First
course:

Crab, Butternut Squash, Kale,
Grapefruit, Dill

2011
Patrick Piuze Val de Mer Chablis

Sea Scallops, Porridge of Charleston
Gold Rice, Oyster Mushroom, Celeriac

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=2013+Aubuisi%C3%A8re+Vouvray+Cuv%C3%A9e+de+Silex">2013 </a><a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=2013+Aubuisi%C3%A8re+Vouvray+Cuv%C3%A9e+de+Silex">Domaine des Aubuisière Vouvray
Cuvée de Silex</a>

Main course:

Grouper, Brassicas, Red Onion, Pickled Clams

Hexamer 2012 Riesling Quarzite
Nahe

Berkshire Pork, Salsify, Almond, Thyme

2013 Marcel Giraudon Bourgogne
Cuvée Pinot Noir Chitry

Dessert:

Ginger Cake, Apple, Anise

1995 Barrère Petit Manseng/Gros
Manseng Cancaillau Gourmandise Jurançon

Soft Milk Chocolate, Grilled Pecan, Parsnip, Sonora white Wheat

2009 Prà Garganega Recioto delle
Fontane Classico Recioto di Soave

Pumpkin Panna Cotta, Bitter Orange, Black Malted Barley

NV Caves Carod Muscat/Clairette Tradition
Clairette de Die

During
the last decade or so, a generation of fledgling sommeliers and culinary-school
grads looking for the next big thing bet on Charleston, South Carolina, and boy
did they make the right call. According to 77,000 readers of Condé Nast
Traveler, Charleston is currently their favorite city in America (and second
only to Florence on the list of “Top 25 Cities in the World”), with its food scene
a major part of the draw.

Charleston
is a gorgeous town, rich in meticulously restored Georgian and Greek Revival houses
and carefully tended pocket gardens, with ample historic trails, quiet
cobblestone alleys and waterfront real estate to keep you exploring for days. And
the natives are as obliging as advertised. Nightlife, though, at least for
visitors, is largely nonexistent, apart from some bar-hopping and, between
Spoleto festivals, a limited music scene. So the real action is at the dinner
table.The
locavore obsession here is so keen here that suppliers are apt to be given
equal billing with the dishes on the menu. The menu at McCrady’s restaurant,
perhaps the most innovative in town among the high-end spots, is a case in
point, its daily-changing food selections printed alongside a roster of farmers
and stockists. The same fix on regional products and culture is evident in
executive chef Sean Brock’s recently published cookbook, Heritage, as well as in his second restaurant, Husk, which offers a
more traditional presentation of “lowlands cuisine” (I’ll review Husk in the near
future).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232339186-2015-01-08+20.23.22+%283%29+2.jpg"> 

Before
I reel off the highlights of our meal I should mention two additional features
that make Charleston a particularly seductive food destination. First. the
settings are lovely. Many of the city’s restaurants are housed in landmark
historic buildings, and these venues generally manage to blend antique and
modern elements without being precious. McCrady’s, for instance, tucked away on
block-long Unity Alley, began life in the late 18th century as a
tavern whose kitchen addition, a high-ceilinged “Long Room,” with exposed brick
walls and Tudorish beams, now serves as the main dining hall.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232499488-2015-01-08+20.37.51+%284%29.jpg"> Two of the&nbsp;Sommelier’s Paired Selections 

Second,
the somms are willing to experiment and dedicated to making unexpected matches.
At McCrady’s, my wife and I happily selected the Sommelier’s Paired Selections,
which I often do at restaurants that take their wines seriously. For this
writer, it’s like a mini-vacation not
to have to read the wine list. On our
evening at McCrady’s, Cappie Peete and her assistant Jodi Bronchtein shared the
pairing duties.

Keep
in mind that folks in Charleston take their meat very seriously, and a warm
spot is reserved in their hearts, literally and figuratively, for pork. (The
three main courses offered on this evening were beef, pork, and grouper, but
even the fish had a brush with some pork fat). In other words, if you’re offered the house
charcuterie, go for it. The chef at McCrady’s will send out an amuse-bouche course of five “snacks,” which
might include, if you’re lucky, silky shavings of cured local ham on popcorn
crisps, rich duck sausage with apricot, blue corn blini with crème fraîche and a dollop of tiny
crystalline Sunburst trout roe, or perhaps a rennet-like custard made of celtuce—a
lettuce whose stalks taste something like celery—sprinkled with basil buds.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232388129-2015-01-08+20.16.02+%282%29.jpg"> Sea Scallops, Porridge of Charleston Gold Rice, Oyster Mushroom, Celeriac 

Taste
combinations throughout were inspired and provocative. Starters included local
sea scallops served in a creamy porridge of Charleston golden rice—it’s nutty
and small-grained—with oyster mushrooms and celeriac. The slight residual sugar
of the Vouvray brought out the natural sweetness of the scallops and the wine’s
acidity cut through the rich rice component. Easily the showiest coupling of
the night was a dish of delicate blue crab in a tart grapefruit vinaigrette
with shaved butternut squash, served beside an emerald-green pool of kale juice
with pear, dill oil and yuzu that read like a jolt of pure chlorophyll.The
minerally Patrick Piuze Val de Mer Chablis contrasted with the sweetness of the
crab while amplifying the spiky green notes in the vinaigrette and kale juice.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232574424-2015-01-08+20.35.55+%282%29.jpg"> Grouper, Brassicas, Red Onion, Pickled Clams

Filet
of grouper was accompanied by Napa cabbage done (naturally) in pork fat and
other sautéed brassica greens including included bok choi, mustard greens and
fermented cabbage. The fresh sweetness of the grouper was balanced by the
acidity and crunch of cold pickled clam and topped by a foam of clam juice with
a bit of the pickling liquid and country ham fat, and accented with daubs of
red onion gelée. The saline umami notes of the dish were nicely mirrored by the
concentrated, minerally Hexamer riesling, with the wine’s slight sweetness
adding another layer of interest.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232430246-2015-01-08+20.35.46+%283%29.jpg"> Berkshire Pork, Salsify, Almond, Thyme

Berkshire
(as in Virginia, not Massachusetts) pork loin was prepared au poivre (with four kinds of peppercorns, for those of you who are
keeping count) with salsify, almond and thyme. My dinner partner’s ecstatic verdict:
“Some pig!” The low-tannin pinot from Chitry made for a smooth pairing. This
was on all counts a comfort dish.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232472267-2015-01-08+21.12.51+%284%29.jpg"> 

Desserts
here are determined not to be cloying. To wit: Pumpkin panna cotta tinged with
bitter orange puree and overlaid with burnished black malted barley. Superbly
restrained ginger layer cake with apple and anise. And the standout of the
evening: Puddingy soft milk chocolate and caramel sobered up with—wait for
it—parsnip juice and topped with a toasted crunch of grilled pecans and &nbsp;parsnip crisps. Combined with the honeyed
white fruits of the Prà Recioto di Soave, it made for a decadent offering that
I would have ordered again had cooler heads not prevailed.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423232528580-2015-01-08+20.57.18+%283%29.jpg"> 

--Stephen
Tanzer

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