“You can’t have New York pizza outside of New York,” a friend of mine from the Big Apple once told me. “It’s all in the water.” This statement struck me as odd until I read a recipe for a famous thin crust pizza from Napoli, Italy; 500 grams flour, 10 grams yeast, 10 grams salt, 325 grams water (65% hydration). That’s it, four simple ingredients; flour, water, salt and yeast.
When it comes to water, you could have a sip from your own tap, travel twenty minutes in any direction, take a sip from that tap and notice the difference immediately. For example, anyone whose visited Florida has probably had to pinch their nose before drinking the local liquid because of the pungent sulfur smell, a result of the nearby artesian wells.
In New York, it’s their unique city water that many pizza enthusiasts claim give their crusts that perfect texture and taste. In fact, this belief is so strong that many Pizzaioli (Italian for people with a talent for making pizza) actually have the water from their favorite pizza’s region shipped to their restaurant or home in order to make their crusts just right.
This practice of shipping in bottled Italian water is one of the many important details that make Pizzeria Venti a gem among pizza shops. Having started as a single restaurant in Geneva, Illinois, the concept has quickly spread and the company now boasts eight locations across the United States with 26 more in the works. The most recent Pizzeria Venti, owned by Shannon and Bryan Carpenter, opened this past Memorial Day in the Freshfield’s shopping center on John’s Island.
The first time we dropped by it was well after lunch and Shannon was quietly wiping down the vinyl tablecloths, window bistro tables and the wide oak bar near the front counter. The air smelled of hot bread, crushed herbed tomatoes, melting cheese and garlic. One glance over the menu and I was glad I had dropped in. Beside the list of available pizza slices, which included everything from, well, everything to chicken Vesuvio and roasted garlic, there was baked pasta with plenty of options, including gnocchi and mostaccioli (similar to penne, but longer and curved; Italian for “moustache”), salads including tuna and white bean salad and a green apples and cranberries salad, Timpanini (stuffed pizza) including a Pizzeria Venti original called Bocce Balls (an Italian meatball the size of a grown man’s fist wrapped in baked pizza dough), stuffed crimini mushrooms, appetizers, soups and Italian desserts. I felt like I was able to sit down and, if I wanted to, enjoy a full Italian meal, spending four hours over salads, soups, pasta, pizza and great big bottles of Italian wine.
“We have plenty of ideas for what we want to do with this place,” said Shannon when I asked her about the food and wine menu. “We’re hoping to do more fun things in the future, like Italian wine tastings and an Italian wine club.” Their current wine menu is simple and direct, with a nice selection of chianti, sangiovese and vino de montepulciano, but they are planning on adding more as they get used to the business.
“We never thought we’d be here,” Shannon laughed. “We were both in sales and after we moved here a little over a year ago from Indianapolis, we saw a need for a good, affordable restaurant at the end of John’s Island.” So they decided to open one. After extensive research, the couple found Pizzeria Venti, a franchise that offered simple, inexpensive Italian faire with fine ingredients and one of the best training programs in the country.
“We spent a lot of time training,” Shannon said as she gestured toward the many photographs of themselves in northern Italy lining the walls. “We went to Mendocino, Montepulciano, northern Tuscany and Cortona. We even went to Sienna, but we just missed the races.” They did, however, come back with a bundle of PALIO flags and more knowledge about baking Italian pizza than they ever thought they would need to know. Today, however, the knowledge has come in handy and has had amazing results. The pizza at Pizzeria Venti is a proud tribute to it’s European brother. Fine, crisp crust, a touch of sauce and toppings of the highest quality. One bite of their red onion and feta pizza and my eyes widened. Too surprised to remember not to speak with my mouthful, I had to exclaim, “oh my goodness, I can taste the cheese!”
“We use the best cheese we can get,” said Bryan from behind the counter. He was just pulling out a fresh rectangle of pizza from the ovens to place in the clear counter display. “Along with the best sauce and imported Italian water for the crusts.” He also gave me a privileged glimpse of Sophia (Loren) and Gina (Lollobrigidia), the two charred earthen stones that they use for baking the pizzas. “You can’t have good pizza without seasoned baking stones, the crust won’t come out right,” Bryan pointed out.
Having only opened a couple months ago, Shannon and Bryan are still getting into the swing of running a restaurant, but first impressions are always the best and no matter how long they’ve worked that day or how tired they are, they greet every customer with a smile and a “how are you”, which is the key to a successful business in the south. The fact that the food is quite amazing and very reasonably priced won’t hurt, either.
Pizzeria Venti is located next to the Freshfield’s office at 133 Village Green Lane. They are hoping to be able to offer delivery by the end of summer and more fun Italian activities as well. For more information, please call Pizzeria Venti at 768-3684.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
A couple of nuts and a great idea
From far away, the two figures casting their fishing lines into the tumbling surf of the Atlantic Ocean looked as though they didn’t have a care in the world. It’s hard to imagine that these two young men, laughing and trading stories, fishing more for the love of it than for any particular catch, are not on vacation. Their office is only a few yards away, right off of Palm Blvd. and this is their every-other-day lunch break.
Once the stress of the day has washed away with the outgoing tide and been flung away with each sweep of their fishing lines, Michael Porcaro and Gregory Zaccaro pack it in and go back to putting together their second business in ten years; The Charleston Nut Company.
Both natives of Chicago, these born-again southerners have lived the American dream. Their fathers moved to Chicago from Italy and worked relentlessly to establish one of the largest bakeries in Illinois, Gonnela’s, now a national distributor for all-things-bread.
Taking a page from their parents’ book, the two boys forsook their dreams of playing professional hockey and started working for a Chicago dry goods company. Michael was the first to start working in the business, but his first cousin, Greg, followed a few months later.
After spending a few years working for the corporation and learning the tricks of the trade, they both realized that the blood, sweat and tears they were pouring into their work would be far more worth it if they actually owned the business; and The Tides Commodity Trading Group was born.
Working originally from a shipping closet and close enough that their noses brushed across their shared desk, the boys began with almost no money and an income of pure commission. Each year brought in a little more, broadening their supply to more countries and reaching further and further into more distant markets.
Finally, Michael and Greg reached the point where their business could be run from anywhere in the world from a cell phone and computer, so they packed their bags and, following the suggestion of Michael’s wife Michelle, an Isle of Palms native, they moved to the islands.
“I love Chicago, I always will, but it’s not a place that I think about and miss,” said Greg, remembering his home town. “When we travel to create new markets or buy new products, I don’t think ‘man, I wish I was back in Chicago’, but once we moved here, that was it.” Michael nodded in agreement, “Even if we’re in some tropical country, I still miss it here. There really is no place like the islands.”
And we’re glad that they decided to stay, because their new venture, Charleston Nut Company, is something the South is definitely in need of. With their official opening this past January, Michael and Greg are already in talks with a company called Tee-Zel, a state-wide distributor of golf snacks. With this massive boost, Michael and Greg are looking forward to spreading their new company throughout South Carolina and eventually across the East Coast. “This company will never be as big as the Tides Trading Group,” said Michael, “but that’s how we want it. We want to stay focused and provide the best products we can to the people who demand them the most.”
And what, specifically, is it that the Charleston Nut Company distributes? Well, nuts, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “We’ll have every type of nut you can imagine from all over the world, but we’ll also have raisins, dried fruit, essential oils, oils and extracts, fruit purees and concentrates, flavors; just about everything dried and gourmet.” Michael said with a grin. All products that have needed a good wholesale supplier since they have become pretty pricey, typically going through several hands before it reaches the consumer. Now, not only can restaurants, grocery stores and mom and pop shops get these dried goods and oils for much cheaper, the Charleston Nut Company has also made their products available straight to the consumer.
“We’re hoping to eventually open a store front, but for now, you could call us and say ‘I need two pounds of pistachios and quart of macadamia nut oil’ and most likely we could swing by and just drop it off for you.” Greg said jovially.
Most of the Charleston Nut Company's products are available on their website, located at www.charlestonnutcompany.com and more than likely, you’ll get a chance to see them rushing by on delivery in their company van, just a couple of nuts with a great idea and a business ethic of ‘whatever you need, we’ll get it” that makes them, more than anything else, official southern gentlemen.
Once the stress of the day has washed away with the outgoing tide and been flung away with each sweep of their fishing lines, Michael Porcaro and Gregory Zaccaro pack it in and go back to putting together their second business in ten years; The Charleston Nut Company.
Both natives of Chicago, these born-again southerners have lived the American dream. Their fathers moved to Chicago from Italy and worked relentlessly to establish one of the largest bakeries in Illinois, Gonnela’s, now a national distributor for all-things-bread.
Taking a page from their parents’ book, the two boys forsook their dreams of playing professional hockey and started working for a Chicago dry goods company. Michael was the first to start working in the business, but his first cousin, Greg, followed a few months later.
After spending a few years working for the corporation and learning the tricks of the trade, they both realized that the blood, sweat and tears they were pouring into their work would be far more worth it if they actually owned the business; and The Tides Commodity Trading Group was born.
Working originally from a shipping closet and close enough that their noses brushed across their shared desk, the boys began with almost no money and an income of pure commission. Each year brought in a little more, broadening their supply to more countries and reaching further and further into more distant markets.
Finally, Michael and Greg reached the point where their business could be run from anywhere in the world from a cell phone and computer, so they packed their bags and, following the suggestion of Michael’s wife Michelle, an Isle of Palms native, they moved to the islands.
“I love Chicago, I always will, but it’s not a place that I think about and miss,” said Greg, remembering his home town. “When we travel to create new markets or buy new products, I don’t think ‘man, I wish I was back in Chicago’, but once we moved here, that was it.” Michael nodded in agreement, “Even if we’re in some tropical country, I still miss it here. There really is no place like the islands.”
And we’re glad that they decided to stay, because their new venture, Charleston Nut Company, is something the South is definitely in need of. With their official opening this past January, Michael and Greg are already in talks with a company called Tee-Zel, a state-wide distributor of golf snacks. With this massive boost, Michael and Greg are looking forward to spreading their new company throughout South Carolina and eventually across the East Coast. “This company will never be as big as the Tides Trading Group,” said Michael, “but that’s how we want it. We want to stay focused and provide the best products we can to the people who demand them the most.”
And what, specifically, is it that the Charleston Nut Company distributes? Well, nuts, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “We’ll have every type of nut you can imagine from all over the world, but we’ll also have raisins, dried fruit, essential oils, oils and extracts, fruit purees and concentrates, flavors; just about everything dried and gourmet.” Michael said with a grin. All products that have needed a good wholesale supplier since they have become pretty pricey, typically going through several hands before it reaches the consumer. Now, not only can restaurants, grocery stores and mom and pop shops get these dried goods and oils for much cheaper, the Charleston Nut Company has also made their products available straight to the consumer.
“We’re hoping to eventually open a store front, but for now, you could call us and say ‘I need two pounds of pistachios and quart of macadamia nut oil’ and most likely we could swing by and just drop it off for you.” Greg said jovially.
Most of the Charleston Nut Company's products are available on their website, located at www.charlestonnutcompany.com and more than likely, you’ll get a chance to see them rushing by on delivery in their company van, just a couple of nuts with a great idea and a business ethic of ‘whatever you need, we’ll get it” that makes them, more than anything else, official southern gentlemen.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Pinkies up!
Tucked away in the lush forests and rich farmlands of the South Carolina islands, the only tea plantation in America has made its home. Following a fourteen year ownership by locals Mack Flemming and William Hall, the Bigelow family purchased the plantation back in 2003 and immediately began renovations. Their goal was not to change what was there, but to create a more efficient production system that still remained true to the age-old process of tea-making and also to preserve a great piece of American history. Located just thirty five minutes from Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms, the plantation offers visitors the chance, not only to see the grounds, but to go inside the production building, watching the process from start to finish. From May to October, visitors might get the chance to see another item thoroughly unique to the plantation. A giant tea gatherer, lovingly nicknamed “The Green Giant”, is a hybrid cotton picker and corn thresher, created for the sole purpose of gathering the top 10 - 15 days growth of new tea. It can be seen traveling slowly up and down each row of tea leaves, collecting the top buds and storing them for later transporation to the factory.
After exploring the fields and watching the process of tea creation, there’s a chance that you might run in to Mr. William Barclay Hall, a third generation tea taster who bought the plantation in 1987 and stayed on as partner to assist the Bigelow family in keeping the quality consistent with what he, and the rest of South Carolina’s loyal tea drinkers, have become accustomed.
On our visit, we were given the chance to accompany Mr. Hall into the fields, where he expounded on the process of tea production and the tenacity with which you have to supervise the harvesting and production. He told us the famous story of how tea came to be, when, over 5,000 years ago, a camellia leaf (the tea leaves on the plantation are known as camellia sinensis) fell into the Emperor of China’s boiling water. The emperor was so enraptured with the taste, he declared his water should always be prepared that way. An almost fanatical light seemed to come into Mr. Hall’s eyes as he told the story, plucking a perfect tea bud while he spoke. He reiterated the difficulty in maintaining the perfect cup of tea. “The tea is perfect on the farm and ruined in the factory” He said, laughing a little but we all knew how seriously he took his job. His firm supervision of the process was worth it as we took sips of tea made from the first finished tea leaves of the day. The aroma of the freshly dried leaves was amazing and the taste was beyond anything you’d get in a tin from Tetleys. The tea was naturally a little sweet with a touch of nuttiness to it. After a few cups at a picnic table under the sprawling oaks overlooking the tea fields, we declared ourselves hooked.
The beauty and peace of the Charleston Tea Plantation is worth the drive in itself, but the beautiful, quality taste of the tea and the graciousness of the hosts at the farm more than make up for the short, scenic drive. Should you be looking for something to do off island, this is by far your best choice. The chance to see a one of a kind plantation, unique to our country and located less than an hour from the islands is an opportunity that should not be missed.
After exploring the fields and watching the process of tea creation, there’s a chance that you might run in to Mr. William Barclay Hall, a third generation tea taster who bought the plantation in 1987 and stayed on as partner to assist the Bigelow family in keeping the quality consistent with what he, and the rest of South Carolina’s loyal tea drinkers, have become accustomed.
On our visit, we were given the chance to accompany Mr. Hall into the fields, where he expounded on the process of tea production and the tenacity with which you have to supervise the harvesting and production. He told us the famous story of how tea came to be, when, over 5,000 years ago, a camellia leaf (the tea leaves on the plantation are known as camellia sinensis) fell into the Emperor of China’s boiling water. The emperor was so enraptured with the taste, he declared his water should always be prepared that way. An almost fanatical light seemed to come into Mr. Hall’s eyes as he told the story, plucking a perfect tea bud while he spoke. He reiterated the difficulty in maintaining the perfect cup of tea. “The tea is perfect on the farm and ruined in the factory” He said, laughing a little but we all knew how seriously he took his job. His firm supervision of the process was worth it as we took sips of tea made from the first finished tea leaves of the day. The aroma of the freshly dried leaves was amazing and the taste was beyond anything you’d get in a tin from Tetleys. The tea was naturally a little sweet with a touch of nuttiness to it. After a few cups at a picnic table under the sprawling oaks overlooking the tea fields, we declared ourselves hooked.
The beauty and peace of the Charleston Tea Plantation is worth the drive in itself, but the beautiful, quality taste of the tea and the graciousness of the hosts at the farm more than make up for the short, scenic drive. Should you be looking for something to do off island, this is by far your best choice. The chance to see a one of a kind plantation, unique to our country and located less than an hour from the islands is an opportunity that should not be missed.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
JB's Smokeshack is right on 'que
From the road, the building looked closed. A large white sign with a pink-nosed pig indicated that we were parked in front of JB’s Smokeshack and a homemade wooden sign in the window read “open”, but I still had my doubts. Restaurants like this can go one of two ways; either the food is awful that they’re about to fold, so the company decided not to put any money into redecorating or the food was so good, that the business felt no need to bring in more customers by over decorating the front. Any worries that JB’s was the first of the two quickly dissipated when the first waft of smoky barbeque hit my nostrils. Mouth watering, I and my restaurant hunting companion practically ran through the sighing screen door to meet our meaty fate; the world-renown masterpiece barbeque of JB’s Smokeshack.
The first indication that we were in for a treat should have been the company’s motto painted across the sign in the parking lot, repeated again in another hand painted sign tacked to the side of the building, “The flavor’s in the meat, the sauce is on the side”. However, it took me until I actually saw JB himself cutting a block of cheddar into a bowl of steaming elbow macaroni to realize that this was a barbeque shack a cut or two above the rest.
The layout of JB’s is typical for any barbeque restaurant below the Mason Dixon line; square tables with plastic red gingham tablecloths, Styrofoam buffet plates and utensils, well-loved chairs and extra handfuls of napkins readily available at each seating. The whole building probably seats around 35 people and it’s almost always pretty full. The buffet table across the far wall was steaming with fresh food when we arrived, but only momentarily, because the second a new batch of fresh macaroni and cheese or JB’s signature BBQ beans hit the steamer, they were gone in a whirlwind of flashing serving spoons and plates.
In the six years since JB’s Smokeshack opened, the menu has never changed, and for good reason. JB has perfected his slow cooked hickory smoked pork, using slow-cooking 100 pound smokers that could stop a man in his tracks from fifty yards away. His chicken might possibly be the best I’ve ever tasted. Juicy, delicately crisped skin rubbed with a “secret” blend of well-balanced spices and slow cooked over apple wood so that every bite was like sinking into sweet, smoky bliss.
As for side dishes, JB’s decided when they opened that none of their local vegetables or homemade dishes would be fried and they have stuck to that principle ever since. Instead of French fries and fried okra, JB’s serves their family recipes for chunky potato salad, okra gumbo, butter beans, sweet potatoes, black eyed beans and collard greens, as well as a Chef’s Choice, which changes every day. For desserts, their banana pudding with chunks of banana and still-crispy vanilla wafer was excellent, but the real show stopper was the tray of “Pluff Mud” pudding. As a kid, I would make pluff mud pudding (we called it “dirt cake”) by wrapping a bag of Oreo cookies several times over in a trash bag, stick it under the back wheel of my dad’s car and rolling over it again and again until the Oreos were pulverized into a mound of crumbs that looked suspiciously like Miracle Gro. We would then layer it between folds of vanilla custard and lace the occasional gummy worm into the lower part of the bowl, finishing it off with a final layer of Oreo “dirt” and a fake flower growing out of the center. Although JB’s prepares the dessert in a much more sanitary fashion, the treat brought back many memories and tasted just as good, if not better, than I remembered it.
On top of trying to keep up with the restaurant, JB and his son Billy, with the help of their business partners and wives, Diane and Melissa, also run a hefty catering business. With enough smokers to handle over 700 pounds of meat at one time, the crew at the Smokeshack has yet to cater to face the challenge of having more people than barbeque. “The most amount of people we ever served was at Charleston’s Air Force Base and that was only 400 people,” said Billy as he closed the lid on a whole hog he had been smoking for more than a day. “In fact, we actually have more capacity now than we did for that event.”
If you need any other recommendations as to the quality of JB’s barbeque, look no further than the walls of his restaurant. In frames across the back wall are all of the Smokeshack’s awards, including 2nd place in the 2005 Ladson Prestigious Palmetto Pig Pickin’, 2nd place for Brisket at Boone Hall, 3rd place for Whole Hog at the 2007 SEWE Wildlife Festival and 5th and 9th place for brisket and chicken respectively at the Hickory, NC, Greater Hickory Smoke Barbecue Competition and Festival.
Barbeque fans who have sought out JB’s and people that the Smokeshack has catered to include country music greats Billy Dean, Aaron Tippin, Keith Anderson and Rebecca Lynn Howard, as well as a guestbook that includes signatures from Aaron Lines and Eric Clapton. In fact, the Smokeshack on John’s Island became so popular that JB and Diane opened another JB’s in Goose Creek. The new restaurant has an expanded menu that includes fried food and hamburgers, as well as live bluegrass from Yeehaw Junction every first and third Friday of the month. Run by Billy and Melissa, the restaurant that was once a hobby for JB has become a formidable player in the world of southern barbeque. In fact, don’t be surprised to see his smoked ribs and succulent smoked ‘que skimming by in their competition-grade catering bus, on their way to serve celebrities and gourmands alike in competitions and private parties all across the southeast.
JB’s Smokeshack
3406 Maybank Highway
John’s Island, SC
557-0426
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 8:30pm
521 Redbank Road
Goose Creek, SC
572-3311
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 8:30pm
Printable catering menus and further information on JB’s Smokeshack is available on their website at www.jbssmokeshack.com.
The first indication that we were in for a treat should have been the company’s motto painted across the sign in the parking lot, repeated again in another hand painted sign tacked to the side of the building, “The flavor’s in the meat, the sauce is on the side”. However, it took me until I actually saw JB himself cutting a block of cheddar into a bowl of steaming elbow macaroni to realize that this was a barbeque shack a cut or two above the rest.
The layout of JB’s is typical for any barbeque restaurant below the Mason Dixon line; square tables with plastic red gingham tablecloths, Styrofoam buffet plates and utensils, well-loved chairs and extra handfuls of napkins readily available at each seating. The whole building probably seats around 35 people and it’s almost always pretty full. The buffet table across the far wall was steaming with fresh food when we arrived, but only momentarily, because the second a new batch of fresh macaroni and cheese or JB’s signature BBQ beans hit the steamer, they were gone in a whirlwind of flashing serving spoons and plates.
In the six years since JB’s Smokeshack opened, the menu has never changed, and for good reason. JB has perfected his slow cooked hickory smoked pork, using slow-cooking 100 pound smokers that could stop a man in his tracks from fifty yards away. His chicken might possibly be the best I’ve ever tasted. Juicy, delicately crisped skin rubbed with a “secret” blend of well-balanced spices and slow cooked over apple wood so that every bite was like sinking into sweet, smoky bliss.
As for side dishes, JB’s decided when they opened that none of their local vegetables or homemade dishes would be fried and they have stuck to that principle ever since. Instead of French fries and fried okra, JB’s serves their family recipes for chunky potato salad, okra gumbo, butter beans, sweet potatoes, black eyed beans and collard greens, as well as a Chef’s Choice, which changes every day. For desserts, their banana pudding with chunks of banana and still-crispy vanilla wafer was excellent, but the real show stopper was the tray of “Pluff Mud” pudding. As a kid, I would make pluff mud pudding (we called it “dirt cake”) by wrapping a bag of Oreo cookies several times over in a trash bag, stick it under the back wheel of my dad’s car and rolling over it again and again until the Oreos were pulverized into a mound of crumbs that looked suspiciously like Miracle Gro. We would then layer it between folds of vanilla custard and lace the occasional gummy worm into the lower part of the bowl, finishing it off with a final layer of Oreo “dirt” and a fake flower growing out of the center. Although JB’s prepares the dessert in a much more sanitary fashion, the treat brought back many memories and tasted just as good, if not better, than I remembered it.
On top of trying to keep up with the restaurant, JB and his son Billy, with the help of their business partners and wives, Diane and Melissa, also run a hefty catering business. With enough smokers to handle over 700 pounds of meat at one time, the crew at the Smokeshack has yet to cater to face the challenge of having more people than barbeque. “The most amount of people we ever served was at Charleston’s Air Force Base and that was only 400 people,” said Billy as he closed the lid on a whole hog he had been smoking for more than a day. “In fact, we actually have more capacity now than we did for that event.”
If you need any other recommendations as to the quality of JB’s barbeque, look no further than the walls of his restaurant. In frames across the back wall are all of the Smokeshack’s awards, including 2nd place in the 2005 Ladson Prestigious Palmetto Pig Pickin’, 2nd place for Brisket at Boone Hall, 3rd place for Whole Hog at the 2007 SEWE Wildlife Festival and 5th and 9th place for brisket and chicken respectively at the Hickory, NC, Greater Hickory Smoke Barbecue Competition and Festival.
Barbeque fans who have sought out JB’s and people that the Smokeshack has catered to include country music greats Billy Dean, Aaron Tippin, Keith Anderson and Rebecca Lynn Howard, as well as a guestbook that includes signatures from Aaron Lines and Eric Clapton. In fact, the Smokeshack on John’s Island became so popular that JB and Diane opened another JB’s in Goose Creek. The new restaurant has an expanded menu that includes fried food and hamburgers, as well as live bluegrass from Yeehaw Junction every first and third Friday of the month. Run by Billy and Melissa, the restaurant that was once a hobby for JB has become a formidable player in the world of southern barbeque. In fact, don’t be surprised to see his smoked ribs and succulent smoked ‘que skimming by in their competition-grade catering bus, on their way to serve celebrities and gourmands alike in competitions and private parties all across the southeast.
JB’s Smokeshack
3406 Maybank Highway
John’s Island, SC
557-0426
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 8:30pm
521 Redbank Road
Goose Creek, SC
572-3311
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 8:30pm
Printable catering menus and further information on JB’s Smokeshack is available on their website at www.jbssmokeshack.com.
Welcome to Charleston Food Talk!
There's not much more I need to do in terms of describing this site that hasn't already been done in the title; this is a place for foodies from all over to talk about anything they've found around Charleston that tantilizes their tastebuds or sours their stomachs. My background is mainly in cheese, so I'd love to answer any questions or start any discussions pertaining cheese and it's elaborate history. I also write for two barrier island newspapers, the Island Eye News and the Island Connection, and will be posting reviews on hidden restaurant finds, new restaurant openings and food pictures whenever I get a chance. If you hear of a new restaurant or have visited one that left you full and happy, let us know! Respectively, if you try a new beer (thank goodness for Pop the Cap!), wine, whisky or any tasty beverage, feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks and welcome to Charleston Food Talk!
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