Lowcountry Cuisine Spring/Summer 2019

lowcountry cuisine LC 27 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com Chicken is not the only star here. When Brock proclaimed on the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods” that very few meals make him as happy as the chitterlings and lima beans, there was no stopping the floodgates of tourists and locals alike. As if that wasn’t enough, host Andrew Zimmern called the lima beans the “best pieces of food” he’d ever eaten. Martha Lou’s has added a second location at 2000-Q McMillan Ave. in North Charleston. BESSINGER’S BARBECUE It seems like new barbecue restaurants are opening everywhere these days, but many locals still rely on Bessinger’s for their fix of “liquid gold.” Beginning back in 1939, when it was a drive-in restaurant on Rutledge Avenue known as Piggy Park, this family-run establishment has kept generations of Charlestonians well- fed with its oak- and hickory-smoked pork smothered in its signature mustard-based sauce. The Big Joe and Little Joe pork sandwiches are synonymous with the restaurant’s identity. But Casey Webb of the Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food” met the challenge of the Colossal Joe – a half-pound of barbecued pork layered with a serving of coleslaw and topped with brisket and a nest of onion straws. Ever since, tourists and locals alike have wanted to attack this beast themselves. The smorgasbord buffet section of the restaurant closed its doors to the public last year but is available for private group events. And folks can always find what Bessinger’s has made famous – and has now made Bessinger’s famous – at the restaurant’s sandwich shop and drive-up window. MARINA VARIETY STORE The name implies that this is a ship store for the many boats that drop by the City Marina on their way through the Intracoastal Waterway, but this place has been serving up Lowcountry fare to locals for over 50 years. Featured on an episode of “Food Paradise” were two special examples of local charm: the Country Style Benedict and the shrimp ‘n’ grits. Chef Ryan Collins described the eggs benedict as “a white plate with a mountain of Southern goodness.” As one patron on the show put it, “If you fry it, they will come,” so country-fried steak is set atop white-bread toast, then topped with two poached eggs and a creamy sausage gravy. A bloody mary Photo courtesy of Marina Variety Store. Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel. Photo by Meg Harris of The Curated South.