2010 Charleston Entertainment Guide

Hello all, I apologize that it has been so long since I have written a blog, but we are back up and running. Today is my birthday, and I got a really ingeniuos gift that I wanted to share with you all. I frankly didn't know that these existed, but they are a great idea, and I am anxiously awaiting when mine comes in.

What am I talking about, you ask? The 2010 Charleston Entertainment Book
http://www.entertainment-savings-offers.com/charleston-sc/book/

It has coupons and deals for great restaurants and stores and places to go have fun in your hometown, while saving money!

And the best deal, if you order now, you get the 2009 book for free to use for the rest of this year! The 2010 book ships in August or September and I'm sure is well worth the wait.

So looking forward to seeing what all is there and use it all the time :)

Have a great day all!

BACCO - A great Italian Treat

So after a recital one night, some friends and I decided we would try a new Italian place, BACCO. What a treat we stumbled into. Small, intimate and immaculate, the ambiance is beautiful with clean white tablecloths and plates and a gorgeos wine wall on the back level. The waiter was very knowledgable and all I can say about the food is AMAZING. True, homemade, Italian food. There is nothing like it. The prices are very reasonable, and the portions are perfect and customizeable (they have small end large portions on most entrees). Their antipasto of mized olives was a great favorite at our table, and the vegetarian lasagna and bolognese were spectacular. Highly recommended for a nice quiet dinner!

Piccolo Spoleto is around the Corner!!! Get your Tickets Now

The Piccolo Spoleto 2009 Brochure is finally out, and for those of us who are on the computer more than we should be, it is in digital format at this link:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/images/blogimages/2009/05/09/1241889171-09ps_program_guide_for_web.pdf

Enjoy and get your tickets....there are so many amazing concerts and events, and many that are free! Enjoy exhibits at Marion Square with your kids, or enjoy music by candlelight.

If you would like to know more about some of our favorite events in the schedule, please see our website: http://www.charlestonscstyle.com in our Arts Section!

Thank you and have a great weekend!

An Oldie but Goodie!

Well everyone around Charleston knows about the the Charleston Crab House on the Wappoo River under the Wappoo Bridge, but I wonder if sometimes places like this are underestimated. We happened to go the other night with a friend cause I was craving seafood :) Anyway, we walked in and all of the signs were upside down, which was strange. We asked the host and he said that they had just undergone a makeover show which had to do with 'flipping', so they flipped all the signs in honor of that. I have to admit, from the last time I had gone, it definitely did look nice. Anyway, we asked for a table outside so we could watch the sunset, which is gorgeous there by the way, and he said that the bugs were really bad (go figure :)), but he could put us right by a huge window inside, which ended up being perfect.

As anyone who has been there knows, at this restaurant, they have the best hushpuppies ever. Not the oniony kind, which alot of people like, but I am not one of them :) We started off with the lowcountry sampler (calamari, mozzarella sticks and coconut shrimp), which was really good. I loved their calamari cause it wasn't greasy at all (and being Greek, I'm picky about that). The food came out pretty quickly. One of us got the hamburger, which he loved. I got my favorite thing, with was the friend shrimp platter, and the other ordered the Lowcountry Boil Platter. All of the food was really wonderful. None of the fried food was overfried, the steamed shrimp looked wonderful and smelled better, and the sausage was nice and mild.

I still have to say that watching the sunset and watching the boats was the best part of the night...in addition to the food.

And even better, we found out that they have a $5 corkage fee, so another great place to bring your own wine for dinner!

Enjoy your week and weekend!

Bring Your Favorite Wine to Some Great Restaurants in Charleston!!

Have you heard of the trends in other parts of the country where people can take a bottle of wine to a restaurant for free to minimal charge corkage? This is commonplace in California and many other big cities..

Guess what? Charleston is catching up to the times with this. There are several restaurants who will allow you to bring your own wine to enjoy with dinner for a fee. I wanted to highlight a few for you to take advantage of while you are out for a night on the town or a simple dinner with family and friends.

Free Corking Fee with a wine bought at WineStyles in Mount Pleasant ( the best place to get fantastic wine in Charleston):

Outback Steakhouse (Mt. Pleasant location)

- 715 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Mt Pleasant, SC - (843) 849-9456

$5 to $15 Dollar Corking Fee

Fleet Landing http://www.fleetlanding.net/ (one of my favorite seafood restaurants with a great view)

- 186 Concord StCharleston, SC 29401(843) 722-8100

Sienna http://www.siennadining.com/

- 901 Island Park Drive Daniel Island, SC (843) 881-8820

Locklear's (Mount Pleasant Location) http://www.locklears.com/

- 320 W Coleman Blvd # QMt Pleasant, SC 29464(843) 884-3346

Mistral http://www.mistralcharleston.com/ (great live music and food! a definite must for downtown)

- 99 S Market St, Charleston, SC - (843) 722-5708

Blossom Cafe http://www.magnolias-blossom-cypress.com/ (lovely, elegant food with a homemade feel)

- 171 E Bay StCharleston, SC 29401(843) 722-9200

$20 to $25 Corking Fee (these places also have great wine selections, so if you take a wine, make sure it is worth the fee)

Samos Taverna - great greek food like your yiayia would make!

- 819 Coleman Blvd.Mt Pleasant, SC 29464(843) 856-5055

http://www.charlestonmag.com/charleston_magazine/feature/samos_taverna

McCrady's http://www.mccradysrestaurant.com/ ( great place for fine dining with a great Sunday musical theatre dinner by Robbi Kenney and friends)

- 2 Unity Alley Charleston, SC 29401(843) 577-0025

High Cotton http://www.high-cotton.net/ (great happy hour)

- 199 E Bay StCharleston, SC 29401(843) 724-3815

If you know of any other places that allow BYOB, please email me at charlestonscstyle@gmail.com and we will be glad to post it on the blog.

Enjoy!

Please Support Local New Music with the New Music Collection Thursday April 9th

Hello everyone, music is such an inherent part of Charleston, and this group has been doing some great work to promote local musicians performing new music. They are great, and I hope that you can go and have a good time with them!

Here is the information about their latest fundraiser

NMC SPRING FUNDRAISERThursday, April 9, 20097-11pmMusic starting at 7:30! Eye Level Art Warehouse2143 Heriot St, Suite F$30, 2 for $50$100 VIP package which includes reserved seating at the event and a gift package with CD's, hand printed art, and more!Recession, Scheschmession! The NMC brings you culture for under $20,000 a year, Charleston. We are a small organization that devotes it's resources to bringing amazing cultural programming to our local community. For better or for worse, we operate with an all volunteer staff, and we pass these savings along to you!!! We don't ask much, but a tiny budget is a budget nonetheless, and as a 501(c)3 organization we have to depend on your generosity to keep us chugging along. Lucky for you, we try to make this process as fun as possible. We'll have live music from the Re-United Morimoto, Quentin Baxter, The Opposite of a Train, Slowrunner, The NMC Ensemble and more. We'll have complimentary food, beer, and wine generously donated by Ted's Butcherblock, Sermet's Corner, Normandy Farms, Maya Morrill, City Lights, The Recovery Room and more. We'll also have a silent auction of items donated to the cause by local and national artists and businesses. If you like music and want to support local culture there's nothing better you could do on this night than attend our event. Silent auction will include works by Nathan Durfee, Molly Hayes, Gayle Brooker, DALEK, personal chef services by Maya Morrill, sweets by Sugar Bakeshop, tickets to events by JAC, Spoleto USA, PURE Theatre, Private Serenades by Cary Ann Hearst, and much much more! Tickets are available at 52.5 Records, located at 561 King Street, ONLINE on our website, or by calling 917-690-2031.

Best Greek Food in Charleston!

So being of Greek Heritage, I have been eating moussaka and pastichio since I could chew :)

No really, its hard to please Greeks in a restaurant...there are lots of restaurants in town that people love, but we tried Samos Taverna a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say, I was totally impressed and pleased.

We had a lovely bottle of wine (that we brought), calamari and a cheese plate as an appetizer (with a heavenly feat and manouri on it) ....not sure the meal could have gotten better, but it did...the pork souvlaki was tender, juicy, wonderfully seasoned, a good portion, and served with greek horiatiki (spinach cooked in olive oil and lemon), which was the perfect side for the meal, as well as totally authentic.

The atmosphere was amazing, the service wonderful, the valet service greatly needed and appreciated..

After speaking with Andy, one of the owners of the restaurant, it was clear that we would be returning as often as the wallet would allow...

what a great meal :)

Yassou!

The Best Wine Shop in Charleston, WineStyles

Have you ever gone to winetastings not having a clue what you are drinking, much less tasting....Well we started going almost a year ago cause it seemed like a fun thing to do..learn about wines, taste some, have some appetizers too...great start to an evening, right? Well, let me tell you that it depends on where you go.

Having gone to a couple of places and trying them out for awhile, we literally stumbled into a wineshop called WineStyles at Towne Center in the middle of december 2008. They had just opened, it was a saturday afternoon, and they were having a tasting...well first off, the shop itself was large, really beautiful, had lots of cool accessories, and most of all, had wines on the wall so you could find what you were looking for (even if you weren't quite sure). The other big thing that hit us was the warm welcome that we had when we came in...We were greeted, served (not pestered or ignored), and really had the feeling of being welcomed, which in these times really can be hard to come by...

So go figure, we went back...and have been going at least once a week ever since...Between the great wine, food, classes, atmosphere, and great chats with Martha and Joe, the owners, who are some of the coolest people we know, it is by far some of the best afternoons....

They have such a great selection of wines that they handpick and taste as well as awesome cheese and nut trays that we enjoy frequently....

Come and Join Us for a glass or a bottle!!

For your information, they have tastings every thursday from 5:30 - 7:30 and saturday from 2-7.
http://www.winestyles.net/mtpleasant