Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken

One of our favorites things to do when we have time off is to go on food adventures, trying out unique restaurants and foods, and particularly if its a new place we are trying!

Pablo is ready for his adventure!

We've been wanting to hit Astro's Doughnuts and Fried Chicken for quite a while and on a whim at the last moment, we decided this was the place to go for brunch one Saturday morning. You see, we had slept in kinda late that morning which was perfect timing for Astro's since they don't start serving the chicken til after 11am and you can't go there and NOT get BOTH the chicken AND the donuts!

those 2 tables outside the restaurant were the only seating and they were full!

We lucked out and got easy parking right out front! This place is tiny! Literally only a counter with barely enough space on one side for customers and on the other side for employees. They also have a food truck in DC! We asked them "where do you cook the chicken and bake the donuts in this place??" Apparently they have a kitchen area in the basement of the building they're in and they use a dumb waiter to transport the food up to the counter! Pretty clever and unique!

*Pablo licks his lips in anticipation*

Their menu is short and simple...donuts, chicken, drinks.  But it is worth the trip! There's something to be said for keeping things simple and doing it really well and thats what they do here at Astro's.  For their chicken, you can get either tenders, 2pc white meat, 2 pc dark meat, or even a half or full chicken! Superking did the 2pc white meat and I went for the tenders which came with your choice of sauce. I chose buffalo. Tangy and spicy!

For their donuts, they have flavors like creme brûlée, maple bacon, passionfruit, and PB&J.  We opted for Vanilla Glaze and Nutella. They are light and yeasty, sweet but not too rich, and absolutely delicious!

"A" for Astro's...Vanilla Glaze

Nutella

You might think chicken and donuts are a strange combination but its really not much different than chicken and waffles which is a Southern staple. Except this might be better! And it might sound weird but the combination of the vanilla donut and the chicken tender with buffalo sauce in the same bite was remarkably complementary!! Not the healthiest of breakfasts but completely delicious and satisfying none the less!

Because the only seating they had was full, we parked ourselves on the curb and had a picnic of sorts! Good thing this was a no parking zone and it wasn't super cold outside!

We had a lovely view of an old church across the street that reminded us it was still alive and well by ringing its bell very loudly! 

Even Pablo agreed that Astro's deserved at least 4 ants!!

Poogan's Porch

After a hot day at Fort Sumter, a yummy taco lunch, and a nap at the hotel, we were ready for a cozy dinner at one of Charleston's most famous and oldest landmark restaurants...Poogan's Porch.

Originally built in 1888 as a grand Victorian home, it is now frequently visited by celebrities, locals, and tourists alike. In 1976 the owner's of the house moved away but a little dog named Poogan, stayed behind, frequenting many porches in the neighborhood in search of scraps and a little attention.  When the next person came along to buy the home and turn it into a restaurant, there seemed to be no choice but the name the restaurant Poogan's Porch, after the beloved neighborhood pooch.

When we walked into the beautiful Charleston institution, we felt right at home. Literally, it felt as though we had stepped through time and were walking into someone's home just before the turn of the century. A stunning yellow house with romantic double porches equipped with ceiling fans.  It was warm and cozy, with beautiful stairs and hard wood floors.  Most of the rooms still divided like a regular old-timey house and furnished with antique fireplaces. And most importantly...good traditional Southern cuisine.

famous celebrity signatures on the menu

We began with a classic....Fried Green Tomatoes with pecan encrusted goat cheese and a seasonal peach chutney. I LOVE a good fried green tomato! And everything is amazing with goat cheese. Yes, everything. Almost.  I love the crispiness of the breading on the outside of the tomato and the juiciness inside.  The goat cheese is nutty, creamy, and tangy. All that combined with the peach chutney which provides a delightfully unexpected sweetness.

every god Southern meal must start with buttermilk biscuits

fried green tomatoes (center); pecan crusted goat cheese (top left), peach chutney (bottom right)

Their list of entrees consists of several modern dishes as well as several traditional ones. Being at a historic culinary institution for Charleston, I felt we would be remiss to go with anything but traditional.  So we got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken.  We split the dish so we wouldn't have to roll back to our hotel room.  What's also nice about splitting dishes, is that they actually give you each a little extra portion! How nice!!  Crispy, buttery fried chicken breasts served on top of butter whipped potatoes and a sage gravy, sprinkled with a few green onions on top. Perfectly balanced flavors and perfectly delicious!

The fried chicken was also served with pimiento cheese slaw.  Pimiento cheese is a childhood favorite for me!  It reminds me of my grandma.  I didn't have the traditional grandmas that people talk about as kids.  You know the kind...plump, sweet, doting, loves to bake with you and take you shopping, and all around spoil you to death to your parents dismay.  My grandma on my mother's side, (we called her Gongi), she taught me how to play solitaire, to love crosswords, her idea of fun was to shop at the Salvation Army, and every time she'd pick me up after school we'd stop at the store to pick up three things...scratch-off lottery ticket, apricot brandy, and a pack of Kool cigarettes.  Not exactly the typical apron-wearing baker that smells of cookies and hands out kisses. But most of my best memories of her are food related. One of my favorite treats she used to make for me after school was pimiento cheese sandwiches! Loved them and still do!! And this pimiento cheese slaw was definitely reminiscent of that.  And of her.  I don't know if it was as good as hers but I think Gongi would've been pleased.

And of course Pablo gave Poogan's Porch 4 ants! Pablo approved!

Taco Boy

This had to be one of my favorite meals in Charleston. It would hard just to pick one favorite because we did eat a lot of really good food! But I also really love tacos!

Taco Boy in Charleston is a little bit off the beaten path.  There is a second location in nearby Folly Beach as well.  Just as in most cities, it doesn't take too long outside of the downtown area before things start to get a little sketchy. But just make sure you have a reliable taxi (Green Taxi service was awesome by the way!!) and an empty tummy before you head out to Taco Boy.

They do offer other items but obviously tacos are their "thing".  They have 17 different kinds of tacos on their menu and you order them by piece. So you can order one of these, one of those, two of that one, whatever and however many you want.

Hubby ordered a Kimchi Beef taco and a Fried Chicken Taco.  The Kimchi beef taco had Mexican spice-marinated grilled flank steak, Korean BBQ sauce, kimchi, sesame seeds & cilantro. A little heat and lots of flavor!  The Fried Chicken taco had breaded chicken breast, lightly fried, with marinated carrots & red cabbage, jalapeño cilantro mayonnaise & chipotle bbq sauce. Also a little heat and some tasty Southern fried chicken with a Mexican twist.

Left: Kimchi Beef; Right: Fried Chicken

I had a Braised Beef taco and a Tempura Avocado taco.  The Braised beef had braised beef shoulder, topped with jicama radish slaw, toasted spiced pumpkin seeds & queso fresco cheese. Very tender beef and the slaw was fresh and light. The pumpkin seeds were what really caught my eye with this one. Who would think to add pumpkin seeds to a beef taco?! They actually added a really good nutty crunch to round out all the other flavors.

The Tempura Avocado taco was amazing! Again, very unique to fry an avocado slice in tempura batter. How does that even work?  I'm not sure but it was delicious!  The avocado was crisp on the outside and almost creamy on the inside. It was topped with a sweet Thai chili glaze and a citrusy slaw.

Left: Tempura Avocado; Right: Braised Beef

The decor of the restaurant was pretty neat too. Colorful lanterns everywhere, beautiful stained glass windows, and traditional Mexican art. Even the bathroom was decorated with old Mexican ads and comics!

Lastly for dessert!! Edgar's idea of dessert was another taco...Carne Asada.  Grilled flank steak marinated in Mexican spices and topped with green chile sauce and salsa cruda (which is kind of like a pico de gallo).  Simple but full of flavor!

I, on the other hand, had an actual dessert.  Chocolate Tres Leches Cake.  Now I'm normally a chocolate-peanut butter dessert kinda girl.  But I do love a good tres leches cake.  It sounds a little gross and weird to think of eating a cake thats cold made soggy with milk. But there's something about it that allows me to get past the texture and enjoy it! So imagine my surprise to see they had a chocolate version available!!  It was a huge piece and after a tummy full of tacos, there was no way I could finish the whole thing but I was certainly willing to give it a try!!

It actually was surprisingly light...both the whipped icing and the lovely cake!! (I still only was able to eat about half though unfortunately.) Chocolatey and creamy, every bite!

Pablo had his fare share of tacos too and gave Taco Boy 5 ants!!

Hominy Grill and Caviar & Bananas

Our second day in Charleston we visited the tea plantation which I already shared with you in my last post.  It was a very interesting food adventure in itself but we also had a couple other very cool food adventures that day.  Hominy Grill for breakfast and Caviar & Bananas for lunch.

Hominy Grill was at the top of my must-have restaurant list for Charleston. And there was really only one thing on their menu I wanted to try.  The Charleston Big Nasty Biscuit.

The iconic building mural

cute cafe feel

loved the old-fashioned mason jars with fresh yellow daisies on every table

The Big Nasty Biscuit is probably their most famous offering. Many celebrities have come and gone in this place wanting to tackle this feast.  A soft, warm buttermilk biscuit (like they can only make them in the South) topped with classic fried chicken (crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside), melted cheddar cheese on top of that, and all of it swimming in sausage gravy (one of my favorite breakfast foods, which needs nothing else but a spoon). It was everything I dreamed it would be.

Needless to say, because of its richness and knowing we would be running around in the heat at the tea plantation, we opted to split this. A good call! Plus splitting it gave us the option to try their cheddar grits as well. The cheddar was mildly sharp and added to the creaminess of the perfectly cooked grits. A perfect Southern breakfast to start the day off right!

Their sweet country charm made the whole place feel like we were in someone's home, not just another gimmicky restaurant.  Beautiful hard wood floors, some of the original windows, old-fashioned tiles in the foyer and bathrooms.  Very charming character!

After the tea plantation we needed a light lunch.  We knew we'd have a heavy dinner at Magnolia's later (which I will share in my next post) and we wanted to be extra hungry when that time came. I had heard about Caviar & Bananas and it was recommended to us by someone who used to live here so we figured it must be worth a try.

They have two locations in Charleston: one at the main market and one closer to our hotel on George St.  We took a hot & steamy walk all the way to the market only to realize, that location was very small and cramped and didn't really have any seating.  So we took another hot & steamy walk back towards our hotel and realized we had already passed by the other location and could've saved ourselves a little extra sweating. (Who's idea was it to go to Charleston in August??)

Anyway, once we finally arrived, we were definitely ready to eat and cool off!! Caviar & Bananas is, well, just like their tote bag says, a gourmet market and cafe.  It reminded me of a smaller and more accessible Dean & Deluca's.  If you've ever been to a Dean & Deluca's, it very cool but can be very expensive, not somewhere you'd be able to shop every day.  Caviar & Bananas, while still very much gourmet, it also offers a lot more every day fare for the average shopper looking for something a little special and unique.

Aside from the small gourmet grocery area, it also has several counters to order food and drinks from for breakfast or lunch.  There was a sandwich counter, a sushi bar, a prepared foods bar, and a beverage bar. We went straight to the sandwiches and decided to split a Duck Confit Panini.

Best. Sandwich. Ever.

The duck confit panini has duck confit (obviously), black pepper mayo, pickled onions, aged gouda cheese, and fig preserves all pressed onto sourdough bread and panini grilled to perfection!  The fig preserves sounds a little weird at first but it works. It works really well.  The duck is kind of fatty, the gouda is salty, the pickled onions are a little tart, so the fig preserves bring a touch a sweetness to balance all the flavors in perfect harmony to make the most awesome sandwich!

Did I mention this sandwich was really tasty?? If you like duck, this is a must-have on your next trip to Charleston. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

And of course we had to pick up some gourmet sweet treat. We opted for butter toffee pecans. Sweet and crunchy deliciousness! They are very sweet so only 2 or 3 at a time is good!

Pablo gave Hominy Grill 4 ants and Caviar & Bananas 5 ants!! Both Pablo approved!!