South Carolina’s Lowcountry is legendary for its food. Many flock to Charleston for it. Just a few minutes outside of this fabulous city are other smaller towns where you can find southern cuisine to tantalize your taste buds.

Good Dose of Southern Cookin’

On a recent trip to visit my friend Wendy and her family, we popped into several restaurants to cure my craving for southern cooking. Our first stop was Page’s Okra Grill. Any restaurant that has okra in its name is a must try spot in my book. This eatery is lively and the food is wonderful. We sat outside on their fun covered patio. I was going to have shrimp and grits, my favorite southern dish, but changed my mind when I saw the offerings for a vegetable plate. We started with the fried green tomatoes appetizer topped with a dollop of housemate pimento cheese and side of pickled okra and tomato relish. Delicious! For my veggie platter I went for the pimento cheese grits, buttermilk fried okra, coleslaw, and butter beans. I really wanted collars but they have pork in them and I don’t eat pork. I did have to eat around pork bits in the butter beans. For the bread side, it was a tough choice between cornbread or biscuit, but I went cornbread. The portions are hearty so go hungry.

Lunch with a View

We spent the day cruising the Intercoastal Waterway and some of the creek offshoots. For lunch we pulled up in the boat to Saltwater Cowboys on Shem Creek, one of my favorite places near Charleston. First of all, I love the name. The atmosphere is just as fun. I don’t expect places like this that have a super fun weekend water vibe to have excellent food but Saltwater Cowboys proved me wrong. While waiting for a table, we got Dockside Lemonades. They hit the spot on a hot afternoon. We got to sit up on the rooftop, which I loved because it got us away from the loud DJ music spinning at the bar and we got to enjoy a wonderful view of Shem Creek. We almost went for the trash can nachos, which looked fantastic. Instead I ordered the fish tacos. They were delicious!

One of My All-Time Fav Breakfast Spots

Technically Acme Lowcountry Kitchen isn’t in Mount Pleasant. It’s just across the bridge on Sullivan’s Island, where I spent many years on family vacations. It wouldn’t be a trip to the Charleston area without a stop on Sullivan’s. We started with fried green tomatoes then I had my favorite southern dish – shrimp and grits – for brunch. It was as delicious as I remembered!

Author Jennifer Broome is from South Carolina and has spent a lot of time in the Charleston area including a Swamp Boat Adventure at Cypress Gardens on this trip. As much as she travels around the world, she always enjoys returning to her home state. Check out blogs on Anchorage and Husk for eateries she loves in Greenville, her hometown. For a hometown round up, read Greenville Eats.