Recently my husband and I took a much-needed vacation down south to the absolute most charming city I’ve ever visited: Charleston, SC. The city is small but is packed with culture, more history than you can take in, utterly fantastic food, shopping, sun, sand, sea and really friendly people who say “ma’am” and “y’all”. We stayed for 5 days and did a ton of wandering and tourist-y adventuring. I was so impressed by everything that I wanted to give a rundown on a few of our favorite finds – especially those that are green/eco-friendly/organic/natural.

Food:

Husk
The most fantastic dining experience came from Husk, a restaurant from James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Brock that gets down to the essence of southern cooking while giving it a modern twist. The menu is constantly changing based on seasonality of ingredients and even on what ingredients can be found that day. The chef uses exclusively local ingredients including some from the restaurants own garden & farm as well as from farms in the area that are often organic. They even go so far as to preserve/pickle/smoke whatever can’t be used of the fresh fare gathered to save it for later use. If that’s not sustainable then I don’t know what is! Here’s what we tried:

Beverage: Jam Beverage Co. Watermelon shrub (I’d never really heard of this but thought it sounded so interesting – vinegars are poured over fresh fruit to preserve. They are then topped with soda water to make a refreshing drink that back in history was thought to cure ailments from digestion to blood flow – fun fact!)
Appetizer: Broadbent Country Ham, Buttermilk Biscuits, Dijonnaise, House Made Dilly Bean Pickles
Entrée 1: NC Chicken, Golden Zucchini, SC Peaches, Broccolini, Spiced Pecan, Peach Chicken Jus
Entrée 2: Carolina Heritage Pork, Field Pea “Sofrito”, Heirloom Kale, Roasted Roots, Pancetta, Hickory Vinegar
Dessert: chocolate chess pie, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Caramelized Cocoa Nibs

I can’t even pick a favorite it was all so delicious! I will say though that the mint chip ice cream was something to note as it was made with fresh mint – this is something I need to re-create! Overall the service was fantastic and the view from the upper dinning balcony was enchanting. I highly recommend a visit to this establishment if you make it to Charleston.

Verde
We stopped at Verde for lunch based on a recommendation from a super friendly gal a the Savannah Bee Co. store. It’s a great quick service spot that fills the void of healthy dining options. I love it not only for the fresh and tasty customizable salad and wrap options but also because they tout themselves as green inside and out. They use only fresh, local and seasonally available ingredients and serve them in compostable bowls recycling whatever they can. I tried the Southern Harvest Salad that was made with Mesclun, Roasted Chicken, Apples, Pecans, and Cornbread Croutons with Sweet Tea Vinaigrette. Everything I tried in Charleston I tried to make sure it had some sort of southern tie and the sweet tea vinaigrette sold me on this salad. It was insanely delicious and left me wishing they would open a branch here in Chicago.

Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit
A true southern treat is a rich and flakey biscuit. While you can find these all over I don’t know that you’ll find any better than those found at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit. They are hardly healthy but are oh-so-good. Callie’s biscuits are made from a traditional recipe and are made entirely by hand with no machinery. I think that’s what makes them so fluffy and delicious. We stopped by for a morning snack on our stroll around the city and tried 3 of their several flavors – black pepper bacon, country ham and cinnamon.

Peace Pies
This little ice cream sandwich shop was just what we needed to stumble upon while out and about. I can’t attest to their ingredients at all but they have an interesting concept of shortbread-like cookies sandwiched around a layer of ice cream and a pie filling. We got the strawberry shortcake and it was a hit! I couldn’t find anything in their mission about spreading peace but I’m going to just assume that’s what they are all about because that’s what ice cream does and I like that.

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Shopping:

Pink Dot Beauty Bar
This beauty bar was on my must-check-out list. It’s not often you find a brick and motor beauty store that is dedicated to carrying a variety of high- performance, all-natural, organic, cruelty-free and vegan products from brands such as Bottega Organica, Meow Meow Tweet, Antonym and RMS Beauty. They also have a full service salon including 5-free mani/pedis and organic spray tans. While I didn’t buy anything there it was fun to be able to see products in person rather that on a computer screen. You can test any of the products and the sales associate that was working was super friendly and very knowledgeable about the brands and had recommendations for everything.

Savannah Bee Company
Savannah Bee Company was right near the hotel we stayed in and was one of the first stops we made when we got to town. The store is charming and drew us in with the lure of $5 Mead Tastings. We had never had it but learned it’s a bit like wine and made from honey. It’s fantastic by the way – like a sweet wine but not syrupy sweet like some of those tend to get. It would be perfect for these hot summer nights. The gal who was guiding the tasting was the sweetest and friendliest and was so knowledgeable about the meads. I wish I caught her name so I could say she deserves a raise! 🙂 Anyways, the company itself specializes in all things honey. They of course sell a variety of honeys (we sampled at the store too) that are kosher certified and are 100% honey – even the flavored ones as their unique flavors come from the type of flowers the bees gather the nectar from (another helpful and friendly sales associate explained that to us). All honeys are hand-harvested at the peak of the blooming season to ensure purity and you can truly taste the quality in each product. They also sell a line of body care products that are all natural, use organic ingredients and use honey as the star of the show. Honey has so many healing benefits and helps skin regenerate healthy cells so it’s a natural to use for skincare. After perusing their website to find more facts I learned that honey is also a great skin cleanser, exfoliator and moisturizer as it’s a natural humectant pulling moisture from the air and feeding it into the skin. Honey even has hydrogen peroxide-like qualities that give skin and extra cleanse boost. I grabbed a few products including the Royal Jelly Body Butter, Honey Body Lotion and Honey Shampoo and Conditioner. So far everything is great and I look forward to trying more!

Charleston City Market
This market is an open-air market full of different vendors. Many are ones selling wares that I wasn’t interested in and it was pretty crowded but I did find a few local gems most notably a natural skin and body care company called The Contents Co.  I admire someone so passionate about their natural products that they’ll haul them all to an outdoor market to try and connect with new customers in the hot Charleston sun. The booth set up was fantastic with vintage mint green steel science lab-like tables and the products were beautifully packaged of course making me instantly want one of everything (sucker for great packaging). We were in a bit of a hurry so I regret that I didn’t purchase anything, as there were several products that caught my eye including a Botanic Mineral Bath Soak and Botanic Herbal Mists. They also sell candles that I’m sure smell divine and all products are made with simple ethically-sourced ingredients by hand. I also regretfully did not snap a picture of this stop so the business card will have to do (which is totally ok because the design is on point!).

Here are my additional recommendations (but much briefer):
–Restoration Hotel (Staying here is an absolute must!)
-Isle of Palms Beach – it was huge, quiet and peaceful
–Magnolia Plantion (Go in the AM as it’s hot as hades in the afternoon sun and bring bug spray for the walk though the gardens.)
–Poogan’s Porch (for Dinner)
–Brown Dog Deli (for Lunch)
–Caviar and Bananas (for Lunch)
-The Edmonston-Alston House (for a tour of a beautiful old house full of history)

All in all, Charleston is a must-add to all vacation destination wish-lists. It has so much to offer for any type of vacation you’re interested in. It’s such a charming and beautifully colorful city that you’d be remiss not to check out. It’s so lovely that if you’re anything like me you’ll start planning your move after just a few hours there.