I guess you could say we’ve been doing a lot of taste-testing in Charleston! The foodie scene in this town is remarkable. It seems we can’t turn the corner without running smack-bam into a new restaurant we just have to try.
I had been wanting to pop into Leon’s since the first time I drove by it’s summery patio shaded with lemon yellow canvas parasols. Inside it’s just as charming, which was fortunate since it was too hot to sit outside.
When it comes to oysters, I normally don’t deviate too far from the raw-on-the-halfshell spectrum. But Leon’s is renowned for the char-grilled variety, so we wagered on an order.
Char-grilled Oysters, lemon, parsley, butter, parmesan
Awww, shucks, they were good!
Especially with a dab of southern hot sauce.
We also dabbled in a little fried clams, crispy and wrapped in lettuce…
Fried Clam Lettuce Wraps, pickled vegetables, spicy mayo, fresh herbs
… and a corker of a shrimp salad sandwich, sprinkled with crushed potato chips!
Shrimp Roll, horseradish mayo, celery, potato chips, fine herbs
But the real main event was the fried chicken, soaked in buttermilk, and then double fried in Crystal’s hot sauce – it was plucking unbelievable!
Fried Chicken
After all that, we were totally full and ready for the check. But the waiter mentioned that the special dessert was a soft-serve cone with jimmies, and my inner child screamed for ice cream!
We walked home, sharing a cone, through Hampton Park – which originally used to be a race course and jockey club. Now the perimeter is bursting with trees and gardens, and lots and lots of magnolias!
^^ This guy kept me laughing with a bunch of old school jokes, like “Which knight designed King Arthur’s Round Table?”
Circumference!
We were blessed with another beautiful day to be out and about, enjoying the sights and weather in this wonderful city.
