Introducing the Dish Top 50

It’s all about the recommendations

By Robert F. Moss / Charleston City Paper

For starters, we’ve put on our flak jackets and created a section of restaurants that our food writers consider to be the Top 50 restaurants in the Charleston area.

They might be downtown or out in the ‘burbs, and they might serve trendy haute cuisine or fried chicken on styrofoam plates, but one thing unites these picks: they’re great places to eat. Places that visitors to Charleston shouldn’t miss. Places we would heartily recommend to our friends and families (selected in-laws excluded).

Ultimately, this collection represents a snapshot of where we like to eat — the restaurants that are relevant and top-notch and have consistently pleased us. This is our guide to our dining scene, not motivated by snootiness or hype but simply by our desire to dine well and enjoy great hospitality. So, without further ado, let’s eat. 

To Continue reading the article above, click here.

39 Rue de Jean looks like it’s been at 39 John St. forever and in Upper King’s recent restaurant history, it has. For the past 14 years the brasserie has kept regulars returning thanks to French classics and then some. Our favorites include the assiette de fromage, frisée lyonnaise, sweetbreads, and escargot. Then there are the big plates, like the New York steak frites (with butter!), the burger (one of the best in town maybe?), and the six preparations of mussels. A bowl for $9.99 with a side of frites and a pint of Fischer LaBelle Amber will do you up right. Try the pistou, the aioli, the bacon blue cheese, or really any of them. They’re all good. Chef Jason Dupree puts out plenty of succulent entrees (shrimp provençal, duck confit, chicken française, braised rabbit) that will have you dreaming of Paris, and the plats du jour are a good reason to put Rue on your regular rotation. Sunday brunch is the best time to try their amazing omelets, cooked to French perfection. —Kinsey Gidick Dish (Winter 2015)