Restaurants of Charleston, South Carolina - Million Dollar Critic with Giles Coren

This week I am in the holy city of Charleston, South Carolina. If I sudo, can I have it for free? Five

restaurants

are competing for my

million

-

dollar

review. It's not classy or subtly elegant or not. They are all contenders. It is possibly the ugliest restaurant. Have I ever been but only one can win it's terrible who will get it the whole menu is a lie and who won't do hard things we meet with chopsticks no one beats the

million

dollar

critic

Wow I can see why you have a door in the kitchen I'm Giles Coren as restaurant

critic

for the London Times.

I have become the most powerful critic in Europe. Restaurant owners fear me because a bad review from me could shut them down, but a good one could increase their profits by a million dollars with my research on Julia. I'm in North America looking for

restaurants

worthy of my review that could change their businesses and lives forever this week. I'm in Old South Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is a wonderland for pleasure seekers. It has beautiful architecture. picturesque beaches perfect weather and culinary superstars if I could I would review every restaurant in town but I'm only here for a few days so I want to find a place in Charleston worthy of my million dollar review so what am I looking for exactly?

The most boring and pompous food critics will tell you that there are three things that matter: food, atmosphere and service, but my readers deserve much more than that. I'm looking for an exceptional dining experience and I don't care if it's the most expensive restaurant in town. or a hole in the wall that serves amazing food, but I can't eat everywhere, so my researcher Julia has narrowed down the city's food scene to five restaurants that are doing amazing things, so I decide which one deserves my million dollar review of dollars. It's very It's exciting to be in Charleston, I mean, if you look around you, they have, they have, class, history, money, style, taste, I want to be a part of this junior, I want to do sudden things, sudden things, yeah, I want to, I mean, I want to eat. in restaurants but I want to wear a white suit.

Oh, I'll see what I can do for you by the end of the week. You will be a

south

ern gentleman. Everything sounds fantastic. So what's the restaurant scene? Is it an amazing restaurant? You have five fantastic restaurants prepared for you. The first restaurant you go to is called Alouettes, but it's so fabulous it's holistic soul food. Alouettes Cafe is in the heart of the historic Cannon Borough Le Abreu neighborhood, just off Charleston's main street, King Street I. I'm starting your food journey here because it's all about soul food, which is huge in Charleston, but owner Alouette Jones serves her own version of this classic Southern cuisine.

He wants to start a soul food revolution, soul food is definitely not healthy, but look at me. I'm 62 years old and I can touch my toes. I can run faster than most people in their 40s, so I'm excited about what it's doing for me. Alouette has been serving their healthy, holistic soul food since 1993. It makes me happy. Good food. It keeps me energized. For Alouette, holistic soul food means local, seasonal, and pig-free freshness. I never trust an animal that doesn't sweat. I love the pig as a pet, but I don't love it enough to eat it.

Oprah Winfrey and local resident Bill Murray are regular customers. and Alouettes Cafe has a very loyal fan base, but Alouette needs her review to get many more customers. Her big dream is to bring holistic soul food to all of North America. A review from Giles would mean a lot to this restaurant. Spreading the word would really help increase. my business I want this restaurant to move to New York City. I'm not at all excited that my first Southern soul food meal is going to be holistic. It sounds like something you would get from a homeopath, not in a restaurant and besides.

There is a sign that says that good food takes time and it is very hot here, this could turn out to be a very slow and very sticky meal. I feel very tense and English and hot and my soup is getting a little schvitz. You're doing great, really good, good first time here in Eloise first time here in Charleston first time here in South Carolina well let me tell you a little about the restaurant, as you can see above the window, there is no pork . In the cafeteria we do not serve soft drinks either, but we have a selection of wines and beers.

Well, that sounds like my kind of restaurant. I have never been told anywhere in the world that they don't serve soft drinks now. They serve wine and honey, we don't want to promote sugar, so it's okay to get drunk, as long as your teeth don't fall out. Let me tell you about their lima bean soup. It's a hot soup. Hot soup yes me. drink soup doesn't make me sweat no, this one if I sweat I can have it for free you can have it for free hey now the special offers we have for the days when Bill Murray's black bean burger is made on a thin multigrain bun with Geechee girl's sauce what we do ourselves instead of putting mayonnaise on it what's in keachi girl Fiji is the culture here in Charleston Gullah is the language it's like Creole and kind of like Creole in New Orleans, but it's indigenous to lowland African Americans here when I have angry eyes I talk about it so if I act up and you don't like it you're going to kick me out you're going to do it in color I do it in bubblegum and I should get some green ones yeah the green ones are really good you'll never hate cabbage leaves like This one and I want you to tell me what flavor comes out when you try it, it's a test, there's a test, if I recognize it, I can have my food for free, you can have your food. free and the other thing we have is fresh Oprah Winfrey shrimp, so we season it really well, you put it on the grill for about 10 seconds, we fry it and it comes out looking like that photo over there, as a reviewer I've never understood why a restaurant would want to put photos of their food on the wall.

This is definitely what the mushroom container looks like. It's definitely just a game. If it's not right, it can happen. You can eat a fruit. It's not that I'm desperate. for a free meal, I love a challenge and my waiter seems willing to be part of the three nicest men who have ever shown me through a menu, you know, I want to have everything he wants to sell, maybe it's just a good salesman, I may be a naturally charming man, but not even my waiter's charisma can distract me from the embarrassing elephant in the room. This sweat lodge of a restaurant is starting to test my patience, according to Alouette.

Be careful to order everything at once, but I may have broken one of my essential dining rules. Never order too much food in a slow restaurant, you will end up angry and hungry, finally my food arrives, but before I can start, I have three bets to settle with my waiter. If I get any of them right. My food is free first. Do my shrimp look like the photo on the wall? Remember now, if they don't look exactly the same, you'll get them for free. I think it looks exactly the same. That deliberately, didn't you know we do it like waiting every time?

That's exactly where really anyone who comes here is okay, bean soup, don't you think this is going to make me sweat, it's pretty hot, I didn't sweat so it's not free, okay and don't forget the green, okay, there will be a taste, don't be a flake, you have coconut, coconut, I told you to do it, good man, free dinner, good coconut, nobody beats the million dollar critic. a great way to start a meal, food tastes so much better when it's free, well, lima bean soup is incredibly light, there's no beef in the broth, normally the beans just provide fiber, the effect is so much more light and a lot less fatty, that's why that guy is a hundred pounds thinner than most of the guys you see serving cabbages the cabbages don't have bacon they don't have lard they don't have fat they don't have the rich humor mom's debt this is happy from terrorizing your food these two are delicious now, let's move on to the celebrity portion of my lunch with Bill Murray burger and Oprah Winfrey shrimp.

I'm often very skeptical of restaurants that name food after celebrities because that's cheesy, it's disgusting, I'm not talking about a piece of food because Oprah wants to eat it I prefer food named after the food there's pepper here I could put a little on it actually it's cayenne pepper on the table not black pepper good slaw very very finely shredded now great shrimp very very sweet not ready I always eat Oprah's colas I can rest assured your plate of Shrimp of the same name is delicious. My meal so far at Alouettes has been very good, but I have one more dish left to go with a veggie burger.

I hate veggie burgers, they always taste like fried compost. The hamburger was invented to be made with ground beef, not beans, let's see if Bill Murray knows anything about food. I have a feeling this is where this meal gets a little too holistic for my taste this week. I'm drinking in the

south

ern charm of Charleston, South Carolina. I'm looking for a restaurant worthy of my million dollar review. Today I'm going to lunch at Alouettes Cafe, the house of holistic soul food, tucked away in a hidden corner of historic Canon Bura Elliot or in a general neighborhood that I don't understand much.

I'm excited about healthy food, but I've had three great dishes so far. However, I feel like my luck is about to run out with this veggie burger. This is where this meal becomes too holistic for my taste, as I expected, this dish does not. For me, I usually don't like veggie burgers. I usually find the ones bland, this one beautifully made, looks tasty, but it's not something I would replace a good old fashioned cheeseburger with when ordering a burger. I want blood if he forgets. Who are you going to call? You're not Bill Murray. Spreading the word to other people about Alouettes coffee would help me and that's why I'm so excited that the gels are here because you can definitely spread the word.

I hope you got the food. I put my fingers on it because well, I mean it's one of those places where the food lived up to the beauty of the place and the excellence of the service. No, that was great. I don't care, it's holistic, it's my first real soul food experience. This was perfect and if it is, it's healthier and there's less fat, that's good because in a climate like this there is a limit to how much weight you want to carry, let's set the bar high in the Charleston, but first. I eat again. I have to get out of this warm wool suit that my researcher Julia has fitted me with at a store called Billy Reed, and to help me look and feel like a local, Jessica Mishnah, an editor at a magazine called Garden and Gun, you're going to find something that will suit me.

It will make you look like a southern gentleman. You're okay, you look pretty perfect now, but let's get you all outfitted. I think you want something in bedding that's kind of Dude today, how about people at home could see me and no socks no socks casual no throws drafty oh, southern gentleman loves a little color , so we'll put it right through your buttonhole or you'll just take it out and give it to someone special Wow, look at you, you're so classy, ​​they gave me a phone, they said I could give it to someone important. Wow, I'll take that as a compliment, it's comfortable, it's very nice, so you look like that and act like that. like a southern gentleman, suddenly it's unbelievable, well, this friend asked me to say it, brother, no, no, no, if I made it myself, I'll keep it, but he takes me to the business.

He is called the stubborn daughter. just outside of Charleston on Sullivan's Island which is a family beach community. Chef Jacques Larsen has had a lot of success in the past, but he's taking a big risk with his new place. What we are trying to do is offer downtown caliber food where beach downtown caliber means adventurous dishes served by a small staff and stylish dishes. It's not an unusual concept for a big-city restaurant, but it may not work for a beach crowd looking for low prices and big portions. The biggest bet for us is to get away from the entree dessert format and I think a lot of people almost feel threatened when they come in because they don't know how to order some of the things that we like the most and that I think other people don't like.

The first Jacque needs your review to establish that Stubborn Daughter is the place to go on Sullivan's Island. The bottom line is that there are a lot of employees here. I owe it to them to give them all this smile and try to make it work. In every city I like to eat with a local who really understands the culture and food scene of the place I'm visiting. It's the best hair we could get tonight. I'll be teaming up with a true Southern gentleman, Charleston Magazine food critic Jeff Allen. I met with a critic of the Old South, so I'm sealing myself off for the British onslaught that inevitably comes with the territory.

I'm trying to be polite and defer to you as a fellow critic.rival, you are more, I would simply push you aside. and ask for boiled peanuts, that's what I've read. I don't care if boiled goober is the official snack in South Carolina. I'm not excited to try a peanut, okay, they have a shell, it's a wet boiled peanut, so he just cracked it open and then fused the front teeth together, if you still have the front teeth, you know you salted them, they better be. I know there are specialties here, so I was polite, but my first goober will surely be my last apparently they are delicious, okay, frog soup, here, have a sausage, potatoes, what is he telling you?

Intensive authenticity, well, it surprises me because I thought it would be read and this is more of a white soup. I think he's playing with this thing called Frogmore stew in the corn and the shrimp. I think what he's doing is fooling me, you fooled me a little bit, he's turned it into a traditional New England-style children's soup, a fish soup in the style of New England, so basically the entire menu is just a collection of life this week. I'm in Charleston South. Carolina and tonight I am on the outskirts of the city, on the sweet and serene Sullivan's Island.

I'm having dinner with Charleston magazine food critic Jeff Allen at a new restaurant. The headstrong daughter, the chef, claims that she is taking a risk by bringing downtown food to the beach, but so far I haven't tried anything remotely sophisticated. I feel quite cheated and very frustrated, so basically the entire menu is just a collection of lies. The stubborn daughter better keep her promise of sophistication or she won't. I'm really hoping to get my review, you Brits, it's local sweet shrimp, big and fat, a little chili, she siliceous, now the clams, these are from Clammer Dave who basically has all of Charleston locked down with his plans, he is Boss Hogg in the Dukes. of Hazzard, except with clams, that's more true than you think.

I'd be interested to hear what you think about what Jacques has done with the clams. Dave told him because he hasn't been too impressed with the food at the chef's shacks. I thought he was taking a lot of effort. I risk taking food from the center to the beach, but so far all this seems quite beachy to me, let's get to my salt, it's a must, who's having dinner? A clam is so delicate. Think about those clams, do you know they have a nuclear half-life? Jack, maybe. you need to back off and respect just the clam, it's edible there, but making my review edible isn't enough.

Our final dishes tonight are grilled red snapper and pasta with locally caught triggerfish. This dish must be excellent because the salty clams mean that the stubborn daughter is being left out of the running for my review so far. Oh, we have plenty in London at the moment. I mean, it's an Italian thing, but it's a trendy grain, but you've never had it with more peanuts. just what I wanted, more goobers. I dare say it's edible, okay let's try my favorite fish triggers, it's not a restaurant pasta, this is the type of shepherd I make for my kids, you know when you see these. type of squirrels there's no chance you've done the faster you have big bags of squirrel the faster the predominant flavor is salt and I like salt you build anything I've actually made eight potatoes and you just sit there we grow, We only live on porridge and choose Bissell's Hot Beer, we have very tasty food and very sophisticated weather, just when I thought we would come together as brothers in arms, one last foray into the British, you should get one.

I'm going to go to an open one. I will be mean to everyone who comes. I'm sure we'll see him in the dining room tonight. Giles seemed amused. I think for the most part I hope we made it through. I had a great evening. I enjoyed the company. I like the place. You can't ask. I want more in terms of atmosphere and I think I know how to cook, but tonight they really went overboard with the salt and I think that could be a problem the next day. I'm ready to eat at the third of five restaurants vying for my million-dollar review. and for some reason Julia wants to meet us at a place called the Charleston Library Society.

Tell me. Hey, Julia, what's her library? I'm just doing a little research on the next restaurant you're going to. An authentic Charleston cuisine service. I just found a recipe for squirrel here, that's what Elvis used to eat. Julia's research has inspired me. If my third restaurant in Charleston claims to serve genuinely authentic local cuisine, I want to put them to the test, so what is this restaurant called? It's called pookins porch. Higgins' Porch sounds like a soap opera set in the Deep South. I'm judging the food, not the name. Bougas Porch is in the heart of Charleston's aptly named Historic District, home to more than 4,800 iconic structures, all within walking distance of each other.

Moogan was the family dog ​​who used to hang out on the porch, you guessed it. Riggins porch is the oldest restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. My family took it over in 1978. Brad Ball is the restaurant's third-generation owner and, along with his managing partner, chef Daniel Doyle, wants to move Pookins Porch away from its always-is touristy reputation. a painful word. This restaurant needed a renovation. It was definitely stuck in the '90s. A little in my mind. Brad is working hard to turn Pookins Porch into a great modern restaurant. restaurant, he remodeled the space and revised the menu to reflect traditional Charleston fare, known locally as Lowcountry cuisine.

I really like to take Putin's boards back to what they are essentially the roots, but in a contemporary style, orange and bodied, simply southern cuisine. toss it Brad is betting you'll love his modern take on Putin's porch. He wants his review to let people know that while his new menu is a crowd pleaser as always, it's no longer just for tourists to have a wonderful dinner, sir, thanks to this place. look a little look at me there are a lot of people with cameras taking pictures of each other eating many of them are wearing shorts you know I've gone out of my way to invest in a linen suit we're trying to be southern gentlemen and there are people there where he is I can see their faces toenails and they're there no one needs them I've heard people in Charleston oh good night sir how are you tonight?

I'm fine my name is Jimmy I'll do it I'll be taking over tonight. I'm happy to start with one of our drinks from the cocktail menu. There is no mint julep here, do you have anything other than mint julep? But our southern creation is what we call a mystic that's going to To finish, have a deep tea, grapefruit vodka, a little fresh cucumber and fresh lime juice and a little st. Germain, well that sounds good, nice southerner, oh yeah, mister southerner, you might look like a nice guy and they'll look like nice guys down here, a lot of them don't look bad, a lot of them are traditional European style dishes, they've been among them. there's fried alligator salad, shrimp and grits, a little bit of low country cooking;

Whether Putin's Porch truly prides itself on its authentic Southern cuisine is not immediately clear from this menu. I came here to taste the real taste of the low country and, fortunately, I came with insurance. I have a slightly strange request. I would like to speak briefly with the chef. Oh, you know. I doubt Chef Dan has any problem with that. I am sure we will be happy to assist you. You sir, if you want to follow me, I like the south, you will sigh, I only hope to imitate, but the waiters are always polite and helpful, the chefs are a much more unpredictable breed, so it was not without trepidation that I entered Chef Dan's kitchen.

I went to the local library and found what I thought looked like a recipe, which wasn't too much to ask you to make molasses fritters, well let's go through all the food here, that's not the answer I was looking for. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, in the historic district, eating on Putin's Porch, a tourist restaurant that attempts to offer a modern take on traditional Charleston Lowcountry cuisine to prove its authenticity. I dug up a Low Country food recipe from 1847, barged into their kitchen, and demanded their chef. cook it for me I thought it seemed like a recipe that would be too much to ask you to make I'm sorry I'm a pushy bastard and I'm not going to give up treacle fritters it's a recipe from 1847 does that sound like a thing?

You could continue that, just try to tell me no. I never drink molasses. I have some maple syrup. They probably work there. It would be great. I think we can handle that. Yes, I will try it and before I leave. one more aggressive bastard move, I order my meals directly from the chef, I'll go for the snapper and pork, okay, the alligator, shrimp and grits and as they say in Charleston, the loud Brit eats beignets well, that was a hit unexpected, he's a great big guy with a beard, a good guy, he probably has a gun under him, okay, here we are sir, I've got your shrimp and grits here, your fried alligator salad here, oh wow, the alligator is amazing , is like a slave at night.

Lobster, but in consistency like chicken breast I would go as far as saying it's better than alligator, now shrimp and grits, that's Charleston's signature type of dish, it doesn't have a sophisticated flavor, it's not very garnished. I would call this a tourist dish, but it hasn't been tried. and sir, here we have for you the molasses fritters, cold, and now we have our crispy skin snapper. I actually haven't had pulled pork since I got this, suddenly, under a piece of very good grilled fish, I have my first pulled pork. pork, which is a very strange thing to accompany fish.

I don't know if they have been on the same plate. Well, I think so. If they brought me the piece of fried fish, I would be very bored. This is like four or five meals in one, it could be an absolute disaster, it's actually quite wonderful, so the moment of truth came, the test I gave the chef, the recipe, but I took out a book from 1847, what will it taste like? Has he survived nearly two centuries languishing in a library in Charleston only to be resurrected by me? It's pretty amazing, it's just a taste of 1847 if they're trying to get back to the basics with the old principles of Southern cooking, that's the way to do it.

It's good, but it's still complicated, but I think it was taken from an old recipe book and it had four ingredients and it's absolutely amazing because it's so simple. I think you have to go even further in this direction if you want this to be as authentic as he says it is. I think we performed excellently tonight where we are with everything. Huggins Porch. It's a ridiculous name for a restaurant in many ways. It's a little ridiculous. It is a beautiful historic building and will be full of tourists. But just because it's a tourist destination doesn't mean it's not a good restaurant, but is it good enough for a million dollar review?

There are three restaurants left to go to two more so far. I've tried soul food and some of Charleston's traditional Lowcountry cuisine, it's a wet boil. peanut I don't know what the future of my research at Julia will be, but I really hope it is a barbecue restaurant. I can't become a true Southern gentleman without eating some barbecue. Why do we meet at the windiest point in town? because I wanted a swing on a swing, you can't come to Charleston and not keep swinging, so I can't come to Charleston and not have barbecue, tell me I'm going to a barbecue restaurant tonight.

He hated his Abreu tiles, but the barbecues. It's not that big in Charleston, well, my hopes have faded. Where we go tonight. A lot of it sounds like it's in a parking lot, not exactly, but you need a car to get there because it's in the James Island neighborhood, a ten-minute drive from downtown. Owner Vanessa Harris has been convincing customers to make the trip since she hired executive chef Alex Lira from the famous New York artisan restaurant. He needed someone to take the reins and he had me as soon as I tried the food and menu.

It's all fresh, farm-to-table, locally sourced ingredients, but no matter how fresh the food is, the lot faces another major challenge. It is located next to a live rock venue. All customers receive the same warning that it could make noise. We definitely are. Unique people going out to dinner don't expect to hear a sound check, so it's very similar to what's happening here. Vanessa needs your million dollar review to convince people to ignore the noisy surroundings and focus on her exceptional food. Giles would put us on the map this business means everything to me it is the future for my children it is my future it is my sanity it does not allow me to live the life I want to live not being successful would be really painful ten minutes The car ride is long enough outside of the city to not expect to see many tourists here and since the lot is next to a music venue, I expect hipsters or cyclists, but upon entering I see tables full of prosperous and well-kept people. the suburban nights almost a country club crowd, the decor, on the otherOn the other hand, it's like an acid trip.

I have never been more confused in my life, possibly the ugliest restaurant I have ever been to and who told you that blue and yellow go together well. I mean, this looks like it was painted by a three year old. All the pictures are hung crookedly. I really have trouble digesting my food when the paintings look like that, it makes everything go a little inside them, but I guess it shows. all that's a loud noise that's music this is yeah I can't even not go we're hooked up to a music venue so if you open the doors you're looking at a stage they're doing a sound check right now.

I should ask for something. food eat and get out of here then should i spend the night or could you drink more and stay and enjoy the show let's start with option a and build our way to the hobby tell me about the food fad obviously favorite thing on the menu tonight see if you like that You cook the best thing in life and you have to cut off their faces, you have to cut off their faces. Do you know that this is a food preparation that I have never seen in a cookbook, first cut off their faces, the trick that I would love the most? nothing to see that, okay, let me check with the staff and I'll be right back and I've never seen anything with a cut face, I don't really know why I want the cold-blooded restaurant critic in me to be curious to know more .

This method of food preparation, the compassionate human being in me is absolutely horrified, Osami. It's soft right now. I've never held it. It feels like touching a toad or something, doesn't it? What are you about to do and why can you cut the base? I love it because that doesn't taste very good and then We're going to cut the gills and then we're going to cut the apron off the apron. It must be a euphemism for something that is the private area. Sometimes it's better not to know how food is prepared, especially when it has a face.

Wow, my God. I can see why you have a door in the kitchen, that's the most terrible thing I've ever seen in my life and now obviously what I fancy is the vegetarian option, but instead I order a pig's trotter pie and say as I order See his face. get it out of your body I have to order the crab thank you very much many restaurants take advantage of their lively atmosphere but if this din continues the many chances of winning my review will be as dead as my disfigured crab there are two double doors there and on the other side there is a man who thinks he's Jimi Hendrix and can't eat, I can't eat with this.

What I want to know is mine this week. I'm in a southern love of a city, Charleston, South Carolina, tonight I'm eating at the lot. the fourth of five restaurants vying for my million-dollar review so far. I've experienced stomach-churning decor and an appetite-killing noise levels thanks to the live rock band next door, but I'm willing to forget all that discomfort if the food is delicious (this is a poor classic Trotter's Pie) being acquitted a pig looks like some kind of mountain food dressed up for a restaurant the egg is nice and there's nothing more heartbreaking than ordering something with an egg and they've cooked it all the way just need to run on the rendered pigskin very very , very rich, very greasy, you got it, you have a cooking booth for pig's feet for so long that everything melts, that's how they used to make glue, but here I'm making some kind of hockey puck out of sticky pig toes and then we're frying them.

It's not sophisticated. It is very tasty. It's your soft shell crab. Thank you so much. She brought me something. Looks like a seagull dropped her lunch on the way home. I hadn't seen this chef kill this thing by cutting off its face. I think you ran him over on the way to work. That's a lot of squished brown stuff. If you ask me, I almost wanted to take her face off. Instead, I'll eat that, so here there are brains, there's an intestinal tract and then you eat the whole thing, so sometimes the liver explodes and what are you enjoying?

There is an explosion of bitterness because the gallbladder is kind people in the In the back of your mouth said all that tastes pretty good is a really fantastic plate of food. I didn't come here just to eat the same things, the same things I bought at home in the end. I've had a fantastic meal. It wasn't a fancy kitchen, it was a real kitchen and it was very well done, but before I go, there is one thing I have to do. Can you do that? Can you straighten up every time? I think it's okay, I just need to get it right.

Sorry sir, I guess we'll just have to wait and see after four very different meals in Charleston. It's time for the fifth and final restaurant for my million dollar review. Hello, Julia, tonight was the restaurant. It's a place called Lily's Hot Kitchen. It's a Chinese restaurant. Is he like straight Chinese or is he southern Chinese? You're the food critic, you'll have to tell me. Well, listen, Chinese is my thing. I'm the world's leading expert on Chinese food and I love it and miss it, so what is it? interesting about Lily's kitchen, well it's on a side street on the west side of Charleston, a neighborhood that's a little rough, how difficult, let's just say the doorman isn't there just to open the door.

Lily's Hot Kitchen is owned by Chef Lily Lee and her partner Cara Lee Nielsen Fowler have worked together in restaurants on and off for over 20 years with my knowledge of the Chinese food restaurant business it's a good marriage Lily and Carol II know that you have incredibly high standards when it comes to Chinese cuisine and there is a You may not like their food, but they are willing to take the risk because if Lily's Hot Cooking is going to last, she needs the exposure to come. with your million dollar review, it's beyond huge, we don't have a big PR company.

I've never had anything like that. This is a small restaurant, but in terms of how successful it will be, it is huge in the light of day. This neighborhood doesn't seem so bad, but then why is there a huge Big Bounce outside of you waiting for a restaurant? Bidding on things, you blame me, yeah, if I could eat Chinese food all day, every day, I probably would, so if Lily's Hot Kitchen is going to get my million dollar review, it's going to have to exceed my expectations, which They are already very tall, at first glance, Lily looks great. packed to the brim and wonderfully decorated, but there are no Chinese here, which would explain why the menu is written entirely in English.

I usually want to see some Chinese writing on a menu for me, both are early warning signs, so with my kind of bored restaurant fatigue I even guess I'm skeptical and they actually cook Chinese food and to find out I go straight to the person in charge of food, Lily. I would be interested to know from her what the food she cooks is really similar to, she says she because hello, thank you for revealing my family history. I am showing my satisfaction of being in good hands. I decide to leave my order to Lily. I request her father's favorite dish, braised red pork belly, but everything else. it's up to her after a nice spicy soup Lily sends me her traditional chive pancakes she serves them along with salt and pepper soft shell crab the crab better be good because I just tried a great version in the batch so a chives pancakes chewy food as much as I like spicy food this is one of those things that is really quite bland and then I almost celebrate her blindness it's great and not what I expected I came in here a little cynical chef lily is already very good Get started with these chive pancakes and if the soft shell crab is just as good, it's on its way to earning my review, so here I have a whole soft shell crab, something quite difficult to eat with chopsticks, how to know where to go.

I'll just rip off a leg, it's not as crispy as she expected. I think you would call this soft shell crab Xiu Yin, which usually has more chili and more garlic. I'm probably toning it down for local tapes. This is a bit. Smooth, you know, just chopping vegetables and fried broccoli. I'm officially upset about this crab dish. I can tell she hasn't seasoned it enough to satisfy weak local tastes, so now it comes down to my final dish, her father's favorite braised pork, if only she would tone it down. Not only will it be sad if she misses out on her chance to receive my million dollar review this week.

Tonight I'll be eating in beautifully historic and always southern Charleston, South Carolina. I will dine at the fifth and final restaurant competing for my million. dollar review Lily's Hot Kitchen, one of Charleston's few Chinese restaurants, served me excellent chive pancakes, but bland soft-shell crab, if Chef Lilly's father's favorite dish doesn't surprise me. Lee Leaves will be left out of my review, thank you very much. I can see why this was her father's favorite dish. It's slow cooked, lots of spices, not the kind of food you traditionally get in Chinese restaurants in North America or Europe, just like home cooking, the kind of thing I always do.

Lily's hot cooking is impressive and Lily has made her father and her ancestors proud, but I feel like she's playing it safe, so before I leave I have a challenge for her. Anything you cook yourself at home is so Chinese that you think maybe it's not what you have. It was expected, but you'll see what I got myself into there. What are you going to bring? What does she just prepare when she gets home? Is it a pig intestine stuck inside the intestine of another pig? Is it a boiled squirrel? It could be anything Oh geez, what is that, those brains, these boiled peanuts, you won't fry them, oh yeah, I'm not a big fan of boiled peanuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'll be honest, it doesn't look that appetizing at all. It looks like a cold lamb's brain. I almost wish it was. It's pretty terrible. Yes, it will taste like something my body rejected. My parents put him in front of me as punishment. It has a very slight garbage aftertaste. of your breath afterwards it's like I'm working out very hungry and eating out of a container if the review goes ahead and hopefully people will frequent this restaurant so we'll always be busy. Well that was a much better meal than I thought it was going to be a lovely place she is a lovely woman when I first looked at the menu I thought it wasn't that authentic but the pork belly her father's favorite dish , which was very well done in the end, gave it to me. a fortune cookie could tell me there's a million dollars of yours in her future It's my last day in Charleston after eating at five restaurants competing for my million dollar review.

I'm ready to weigh my options and choose the winner, so Julia will take me. to the Rutledge Taxi Company for breakfast. I already know which restaurant doesn't get my review. Let's catch the salt of the west. Unfortunately, the stubborn daughter dropped out of the running because of my review, which means I have four contenders. The pool at Alouettes cafe is sneaky. Lily's hot kitchen. and all but only one can win my review, tell me about many, so loud but that said the food was very very good there is no doubt they absolutely have the ideas for the rice.

It looked like some sort of old roadside shack, but they clearly had modern features. values ​​Hi, I want to hear what you think about Alouettes, my heart sank a little when the guys showed up and said it's holistic soul food, you won't find meat there, but everything was done very well, their food is all about nutrition in Instead of just being fat, when did you think about Lily leaving? It was a bit enigmatic when I first walked in. I was a little suspicious, so I didn't see any Chinese other than Lily, but then I had that amazing pork dish that her dad loved. and that showed me that she really can serve authentic and delicious Chinese food.

What's up with Pogan sport? Easy for the tourist restaurant or not easy for the Torres restaurant. Southern exercise, oh yes sir, the south can be and I certainly won't allow the fact that I'm basically a tourist. attraction to get in the way of your chances of getting a million dollar review it's time to write my review there can only be one winner and my review could boost your business by a million dollars in additional income I do not take this task lightly and In my heart I need to be sure that I am making the right decision.

Who will it be? My review is written and published today on The Huffington Post. Whose life would it be? Is it the Alouettes coffee or what about the hot kitchen lilies? or Putin's porch. I chose Alouette because I absolutely fell in love with them and their concept of holistic soul food confirmed that I do the best I can. Giles loved it and I'm happy because I won when I think about holistic food. Think something that's hippie-dignified and boring, and while Alouettes was certainly wholesome, it definitely wasn't boring. Alouettes Cafe has great energy, great food and great service, they are doing something really unique and well worth my million dollar review.