McCrady's

Anyone who has heard of Sean Brock knows this dump... McCrady's, the place that started it all for him. He has became a familiar face in the culinary world and done it all without being on some TV game show. Being a celebrity chef is a gift and a curse. They are hardly ever at their restaurants cooking anymore, which made them semi famous in the first place. They're always traveling around making guest appearances or what not. Quality and execution can suck a big dick unless they have an amazing crew in place that shares the same vision and passion for putting out good food. Can the curse be true here at McCrady's that has diseased so many other celebrity restos? No one likes to eat at a diseased restaurant, especially me. Let's go see if I will need some shots afterwards... I guess it all depends on what kinda shots. If it's liquor, then the answer would be yes... God, I'm such a fucking alchie.

Looks like an alley where hookers hangout... I'm in.

Blurry Gas Lamp... Like my vision after a few bourbons.

Purdy Bar... Where I got my blurry vision on. The space is really nice, I like it a lot because it has real history behind it.

Chilled Pea Soup. Velvety, flavorful and had a nice consistency. Nice summer soup. Some evidence of liquid nitro was used in it... Enough of that shit, already, puh-leez.

Beef Tartare. Nice color on the tartare and that yellow tube is an egg yolk. Good stuff.

Hog Snapper. The fish was cooked perfectly... Which means it was really good. Skin was thin and crispy, the fish was tender and moist. Loved this dish... Except the foam. 86 it and it'll be a perfect dish.

Grilled Shrimp & Carolina Gold Rice. The shrimp was nice and flavorful (I hope so) but the rest of the dish was so-so, even with the wonderful Carolina Gold rice. It was a well executed dish but prolly the least exciting of the night.

Trio of Lamb. Rack, belly and terrine. As you see by the color it was cook spot on. Another home run for me on this dish.

Duck Breast & Confit. Another tasty dish but a little chintzy on the breast portion. But it was cooked beautifully. Coulda used another slice or three. Confit was nice but a little dry, not really my definition of confit. Still a good dish, though.

Chocolate & Mushroom. Strange dessert, so I ordered it anyways. It actually came out decent and I'm not a dessert person.

Peach Cobbler. Totally a different take of this southern classic. Trying to be mistor fancy pants but it also worked. Damn you.

Mignardises. Oh, isn't it cute they put after-dinner food stuff treats on a piece of rock... I gobbled them up in 2 bites.


Ok, I tried to find faults with this higher end casual resto like I do with most places of this caliber... But I really couldn't except for my Sazerac that came with a nice fruit fly doing the backstroke in it. They did the right thing though, took it away and made another right away. It was a decent Sazerac but the Old Fashioned and Side Cars I had after that were kinda weak. I went with the flow since the food made up for it and didn't mention it. But the server did notice and took it another step further and took a couple of drinks off the bill at the end. That's what make this resto different than most on this level... They actually notice and care about their customers. Great service, good food and a place that you can come to on a weekly basis. Also, a good value for your money on the prix fixe or chef tasting. Now, if they can work on the cocktails...  

Definitely on my list on the next visit.

Burp.

3.5 Stars.

2 Unity Alley
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 577-0025
http://mccradysrestaurant.com/