NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Not even 40 years ago, the idea that there was a restaurant worthy of making the trek outside of old Charleston’s cobbled streets and trophy mansions was sheer lunacy.Maybe — just maybe — there was a place or two west of the Ashley River or over the Cooper River bridge in Mount Pleasant worth getting in the car for, but the peninsula basically ended at Calhoun Street where the Old Citadel stood guard over Marion Square.In the ensuing decades, though, as the city began to burst its riverine seams, there was only one way to go — north. A visitors center opened on the north side of the square in the early 1990s and slowly the empty storefronts on upper King Street came to life.From their earlier nucleus around the Old Market, the city’s hallowed restaurants spread out. First they colonized the rundown clapboard homes south of the crosstown expressway that severs the peninsula, then began creeping up what used to be an industrial corridor on upper Meeting Street in the 2010s.Now, the unthinkable has happened. Some of the city’s hottest new restaurants are all the way in — shudder — North Charleston, in one of its most exciting new neighborhoods. Blueblooded Charlestonians of a certain age are surely howling in horror.North Charleston is nothing like its elderly sister to the south. Dominated for the entirety of the 20th century by a naval base that was abandoned in 1996, much of it is still overrun with chain restaurants, strip malls, and interstate highways. Charleston dates back more than 350 years; North Charleston was incorporated in 1972, and for the most part it shows.There is a pocket along the Cooper River around the old navy base, however, that is coming into its own.Known as Park Circle because of the circular park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm that dominates the area, the neighborhood has become a haven for those priced out of the housing market farther south on the peninsula. The new residents settled into the area’s modest homes built in the middle of the 20th century for workers at the Navy base, and are now demanding the same sort of amenities they left behind. They’re getting them.Two of the Eater Carolinas foodie blog’s hottest new restaurants this spring — Paddock and Whisky and Three Sirens — are in the area, and two other locales were Charleston’s only restaurants on Yelp’s annual list of the best restaurants in America — LoLA and Jackrabbit Filly. (Labeling the latter two “Charleston” restaurants even though they are situated in North Charleston, a separate municipality, is sure to drive Charleston purists crazy.)Jackrabbit Filly, adjacent to a high-end barber but across the street from a check cashing store, is the brainchild of two Brooklyn emigres who began their journey in a food truck before settling in Park Circle in 2019. The duo, Shuai and Corrie Wang, describe their fare as “New Chinese American,” and the menu is a mix of Asian staples with an occasional Southern flourish: bacon fried rice, for example, and five spice fries with yum yum sauce.The most popular lunch items at Jackrabbit Filly are the bowls, described as akin to a deconstructed sushi roll. A Sichuan hot karaage rice bowl ($14) sports Japanese-style fried chicken, a soft egg, Filly sauce, ponzu and spicy chili oil; the O.G. Chirashi bowl ($15) features sashimi, masago, pickles, ponzu, furikake, and spicy mayo. Duke’s mayo, of course. This is, after all, South Carolina. Farther north on the area’s main commercial corridor, Montague Avenue, is Paddock and Whisky, the second location for the popular bourbon bar. The food menu has been expanded for the North Charleston location, and includes such local staples as oysters broiled with sofrito butter and pecorino cheese ($13) and beer-steamed mussels served with a baguette ($18) from the iconic EVO bakery across the street, one of the earliest entrants on the Park Circle scene.Paddock and Whisky’s 48-foot bar is a blinding array of the joint’s namesake beverage. More than 200 varieties of bourbons and whiskies adorn the back of the bar, and those charged with dispensing the libation are all-too-eager to walk neophytes through the intricacies of one of America’s best-known Southern icons. LoLA, around the corner, also has its roots in Charleston’s thriving food truck scene. The colorful brick and mortar location, with an abundance of pet-friendly outdoor seating and dating to 2016, features what is described as Lowcountry Louisiana fare such as gumbo yaya with chicken and andouille sausage ($11), Carolina gator bites with honey jalapeno dressing ($16), and poboys made from fried green tomatoes ($14) or crawfish drizzled with remoulade sauce ($17).The newest entrant to the Montague Avenue scene, open only since December 2021, is Three Sirens, from the same folks who run a wine bar named Stem & Skins in the neighborhood. Chef Julian Lippe has leaned heavily into the seafood that is such a staple of the Lowcountry, with sauteed flounder served with a cauliflower puree and asparagus spears ($31) and smoked fish dip croquettes with a red pepper jam for dipping ($10).The imaginative cocktails at Three Sirens — an eponymous gin and tonic made with Spanish gin, for one — voluminous wine list, and cozy back room have already made the spot a go-to one for date nights in Charleston.There are other restaurants in the area worth the 20-minute drive north from downtown Charleston — the CODfather, Proper Fish and Chips just down the street on Spruill Avenue, for one, as well as the aforementioned EVO Bakery, which spawned a legendary pizzeria next door, come to mind — but one of the main reasons to test North Charleston’s culinary mettle is to sample a neighborhood vibe that is so markedly different from old Charleston. Tourists have yet to overrun the area, so it remains relatively subdued when compared with the din downtown. Tables in Park Circle, while getting harder to come by as the area’s popularity increases, rarely require the weeks of foresight demanded by such downtown stalwarts as Fig or Husk. And the prices remain relatively reasonable when compared to downtown, where dinner for two with taxes and tip at an in-demand spot can easily set a couple back $200 or more.To top it all off, parking is ample, and free, which is unheard of farther south on the peninsula.
