Happy Friday, Charleston! Our “Where Are We” segment is a hit with y’all! I receive plenty of guesses each week, and I try to shake up the difficulty level every time. I think this week’s photo is challenging, but you’ll be the judges of that. 👇🏼👇🏼

Congrats to Gil B. of West Ashley and Sandra P. of Goose Creek who guessed correctly in our “Where Are We” segment last week! They identified our location on The Citadel campus. To get specific, we were at the northwest corner of the parade ground, and the photo showed the McDonnell F-4C Phantom II.

In today’s newsletter:

• Legami means “connection” in Italian. That’s the name of a new Italian restaurant opening at 492 King Street in October. 🫶🏼

• Quick-Take Friday starts today. Where I update you on a few stories I’ve reported before, and add my take on some new ones. 🏃🏼‍♀️

• ICYMI. Ramen’s here & CHS weddings. 🍜

Friday 84° / 71° 🌧️ 💧90%

Saturday 84° / 72° ☀️ 💧5%

Sunday 84° / 71° ☀️ 💧15%

Friday, September 27

• First Ever Food & Wine Classic Charleston I 10 AM | Firefly Distillery, 4201 Spruill Avenue, North Charleston | Come join us in the Grand Tasting at the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston at the Visitor's Center downtown on September 27th and 28th! With two sessions each day, there's plenty of time to indulge-join us in the morning from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM or the evening from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Get ready for incredible food, wine, spirits and unforgettable moments. We'll be offering tastings of our newest aged spirits from Tom & Huck Distillers! You don't want to miss it! This is a ticketed event.

• Mixology Class w/ Traveling Spirits Bar Service | 5 - 6:30 PM | Striped Pig Distillery, 2225 Old School Drive, North Charleston | Join us for a fun Mixology Class with Traveling Spirits Bar Service - learn to make delicious cocktails while enjoying a mobile bar experience.

• Towne Centre Fall Boat Show I 6 PM | Mt. Pleasant Towne Centre, 1218 Belk Dr, Mount Pleasant | The Mount Pleasant Towne Centre Fall Boat Show is back! Join us for a spectacular event featuring the latest and greatest in boating from local dealers including Longshore Boats, Seel's Outboard, Cape Romain Marine, and Coastal Carolina Yacht Sales! Explore cutting-edge marine technology, enjoy exclusive deals on boating accessories, and discover the newest models from renowned manufacturers including EdgeWater, Robalo, Chaparral, Pursuit, TideWater, Grady-White, Sea Hunt, Polar Kraft, Xpress, Tiara, Back Cove, Regal, Sabre, Mitzi Skiffs, and more!

Saturday, September 28

• 39th Annual Family Festival | 9:30 AM - 4 PM | St. Theresa the Little Flower Catholic Church, 11001 Dorchester Road, Summerville | Join us for a day of community fun! There will be many food and beverage options, games for the kids and kids at heart, seven jump castles, face painting, a petting zoo, a variety of craft vendors, and an online auction to meet your shopping needs! There's so much to do and fun for everyone!

• National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition I 12 PM | North Charleston Riverfront Park, 1001 Everglades Ave., North Charleston | The seventeenth annual National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition FY24/25 opens May 1 at the stunning North Charleston Riverfront Park.  The 11-month exhibition features 12 pieces by established and emerging artists from 5 states displaying imaginative and thought-provoking outdoor sculpture.  Visitors can enjoy the sculpture displays among ten acres of walking paths, a fishing pier, boardwalk, playground, and children’s play fountain. Organized and presented by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department

• Charleston Oktoberfest Bar Crawl | 4 - 11 PM | Élevé Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge, 55 Wentworth Street, Charleston | Join us for a fun night of hopping from bar to bar to celebrate Oktoberfest 2024!

Sunday, September 29

• Navy Hill Tequila Soda Sampling | 12 - 4 PM | Fiat Lux at Hotel Bennett, 404 King Street, Charleston | Join us at Fiat Lux on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29, from 12–4 PM to celebrate the Food & Wine Classic! Enjoy live DJ sets and sample Navy Hill's refreshing canned Tequila Sodas.

• Kultura Pop-Up at Wild Dunes Resort on September 9 | 2 - 8 PM | Wild Dunes Resort - Grand Pavilion North Pool, 5757 Palms Blvd., Isle of Palms | James Beard Award-nominated Chef Nikko Cagalanan of Kultura is teaming up with Wild Dunes Resort to host an epic beach bash to celebrate the end of summer on Sunday, September 29. Chef Nikko will bring a taste of the Philippines to the beachside barbecue with traditional whole lechon cooked on-site, Halo-Halo, Lumpia and more.

• Dumpling Making Workshop @ Two Blokes | 5 - 7 PM | Two Blokes Brewing, 547 Long Point Road, ste 101, Mount Pleasant | Join us for a Dumpling Making Class with Sarah's Dumps! Arrive and settle-in, we’ll have a couple of snacks ready for you. First, we’ll be making mandu (Korean dumplings) and then a side dish. We cannot accommodate gluten free. Nate will be doing the cooking, but you are more than welcome to observe/ask questions. You’ll bring home a pair of stainless steel chopsticks along with recipes emailed to you after the class. 

These are just a small sample of what’s happening in Charleston this weekend! Don’t forget to visit our events website. You can search, filter, slice-and-dice, or whatever you’d like to call it at our site, and find the most happening events for YOU!

But that’s not all! If you’re planning an event and you’d like it to be included on our calendar, click that button below to submit!

RESTAURANTS

Italian Restaurant To Open at 492 King Street In October

I’ve been walking past the corner of King & Mary streets for a while, wondering what was going to happen to the space vacated by a restaurant simply named 492 in August of 2018.

This is a big space! When reporting 492’s closing, the Post and Courier described it as “one of the most outwardly ambitious restaurants to arrive on Upper King Street” when it opened in 2015.

The property changed hands in April of 2021 for the princely sum of $6.8 million.

I figured whomever would next take on a project of this size would also have to be pretty damn confident. Particularly in light of the challenges the Charleston restaurant scene has experienced.

That group has arrived.

What’s next for 492 King Street?

An experienced restaurant family is set to open Legami in October. Legami means “connection” in Italian.

Legami will be led by an Italian-born chef who trained at the prestigious Niko Romito Academy before working in multiple Michelin star restaurants.

His goal at Legami is to explore every part of Italian cuisine through a Southern lens. The executive chef and his team plan to do so through appetizers, fresh-rolled pastas and main courses from the sea and land.

The restaurant will include a beautiful veranda, and four separate dining areas.

Follow their Instagram profile for updates.

WHERE ARE WE?

Each week, watch this space for a random snap from somewhere in Charleston. Where are we? Only true locals will know. DM your guess on Instagram, or email me here. The first person to guess correctly will get a shout-out at the top of our issue next week!

QUICK-TAKE FRIDAY

🏗️ Ashley Landing redevelopment gets final approval from Charleston City Council. Relatively speaking, this moved at lightning speed. I think it’s really smart planning.

🍽️ Cru Cafe closes after 23 years. I’ve written recently about what seems to be a raft of closings. This one seemed to hit close to home among Charlestonians. Cru Cafe has been consistently good for a very long time. Shall I revisit my take that all the recent closings are a “normal” ebb and flow of the business? I might amend it, but just slightly. At this moment in time, there’s simply too many restaurants in Charleston, with not enough willing consumers.

📺 Craig & Austen’s restaurant set to open this fall. By The Way is a venture between Southern Charm stars Craig Conover and Austen Kroll, and Uptown Hospitality Group. If you’ve ever watched Southern Charm, you know it’s the essence of “guilty-pleasure” viewing. And you also might come away thinking there ain’t a lot between the ears of most of its cast members. 😳 But Craig’s entrepreneurial prowess has grown on me. I was SOOOOO skeptical when he opened his pillow shop, Sewing Down South, in May of 2021 at 493 King Street. I’m impressed, though. That store is quite well-merchandised and is much more than a a store that sells pillows.

🗡️ Middleton Made Knives is the essence of craftsmanship. After a decade of honing his skills, Quintin Middleton will open his own store at Navy Yard Charleston in October. To make the high-quality knives he does requires serious commitment.

ICYMI

🍽️ Naan Indian Restaurant will open in Mount Pleasant’s Patriots Plaza. They’ve been looking mighty close for a few weeks, so I popped into the restaurant yesterday and chatted with the chef. He told me they’re awaiting final inspections from the Town of Mount Pleasant, and hope to open by next weekend. The team behind this restaurant owns 3 others in Savannah, 1 in North Charleston and one coming soon in Summerville.

🍲 Terrific new ramen place is now open. As well-represented as most cuisines are in Charleston, ramen’s been lacking. Not anymore.

👰🏼 Why is a former pizza and brewery building soon to be a wedding event venue? I learned this week from one of my running friends, Janie, that Charleston is the #2 wedding destination in the US. She knows this because she’s a designer at Charleston’s Studio R. This is reason enough for the former Baker & Brewer to become The Waverly.

QUIZ TIME!!! What’s the #1 wedding destination in the US? Email me with the correct answer and I’ll give you a special shout-out in next week’s issue.

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FEEDBACK

Got 15 seconds? Let us know what you thought about today’s newsletter by replying to this email or voting in the poll below (you’ll be done MUCH faster than commercial real estate gets developed in Charleston). 👇