October 30th, 2009 by Currie
Weekend Round-Up: Oysters, Bond, and a little holiday called Halloween
Fun stuff to do Oct. 30-Nov. 1
I'll be attending "The Dark Arts Ball" costume required!
by Erica Jackson
Honestly, there’s not too much going on this weekend. It’s a good one just to stay in, maybe clean out the gutters… OK, we’re lying. It’s Halloween weekend, which in Charleston is treated with the fervor of the biggest religious holidays — except it’s a lot more fun. We’ve already chosen our favorite events in City Paper’s print edition, like the Dark Arts Ball and Trick-or-Treating in Cannon/Elliotborough. We’ve also rounded up the best parties in town, along with the most buzz-worthy music gigs. Whether you’re downtown or in the ’burbs, you shouldn’t have trouble finding a place to do the monster mash. See our full Fright Life calendar for all the listings.
But wait, there’s more going on than Halloween stuff. For instance, the Coastal Carolina Fair is in town. Music + rides + funnel cakes = a good time for everyone.
It might not feel like fall, but it is officially the season — you can tell by all the oyster roasts. Masters Studios is hosting one, there’s the S.C. Memorial Reef Oyster Roast at The Island House, the School of the Arts hosts their roast/fundraiser with live music at Bowens Island, and the Wagener Terrace Neighborhood Association takes over beautiful Lowndes Grove plantation for their roast. All of these events are on Sunday.
Feeling suave? Head to the Memminger Friday and Saturday for the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s performance of songs from James Bond. On Friday, the College of Charleston Opera opens its 2009-2010 season with the Broadway revue, I Can Do Without You. Then on Sunday, Charleston Chamber Opera and the Gibbes Museum of Art partner for an afternoon of opera in the Gibbes rotunda.
There’s more stuff you can check out in our full events calendar, but for the most part Halloween is where it’s at. If you don’t like it, then maybe you should stay in all weekend.
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October 29th, 2009 by Currie
Meghan Sutton smiles at Velvet Salon
A couple of months ago Meghan Sutton packed her scissors and quit LA for Charleston Sc. She regrets nothing! Joining the stylists at the perfectly petite Velvet Salon at 162 Spring St in Charleston, Sc. is a dream come true. Her co-workers scoffed when she left LA’s posh “The Syndicate” where she added color to the likes of David Hasselhoff and Carnie Wilson. “Celebrities are hard to work on mainly because of their entourage, once you actually get to know the people it is much easier”, she quips. Despite her experience with the difficulties of say, preparing Paula Abdul for American Idol, Meghan stays upbeat about catering to the stars. She enjoys working at Velvet because they are a team and there is “a lot less drama”. After preparing the playboy bunnies for the emmy awards, she can handle any bride! Meghan adds make-up and hair extensions and a new keratin smoothing treatment to the menu at Velvet. She specializes in wedding and event styling. The staff at Velvet is excited about their upcoming Oyster Roast on November 14th from 3-6pm where they will introduce their sister business One Respe, a massage studio owned by Abigail McClam. Check out Velvet Salon on the web for great specials on services for fall!
Velvet Salon owner Melissa Pope works a new do
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October 29th, 2009 by Currie
What is the best thing about trick or treating in Cannonborough? The shops along Cannon and Spring Streets will stay open for all the little goblins and ghouls roaming the Peninsula this Halloween. Stroll Cannonborough – Elliotborough from 4:00 to 7:00 PM where more than 40 participating homes and businesses will provide the treats.
Pop into mac & murphy or Sugar Bakeshop and then onto the dozens of other businesses and residences in this great live work corridor. Be sure to dress to impress and come play in Cannonborough – Elliotborough.
There’s no trick but a great treat findingmac & murphy at 72 1/2 Cannon Street just a few short blocks off Upper King Street in historic downtown Charleston.
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October 14th, 2009 by Currie
Upper King Design Walk
Here’s the agenda for Design Walk, right around the corner on Upper King Street…
Mayor Riley will launch at 5:00 PM welcoming the beautiful new 6,000 sq. foot urban oasis, Seeking Indigo at 445 King.
The Cannon Elliot Lounge at 45 John Street will have upscale wedding and home displays by: Maddison Row, Bella Bridesmaid, Mac & Murphy, The Francis Marion Hotel, Pierre Deux, Patrick Properties, Magar Hatworks, Croghans Jewel Box, Whispers on Wentworth, Art Institute of Charleston, Sunset Photobooth, Charleston Weddings Magazine and more, sponsored by the Patterson Smith Company.
Charleston Magazine and Charleston Home will be there.
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October 14th, 2009 by Currie
FYI: Nearly 4 Million Tourists travel to Charleston each year.
Charleston City Market renovations begin in January
By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 13, 2009
A $5 million, top-to-bottom renovation of downtown Charleston’s historic City Market is set to begin in January, officials said today.
The makeover to the landmark buildings will include new roofs, floors, electrical wiring and paint; the addition of ceiling fans, security cameras and bathrooms; and repointing historic bricks, said Hank Holliday, a partner with City Market Preservation Trust.
The city of Charleston last year selected City Market Preservation Trust to manage and renovate the market. Principals are Holliday, Steve Varn and Laurie Thompson.
Officials with the private management group joined Charleston Mayor Joe Riley this morning to announce renovations plans.
The first phase of renovations will focus on the three open-air buildings between Church and East Bay streets. Work will begin on Jan. 4 and take four months to compete.
During that period, the city will close South Market Street between Church and State streets. Holliday said his group will install tents in that area to allow vendors to continue operating.
The second phase of work, expected to begin in the fall of 2010, will include the enclosed shops between Meeting and Church streets.
Though the private group will manage the renovations, plans call for the city to issue revenue bonds to fund the project. Income from the City Market will repay those bonds, Holliday said.
He said the City Market Preservation Trust has estimated the cost to be about $5 million for both phases. But he added, “The mayor is pushing us to bring it in at less than that.”
City Council is expected to consider the revenue bond issue in November.
The land on which the City Market sits was donated to the city in 1804 for a public market. Existing buildings were constructed in 1841. The last renovation to those buildings was in the early 1970s, Riley said.
The City Market now includes more than 40,000 square feet, which Holliday called “the most valuable commercial real estate in the Southern United States.” The market has 165 permanent vendors, 86 temporary vendors and 17 enclosed shops.
“Few visitors to Charleston consider a visit to Charleston complete if they don’t come to the City Market,” Riley said.
But Riley said he also wants to make the market “a must for locals.”
Holliday said his team has studied some of the nation’s top public markets, from Boston to New Orleans, in shaping their plans over the past year. They have hired David O’Neil, a consultant who works on public market projects nationwide.
Related links
Download a free map of the Historic Charleston Market area
View historic and modern photos of the Charleston Market
Go to the main home page of the Charleston City Market
The group officially took over management of the City Market from a prior management company in October 2008.
Varn said that renovations to the City Market coincide with the S.C. State Ports Authority’s planned renovation to its Union Pier, the access point for cruise ship passengers entering the city. Union Pier is located near the East Bay Street end of the market.
Varn said the two projects together will be catalysts to revive the entire market district.
Holliday and Varn together own more than 300,000 square feet of commercial space located around the City Market, including Planters Inn, Peninsula Grill, Hanks’ Seafood Restaurant, Mercato Italian Restaurant, the DoubleTree Inn, Hayne Street Inn and the Andrew Pinckney Inn.
Thompson is the former revitalization director for the city of Charleston and has been involved in the development of Charleston Place and Saks Fifth Avenue, among other downtown projects.
Several years ago the city renovated the Market Hall building, the front of the market that includes the second-floor Confederate Museum.
Reach Ashley Fletcher Frampton at 843-849-3129.
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October 13th, 2009 by Currie
Did you know that La Dolce Vita (which plays tonight at 103 Spring St, Charleston’s only plein air theatre, is the origin of the term paparazzi? Don’t forget to check out the film tonight, gallery opens at 7:30 and movie starts at dark. Bring a lawn chair, Sugar Bakeshop is bringing the cupcakes and other surprises!
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October 10th, 2009 by Currie
Raw Juices
Seeking Indigo Video
Seeking Indigo is throwing a grand opening party from 5 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 15 in conjunction with the Upper King Street Design Walk.
The new 6,000 square-foot space, located at 445 King St., combines a retail store with a wellness center.
The retail part will have handpicked global and local items, such as antique Indonesian pavilions, Moroccan lanterns, original art, a bamboo yoga clothing line and vintage vespas.
On the other side of the space, a wellness center will have a pilates center, a café with raw and organic food from The Sprout, a massage center and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
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October 8th, 2009 by Currie
Giving love to the big apple
Readers find that bigger is not always better!
Charleston, Sc finally beat New York City as Condé Nast Traveler readers 2008 Readers’ Choice Survey best city to visit. The complete results will appear in the November issue that comes out October 21.
South Carolina is also home this year to the number 2 island in North America – Kiawah. Kiawah is home to the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, which came it as the number 3 Mainland U.S. Resort.
Select results from the 2008 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards include:
Top Cities- United States:
1. San Francisco
2. Charleston, SC
3. New York City
4. Santa Fe
5. Chicago
6. Carmel
7. Honolulu
8. Savannah
9. San Diego
10. Sedona
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October 8th, 2009 by Currie
Edward Hopper "The Nighthawks"
For the past three days I have seen Charleston through the eyes of a New York bartender. My new client arrived with a mission, hang up his bar towel at arguably the trendiest bar in the West Village, and open a similar concept in Charleston Sc. As we scoured the streets of Charleston, he relayed tales of changing times in Manhattan; woefully siting corporate control and greedy landlords for the homogenization of what was once the melting pot of the world. He exhibited a genuine infatuation with Charleston Sc and an enthusiasm for it’s delicate balance of old and new. Shrugging off the obvious draw of upper King St locations, we gravitated to the upper peninsula. Will it be an old soul food joint or a grungy midtown warehouse? Both hold and abundance of promise and patina.
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October 7th, 2009 by Currie
Lauren Mitterer looks through the window of her new shop on Spring Street, WildFlour Pastry
On the first crisp morning of fall in the Lowcountry, Lauren Mitterer has a timely challenge before her: what to do with a peck of gorgeous green Mutsu apples, fresh from the mountains of North Carolina….apple pie? No…No….
“I have an issue with slices,” says the pastry chef and owner of the new WildFlour Pastry shop at 73 Spring St. As desserts go, “I think everything should be individual.”
So 24 hours later, Mitterer stays faithful to her muse. She caramelizes some of the apples in brown butter and spiced sugar, then tucks them into small phyllo purses for baking. Warm, golden and ready out of the oven, each purse is surrounded with caramel sauce and topped with bits of aged cheddar cheese.
Other apples are cored and sliced into thick rings, then roasted. The rings go atop a molasses crisp and the hollow centers are filled with apple cider and caramel. A sprinkle of sea salt gives the dessert a sweet-salty-crunchy finish.
Her insistence on individual creations isn’t food snobbery, it’s her artistic side.
Mitterer went to the University of Virginia on a rowing scholarship and graduated with a degree in studio arts. Then she had the rare opportunity to work as a pastry cook at the famous Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York City. Within a year she was off to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., graduating in 2004.
“I really wanted to continue in art, wanted to keep that as my passion,” Mitterer says of her decision to go to culinary school. “I felt I could do the same sort of creative stuff with pastry, both with texture and taste.”
A Chicago native who later lived in Seattle, Mitterer continues to show the spunk and inspiration that earned her a James Beard award nomination in 2008. At 28, she is striking out on her own after building a reputation at the acclaimed Red Drum Gastropub in Mount Pleasant.
It’s a matter of getting back to baking, her love. Hired by Red Drum as pastry chef in 2005, she had taken on the additional job of manager and found herself spending more and more time on the business operations.
But it turned out to be a good learning experience, one that enabled Mitterer to return to pastry and take a chance on a charming 700-square-foot space with big windows and a courtyard garden. She opened WildFlour in September.
Mitterer is enticing the neighborhood with gourmet coffees and teas, sweet and savory turnovers, tarts, coffeecake and a rotating variety of cookies. She also is doing special “Sticky Bun Sundays” 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
She’s not counting on walk-in business to pay the bills, however. Mitterer will focus on catering, including wedding cakes and dessert bars for events. She also wants to sell desserts to local restaurants.
She prides herself on coming up with fun, clever names for her desserts as she did with the name of her shop.
“It was my dog’s fault,” she explains. “I had a hard time figuring it out. I wanted a cool name and had this whole list.”
One day she took Calla to the beach. As they were walking along, Mitterer thought to herself, “What pretty wildflowers. … Oh! That’s it!” WildFlour was conceived.
Mitterer loves the friendliness of the Lowcountry. “The Red Drum was like a family for so long,” she says. “From the first day everybody gave me a hug. It’s a very welcoming place.”
She’s also grateful for the support she’s received here. “Everything I know I learned at Red Drum. I got to see so many sides … it helped me develop a better sense” of business.
Mitterer is finding that working on your own is exhilarating but does have its drawbacks.
“I have learned that sleep doesn’t happen.”
Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at food@postandcourier.com or 937-4886.
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October 5th, 2009 by Currie
Movies on the 103 Green returns on October 13 with Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the Italian classic following a journalist’s week long trip to Rome and his search for love.
Join Eye Level Art and Sugar Bakeshop at the 103 Gallery for a night of sweet treats and classic cinema under the stars.
Doors to the gallery will open at 7:30pm and the movie will start at dark.
Tickets are $5 at the door & the gallery will have beer and wine available for purchase
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October 3rd, 2009 by Currie
: Saddle Up!
Beach rides from Seabrook Island Stables
Seasoned riders and those new to the sport trot over to these stables and trails
Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding
Although known for its equine therapy for children and adults with disabilities, CATR Farms also offers a community lesson program in beginner to intermediate-advanced hunt seat horseback riding at its nearly 13-acre John’s Island facility.(843) 559-6040, www.catrfarms.org
Half Pass Farms & Stables
This tidy equestrian farm in Ravenel offers boarding, dressage and hunter/jumper lessons, and horse training. In that regard, the family-oriented equestrian center focuses on identifying a horse’s true nature and training it for competition accordingly. (843) 556-6994, www.halfpassfarm-andstables.com
Middleton Equestrian Center
Middleton Place Plantation’s horse cred may be aligned more with fox hunts, but the junior riders clamor for Pony Parties, soirées that come complete with polite ponies and special plantation access. Also available are lessons, trail rides, and boarding. $45 one-hour trail ride; reservations required. (843) 556-8137, www.theinnatmiddletonplace.com
Mullet Hall Equestrian Center
It’s hard to find a fall weekend when these 700-plus acres; 20 miles of trails; and numerous barns, performance rings, and other spaces aren’t being used by local enthusiasts. Under the Charleston County Parks system, Mullet Hall is part of a larger plantation and boasts a nice blend of farm fields and pine forests—BYOH (horse, that is). Non-horse lovers also visit for music festivals, dog agility programs, and more. www.ccprc.com
Seabrook Island Equestrian Center Shell
The resort island opens its gates to the public for the area’s only beach ride, a tour of the north beach (advanced riders only); scenic trail rides; and parent-led pony rides for novices. $95 beach ride; $70-$65 trail ride; $40 half-hour pony ride; reservations required. (843) 768-7541, www.discoverseabrook.com
Stono Ferry Stables
With 22 stables in a big, airy barn and robust boarding, lesson, and camp offerings, Stono is a major player in local horse circles. Summer camps teach students to groom and tack while also giving them plenty of saddle time. (843) 763-0566, www.stonoferry.com
Stono River Stable
This 300-acre stretch feels about as “dude ranch” as the Lowcountry gets. Jumping courses and trail rides are specialties, and the friendly teaching staff has proven to be patient with all skill levels—or lack thereof. $55 one-hour trail ride; (843) 559-0773, www.stonoriverstable.com
Tuxbury Farm
Located in Huger, this magnet for the East Cooper equestrian set offers lessons, trail rides into the adjacent Francis Marion National Forest, and summer camps. Tuxbury brings a unique “whole horse” approach to lessons, instructing riders on how to develop the sense it takes to ride a living, breathing animal. (843) 884-7844, www.tuxburyfarm.com
Content Courtesy of Charleston Magazine
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October 3rd, 2009 by Currie
An assortment of pastries from WildFlour
This morning Chloe and I walked around the corner to WildFlour Pastry and grabbed and assortment of delicious breakfast pastries. Chloe’s favorite was the Chocolate Croissant and I chose the Apple Turnover, but it was a very tough decision.
The Menu for WildFlour Pastry
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