International Restaurant Explosion in Charleston, South Carolina

The International Restaurant Scene Around Charleston, South Carolina

By Paul Cheney
Editor in Chief
ATN News Network
editor@atacolipsnow.com
March 30, 2025

Dim sum?
Chef Loong’s in West Ashley or Hokkaido in Summerville?

Japanese ramen?
Jinya downtown Charleston or Hachiya in Mount Pleasant?

Al Pastor tacos sliced fresh off of a trompo?
Try Taqueria el Trompo, Taco’n Madre or Taqueria Los Patrones!

A real doner kebab in Charleston? How about Borscht?

The international dining scene in the general Charleston area has exploded the last few years.  The past eighteen months have seen more international restaurants and food businesses open than any time in the past 20 years that we have been monitoring.   When I first moved here from Atlanta I kind of felt depressed having left so many of my favorite international mom and pop restaurants and moving to a city with an atrocious international scene. Borderline non existent compared to the vivacioness of Buford Highway and Atlanta in general. Sure it is not a fair comparison, but when you have access to certain styles of cuisine it changes your life for the better.  Removing those can feel like losing a friendship or relationship of sorts.

Havana Sandwich Shop, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA 2002

My very first website I built was also the the location of my first professional photo shoot as well: Havana Sandwich Shop on Buford Highway in Atlanta, Georgia.    I lived a half mile away and for 2 or 3 years I drove past it a few times a day with a large dismissal due to it’s aged  appearance.  The sign was flaking, the building was not as inviting as other newer spots I had always dined… and so, naturally, I assumed the food and the people would be a reflection of that.  I had a boss of mine schedule a meeting at Havana, and I agreed like a good employee.  When I arrived he was already in a line going out the door and wrapping around the corner.

I was so… irked. I was going to wait in line for THIS PLACE?? The line moved quickly as I made awkward small talk.  When it was my time to order Dora told me from behind the counter  to get the half Cuban, side of rice, side of black bean soup and a tropical milkshake if it was my first time.  It felt like a Soup Nazi moment as I was nervous and could feel the busy and hangry Atlantans not wanting to wait for me to learn about Cuban cuisine on their time.  I had my eye on something else, but I acquiesced to Dora’s suggestion out of sheer nervousness. Like the Soup Nazi scene on Seinfeld Dora took my order and I was relieved to have made a choice and the stressful moment to be over. I did not understand what most of the menu was offering. I had a hard time understanding Dora’s broken English and felt like I was the guy staring at my phone at a green light. I take two more steps and pay the next lady waiting for me at the cash register… the owner Debbie Benedit. She has an amazing smile that she flashed and said something like, “Dora knows! You are gonna love it!”  A few minutes later my eyes rolled back in my head when I tasted their black bean soup. Then the red rice. Then the best Cuban Sandwich I ever had. I remember vividly looking over Dora and Debbie’s shoulders and behind them were 3 or 4 Cuban grandmother stacking up mountains of Cuban sandwiches waiting  to be pressed.  Alongside that was a Cuban grandmother stirring a huge pot of black bean soup.  I was so… humbled by my misperceptions.  Moments later Eddie Benedit nonchalantly drops the banana tropical milkshake. It was not a typical American milkshake.  It had been blended with ice, and.. it was just different. So refreshing after the hot sauce I had been using.  Flash forward 3 or 4 months and they became my friends and my very first clients.  Now when I drive from Charleston to my childhood home in Chattanooga I stop at Havana… and it still brings me back to that very same moment.

Cuban Sandwich, Havana Sandwich Shop, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA 2002

Recently, I saw a social media post somewhere  where John T. Edge stated his first foray into international mom and pops started at… Havana Sandwich Shop!   I got goosebumps as he is someone I have photographed many, many times and like many of us I just looked up to him and how he championed so many interesting mom and pop restaurants over the years vis-a-vie his Southern Foodways Alliance. I get asked a couple times a week by random people if they can come eat with me at some of the places I find. Frankly, I typically do this on my own.  I am not a tour guide, nor do I want to be the gatekeeper to this world of global greatness.  I am still just a student. I want to encourage people to get in their cars, and drive 15-20 minutes to try out a new cuisine or a new spot they have never tried, but heard “it was good.”.  The world fell in love with Anthony Bourdain for a reason. He connected us via culture, travel and cuisine.  What is an easier way to understand someone who does not speak your language or look like you? Music or food come to mind first and foremost.  You don’t have to be Anthony Bourdain with a camera crew, big budget and a TV show to explore the world… You just have to have an open mind, and an ounce of hope that what you discover you will like… maybe even love.

McCrady’s Architecture, November 2004

About 17-18 years ago after 2 or 3 years of living in Charleston I became a bit reticent about living here in a culinary manner.  I was irked not being able to get a bowl of pho, hand made noodles, real tacos off a trompo, dim sum, xiao long bao, or even a Cuban fucking sandwich.  I felt like everything I craved just wasn’t here. I started shooting fine dining for places like Cru Cafe, McCrady’s, Rue de Jean, etc etc. It was an amazing experience, but I vividly remember shooting at McCrady’s one time and we had set up a studio INSIDE an electrical closet off the kitchen. Only one person could be in there at a time and since I was shooting the chef’s in the kitchen my business partner Jason Kaumeyer was very, very oddly shooting Brock’s dishes in this incredibly tight space.  He was sweating profusely, and kept giving me looks of WTF are we doing, Paul. I was a bit of a fanboy of Brock back then, and I remember Sean asking me what I thought about the dish Jason had in front of the lights. I took a bite and, frankly, foie gras just isn’t my jam, but I liked it enough to act like it was great.  I get it, but I don’t need it or enjoy it, but because it was SUCH a beautiful dish made by a celebrity chef I felt like it was something I SHOULD love.

Some overthought dish, McCrady’s Restaurant

Sean then asked Jason. He was NOT down with foie. He had no clue what foie gras was, and the description I gave him made him double down on not wanting it.  I watched him take a bite and he looked like a 5 year old eating broccoli. I honestly thought he was going to yack in front of Chef.  His eyes watered. It was an intense moment… in an electrical closet maybe 3 feet wide and 5 feet long…  The next day in our studio I brought up that moment… lightly.. admonishing him for not realizing how lucky we are to be in that kitchen with that chef trying that cuisine.  He bluntly said, “Paul, I kind of like healthy foods, and when I want to eat less healthy I like good pizza, wings, tacos, etc. I don’t need or like goose liver.”  I suddenly felt… a little foolish like I was trying to make him drink the Kool-Aid. I realized I was gulping the Kool-Aid chasing all these fine dining chefs, and blindly thinking whatever they plated with their tweezers and squeeze bottles was THE hottest dish in the world at that moment.

Bandeja Paisa, El Centroamericano, Ladson, SC

Twenty years later and I am still a food photographer, and I honestly enjoy any photographic opportunity or project that comes my way… but I truly get energized when I am shooting or eating or even just looking at some grandmother from another country’s dish that she learned from her grandmother.  When it is something new that I have never had… it is just exciting as can be.  Pizza and pasta came from Italy. Hamburgers and hot dogs came from Germany.  Tacos from Mexico.  Etcetera Etcetera. So… how do you even know if your favorite food is a dish called bandeja paisa from Colombia or a beef noodle soup from Vietnam.  Or maybe you prefer the Laos version? Or the Thai beef noodle soup?  I am not the person leading us into these international waters. The mom and pops are leading us collectively.  It is up to us to support them and spread the word.  When I go to Pho 79 at 3p.m. on a Sunday, and I have to wait 30+ minutes for a table… and I am the only non Vietnamese person in the entire restaurant… I pinch myself that this is Charleston in 2025. But Pho 79 is one of maybe 10 spots to get a great bowl of pho in Charleston these days.  What has happened to the city with some of the least diversity I had ever experienced?   It is responding to this void in spades. They see the opportunity and they arbitrage that moment for everyone’s betterment. What a time to be in Charleston!

Birrias Tacos, La Perla, Ladson, SC

We aren’t going to have a Buford Highway (5+ miles of international restaurants and markets in Atlanta) here for a while, but we do have a mightily burgeoning international restaurant scene exploding almost daily in the greater Charleston area.  About 15 years ago I pulled out an actual paper road map. Talking about it now makes me feel like I am talking about a rotary dial phone.  I looked for places where big manufacturers were clustered like Bosch in Ladson, and around areas in North Charleston, Goose Creek, etc etc.  I knew if some businesses were employing tons of Latino or Asian workers then there must be some grocery stores, restaurants, etc for their respective cultures.  Sure enough it worked.  I started a Google map to collate these places, and after a few years you could actually see the hot spots: Red Bank Road, Remount Road, Dorchester Road, Ashley Phosphate, etc. It really started with tacos. I wasn’t going to pay $4-5 from a person who did not speak Spanish and probably has never been to a Latino country, nor ever had they experienced an authentic taco.  I found Phuong and Dat inside Pho#1 at H&L and that was probably the biggest moment for me in 20 years, but when I looked at my map… it was maybe 80% or more taquerias. Phuong and Dat saved my life and my soul with their Vietnamese cuisine, but after a while I grew itchy again for more. I kept driving around. Up and down every street I saw…very methodically and neurotically. I could drive down Ashley Phosphate and see a new spot or truck, try one item, and the find another across the street. 3 months later and there may be another spot or maybe one of those closed. The international mom and pop scene is fluid, and it is so exciting.

Paige and Ky, new owners of Phuong’s Vietnamese Restaurant

Flash forward to 2025 and I feel very out of the loop. Overwhelmed in a great way. Pleasantly surprised.  Excited.  Two dim sum restaurants opened this year. Two new Japanese ramen shops.  We have maybe ten Vietnamese options now. I found zero trompos in ten years and then poof… I found 3 within 2 weeks.  We have pierogi options now.   A freaking authentic and badass Doner Kebab spot is flourishing at Tanger. Every Wednesday Baba Kebab gets a fresh shipment of pita and flatbreads from a special bakery.  I saw a Thai family vigorously eating larvae lettuce wraps in their restaurant for a staff meal about three months ago.  As the age of the “celebrity chef” has waned, the era of the international mom and pop is here.  Mama Kim, Phuong, Jose, Javi, Amethyst, Yellin, etc… these are my celebrity chefs now.  I have a hard time looking at a lot of fine dining the past 5+ years. I see well coiffed chefs in Hedley and Bennett aprons, thick, ironic glasses and gardens tattooed on their right arms like they are signifiers of being a legit “chef'” or someone who is on the mark. I see much of their cuisine as Disneyland “art,” and quite often off the mark. They stack local ingredients, and maybe they will say “this dish is my version of a Lebanese so and so dish, but I elevated it or added a twist.” That used to excite me. Now it kind of irks me.

SkyMarket Brazilian, Goose Creek, SC

A person not from that country is taking a tradition, bastardizing it, missing the mark TERRIBLY, and then has the gaul to say that they made the dish “elevated” or better.  93.6% of the time it seems to be not as good as the grandmother’s version, maybe 2-3 times more expensive, and quite often it should not even be called what it is… because it is not. Somehow we focused on the celebrity chefs, and totally ignored the relatively unknown mom and pops.

I am not saying all fine dining is a farce. It has its place in this world, but to me that is for truly special occasions like maybe once or twice a year at best. An anniversary. If you are celebrating your 5th anniversary I totally see how a romantic date at Charleston Grill, Peninsula Grill, or FIG… makes sense. The service. The ambience. The artful cuisine. It IS elevated. It is special. But so is Mama Kim’s kimchi, or Paige and Ky’s goi cuon, or Santi’s Caldo de res, or an al pastor taco shaved off a trompo with a macheted nip of pineapple handed to you from a guy who had a taqueria in Mexico City for thirty years…

Manami and Junior, Hachiya Ramen

Get out there. Be uncomfortable. Try things you THINK you may not like. Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t, but you don’t know until you do. If I told you go get this sandwich with a liver pate spread and some Vietnamese ham on it… you may gag internally because the thought of liver pate makes you want to Ralph Maccio all over the place… but if you have never had a Banh Mi, and you get your hands on a good one by some Vietnamese grandparent… you may have just found a new sandwich that you crave the rest of your life and try everywhere you travel.  That is what happened to me with pho, dumplings, tacos, noodles, etc. As soon as I felt I had a grasp on my global predilections… An entire new suite of international offerings seems to lurk in the distance. I never thought in 100 million years I would crave a bowl of bubbling hot kimchi stew with pork and tofu in it. Damn… I did not think I would EVER even eat kimchi because of how it smelled and how I thought it was rotten. I now know I will never come to the end of this road… nor do I want to.  There is too much to explore. There is too much to be excited about. The world is a large, exciting place to be.  We are lucky to have diverse traditions, cuisines, backgrounds, etc.  Without it this would be a very flat Earth.

Caldo de Res, Santi’s Mexican Restaurante, Downtown Charleston

We are going to start posting more news/blog entries highlighting areas and styles of cuisine in the greater Charleston area. I cannot wait for mainstream media to “get it” any longer. They don’t.  I have a team of about 5 “field reporters” and we are looking for more to simply help feed us leads, open our eyes, and extend our reach.  If you look at the A Taco Lips Now Google map and see one of your favorite spots missing please send an email to editor@atacolipsnow.com.   There are 179 international restaurants and food businesses on our map now. We think there are maybe 50-100 more that should be there. How amazing is that?  It is such a good problem to have for all of us in Charleston!  Thank you for your continued support of A Taco Lips Now. We are making some changes here, and hope to see you along the way.

Giao, Dat, & Phuong Nguyen, 2015

A Taco Lips Now Foodways Map

https://goo.gl/maps/dvGcuZrAtidVoKwU9?g_st=ac

Prost!
PEC