Marika Kary

I have long heard rumors of a facelift for the Charleston Crosstown (HWY 17 across the peninsula, connecting Mt P, Downtown & West Ashley/James Island). This is an area that gets a lot of TV time during our heavy rainstorms at high tide because of the foot of water that collects on the roadway, stranding unwitting motorists. On an average day, it is a rather nondescript pass through over and into downtown. However, it is the gateway into downtown Charleston, the first impression to our many wonderful visitors who support a large part of our service industry and drive our economy. Thus, the news this morning that the Crosstown is going to get a facelift, but not an actual drainage improvement is not all bad news. The truth of the matter is that the money is not there for our 10-year storm water improvement process/plan but the money is there for prettying it up. So let's say "yes, please", take the money, make it beautiful and make sure that future visitors feel appropriately welcomed into our beautiful downtown - and keep coming back for more!

This post is going to be a stark contrast to what I posted yesterday - last night I was raving about the amazing food I had at Husk restaurant in Charleston, and carrying on about how great it is to live in a City with such amazing fine dining. . . Today, I will be asking you to visit Wal-Mart on Facebook and "like" Charleston so that we can vie for a chance to be the recipient of 1.5 million Dollars from Wal-Mart for our local Food Bank. Mickey Bakst of Charleston Grill (another Amazing place to dine in Charleston) is working to get the word out so our community can win the gift from Wal-Mart. Mickey and his staff devote their days to giving people a great dining experience, let's help him make his Christmas wish come true and win that grant so we can make a dent in the hunger in Charleston.

Here is a shocker, nearly 1 in 5 families in Charleston is hungry - the estimate is 20.7% of families in the Charleston Metropolitan area struggle with feeding their families. The Lowcountry Food Bank is an awesome organization, who will waste no time in utilizing 1.5 million to end hunger in Charleston. So follow this link today and give us the thumbs up!

http://fightinghunger.walmart.com/city/Charleston-N-Charleston-Summerville-SC

So . . . a good 8 hours later, I am finally recovering from the food coma that was my lunch at Husk Restaurant on Queen Street in downtown Charleston. It makes me realize just how much I love living in a town with such great food! Husk is a new addition to our bountiful food scene in Charleston. The chef, Shawn Brock, is a recent James Beard award winner, but a fairly long-term member of the cooking elite of Charleston as the head chef of McCrady's. Husk is his newest venture and has a really cool concept - farm to table; featuring food from throughout the southeast with a focus on the freshest, most local and sustainable foods (they actually post a board announcing the origin of everything from the olive oil to the mushrooms). Not only is the end result amazing - I had the duo of beef with creamed greens, my mom had a decadent shrimp and grits, and my aunt had an Ah-Maz-Ing cheeseburger (don't be fooled by the common name, it was a stellar bacon kissed treat!) - I adored the décor. I could honestly move into their dining room and be quite content. Truly, the dining in Charleston is one of the guilty pleasures of living here . . . when family or friends comes to visit, you get to come off looking like some great foodie, when all you had to do was find parking and leave the hard work to one of the many amazing Charleston pros. Thank you, Charleston Food and Bev people!

http://huskrestaurant.com/

Marika Kary

www.CharestonsBestHomes.com

This is just too fun not to share (even if it was a week ago, it is totally appropriate for the week before Christmas) . . . the is the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus doing a “Flash Mob” of the Hallelujah Chorus on King Street in downtown Charleston during December’s Second Sunday event. Second Sunday’s are a relatively new treat in downtown Charleston. King Street from Broad to Calhoun is closed to vehicular traffic allowing pedestrians to walk leisurely down the road. Restaurants are pulling out tables to serve street side and shops are pulling their goodies out to the street. In an area with such a temperate climate, it is great to take advantage of all that natural light for shopping, people watching and snacks! However, back to the Hallelujah Chorus – what a fun way to usher in the Holidays, makes me wonder if the chorus has need for a rather quiet alto . . .

The City of Goose Creek is often overlooked by buyers unfamiliar to the area - they fear that it is too far out from downtown Charleston, when in fact it is closer to downtown Charleston than the majority of Summerville (= less time on I26). In addition, Goose Creek has a bunch of housing options at a great price. There are the large lots and beautiful community with ponds, play parks, ball fields, walking trails and golf course at Crowfield, to the new construction, energy efficient homes up in Brickhope off Montague Plantation, and cool ranchers in the old plantation community of the Oaks (prettiest Oak Alee).

However, the best thing is that Goose Creek is a town with a plan. In the past few years, Mayor Heitzler and his town council have been working to develop a system of walking trails through Goose Creek to connect the many communities and to redevelop the commercial corridor to make it more walking friendly and help define a town center to give Goose Creek a traditional downtown. What people also don't realize is that there are some really tasty restaurants popping up in Goose Creek - of course there is Pies on Pizza for a classic New York style slice (214 St. James Ave), but there is also the new Cuban restaurant, Havana Café, by the Save a Lot grocery store off of HWY 52 (205 N Goose Creek Blvd). Let me tell you from personal experience, Fried Yucca is pretty dang good and a Mojo sauce with that much flavor can't be wrong.

Click here for a link to the City of Goose Creeks Pan for 2010-2011, good stuff!