Revisit: Charleston's

There are a lot of things in life that tend not to live up to the hype: the BCS, SEC football, that last Superman movie, the Boston Redsox in 2011, the Segway, more or less everything you can buy on late night television for $19.95, Obama, pretty much every winner of American Idol, anything involving Star Wars that isn't the original cuts of the first three films....and Hugh Jackman.  After I ate at Charleston's the first time I felt like putting it on this list.  It came across as one of those kind of places that seemed like it should be better than it actually was.  Even though the unpalatable coleslaw stuck out in my mind from my last visit I was excited for another go round.

When I walked in the front door at Charleston's my dinner decision was more or less made for me.  I knew from the smell that Charleston's was cook food over a wood flame, and when I saw the wood fire grilled pork chops on the menu that's what I had to go for.  It was 2 chops served with sides of garlic mashed potatoes and bbq beans.  The first thing I noticed when my food arrived was that Charleston's is not a place that skimps on the portions.  Both pork chops were rather healthy in size and the amount of garlic mash on my plate was nothing short of gargantuan. The portion of beans was adequate but seemed small by comparison.  The second thing I noticed was that the pork chops had beautiful caramelized color and grill marks.  The mere appearance screamed delicious before I even took bite one. 

As for how things actually tasted that is a little more of a complex answer.  I thought the flavor of the chops was really really good.  The wood fire grill wasn't just a gimmick here.  The meat was tender, juicy, and cooked just right.  Also, the smoky flavor really came across strongly.  While I appreciated that, but I almost felt it could have used a sweet element as a complement.  Maybe that's just a personal preference, but I felt that a glaze or even a sauce would have really elevated these from really good to the level of something special.  The garlic mash was absolutely dead on.  The texture wasn't too smooth and the garlic flavor was present without being overwhelming.  The bbq beans were a little bit of a curve ball.  Based on the description I was expecting a flavor profile similar to sweet baked beans and instead this was more chili-like.  I actually appreciated it quite a bit.  For dessert, despite it being more of a Summer dish, I decided to go with the keylime pie.  It was fantastic.  The perfect mix of subtle sweetness and just a hint of sour from the limes.  It also didn't hurt itself by being topped with a healthy amount of fresh real whipped cream.


Taste 8.5/10 While there may have been ways that my dish could have been adjusted to improve it according to my person preferences, but it's hard to argue that the execution of the food was anything less than superb. The perfect flavors for a cool fall night. 

Value 8.5/10 When you go to Charleston's you have to realize that it isn't the type of place where you can get a 2 meals for $20 deal.  With dessert my meal was over the 20 dollar mark, but I definitely felt that it was worth every penny in terms of the amount and quality of food that was served. 

Charleston's

Last night I had the opportunity to enjoy a good meal with coworkers at a locally popular but otherwise unknown restuarant called Charleston's.  The best way to describe the style of cusine is comfort food through and through.  There are no froo froo cucumber foams or watercress salads at this place.  It's hearty stick to your ribs fare in huge portions and makes no apologies for it.  The menu is on the smaller side, but it is focused and most of not all of the food seems to be made in house which is something you can't find at enough restaurants these days.  For my meal I decided to go with the chicken fried steak which comes with garlic mashed potatoes and sweet cooked carrots.  I also added a side of coleslaw since I'm a big fan.  I finished the meal off with their apple cobbler with walnuts and vanilla icecream.  Our table also decided to get an order of the shrimp done escargot style for an appetizer.  Let's go ahead and break down each of these components one by one.

Shrimp escargot-style appetizer:  This was one of the more unusal dishes I have ever eaten.  I've eaten shrimp in a lot of ways and I thought based on the menu description that I was just in for another shrip scampi-esque creation.  I was wrong.  Yes the basic flavor was there of the garlic and butter, but the shrimp were served in little holes in the dish in the garlic/butter mixture and covered in havarati cheese.  Seafood and cheese is usually an unpleasant combination.  However, in this case the cheese was mild enough to not kill the flavor of the shrimp that were cooked nicely.  In conclusion very good.

Chicken fried steak:  Overall a very solid offering for a main course.  I could tell it was fresh and hand breaded and fried to perfection.  It was a large portion with a lot of flavor.  It was topped with what the menu called a "black pepper chipoltle" gravy.  The gravy may have been the most delicious part of the meal.  It was your basic white gravy roux but mixed with spices and I'm guessing a little bit of sugar to give it the sweetness that I found so different and delicous.  The only negative comment I can make is that when my steak was hot right from the kitchen it wanted to slough off the breading when I cut into it.  Not that big of a deal and it had no impact on the taste or enjoyment of the dish.

Sides:  The garlic mashed potatoes (hidden in the picture under the steak) were very good.  I only had a couple problems.  The portion of mash that comes with the dish is Man vs Food worthy.  I'm not a guy who usually leaves food on the plate, but I could only take down about half of my potatoes.  They were the skin on variety and mashed to a good consistency, but they could have used some more garlic flavor an addition of the some of that great gravy that was on the steak.  The carrots were also tasty.  They were your basic carrots cut up and cooked in a light sweet glaze.  They were a nice compliment to the richness of the other items on my plate.  The one thing I ordered that absolutely broke my heart was the coleslaw.  Coleslaw is hands down one of my favorite sides to get with comfort food dishes, but Charleston's version of it was an incredible disappointment and borderline inedible.  The menu said it was creamy, and truthfully it was exactly the opposite.  It was more or less a bowl of chopped cabbage.  What flavor it did have was a very assertive onion flavor that was terrible and one that shouldn't be associated with good coleslaw.  I will not be ordering it next time

Dessert:  Normally I don't get dessert since I'm usually full from my meal and I'm not a big sweets guy to start off with anyway.  However, this time everyone at the table was raving about the desserts so I felt I had to indulge.  My dessert was the apple cobbler with vanilla icecream.  Everything about it was delicious.  It had just the right amount of sweetness and apple spices.  The walnuts provided a nice crunch and the ice cream was a great compliment to the hot cobbler.  It was very good, but next time I think I'll try the bread pudding since I've heard such good things.

Misc:  The service was very good considering we had a large party of 8.  Our food was out promptly with little confusion and my drink was refilled without asking.  Charleston's also has a full bar and selection of good beers on draft if you're so inclined.

Overall I think Charleston's is a great local restaurant with locations on 82nd street in Castleton and on Highway 37 in Carmel.  Let's do the ratings.

Taste:  9/10  I know it's only coleslaw, but if Charleston's is doing comfort food they need to get that right.  Worthy of a full point deduction.
Value:  8/10  It's a little bit more pricey than your average fast casual restaurant, but it's not that much more expensive and the food is of such a higher quality it can barely be considered in the same league.
Randomness:  7/10  Charleston's is pretty well known locally so it can't really be considered off the beaten path, but it hardly qualifies as a big chain on a national level.  Also, it is quite dark on the inside and has gaslights which I find pretty random in 2011.