From a luxurious bowl of she-crab soup to other Lowcountry staples like shrimp and grits, the base of many of Charleston, South Carolina’s most famous plates is seafood. This is nothing new for a coastal town, but Charleston is in a unique position (literally) that ensures its seafood scene is one of the best you can visit.
While most cities can fish in just one designated body of water, also known as a fishery, Charleston is lucky enough to lie between the boundaries of two different ones: the South Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic. This means the city has access to double the amount of fish that other cities do. From spiny lobster to snapper grouper in the South Atlantic, and summer flounder to monkfish in the Mid-Atlantic, a seafood menu here could be twice as long as another. It’s all floating right along Charleston’s shores, just waiting to be picked up at the nearby docks. There’s a reason some restaurants have pretty strict rules about using exclusively local ingredients. Why buy frozen when there’s fresh seafood to be found year-round?
Winding Rivers And Marshes Contribute To The Flavor
While location alone sets Charleston’s seafood scene apart, the city has access to more waterways than the ocean. With its diverse ecosystems of tributaries and saltwater marshes, Charlestonians can catch a wide array of other fish and mollusks. From blue crab to oysters and clams, Charleston’s salty marsh waters infuse the fish with unique flavors and brine, which is one reason why the city’s oysters are so famous. It’s no wonder you can’t walk 10 feet down King Street without seeing a raw oyster bar.
The oysters here might be famous, but South Carolina surprisingly has access to just one species of oyster: the Crassostrea virginica, aka the Eastern oyster. Still, the unique features of this city, from the diverse waterways to the changing air, seep into each cluster, making each oyster take on a unique flavor. From a sharp, salty flavor to a mild earthiness, there might be just one species available, but there are still dozens of different oysters to choose from…