Poogan’s Porch. Location: Charleston, SC. Queen and King St. Scene: Country. Casual. Food: Southern. Shrimp and Grits. Flounder. Mac ‘n Cheese. Fried Chicken. Fried Fish. Pimento Cheese Fritters.
Chek Recs:
- Fried Alligator Salad: Pickled Sweet Potatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Honey Jalapeño Dressing (1st pic)
- Pan Roasted Duck: Cast Iron Roasted Breast, Potato Dumplings, Fresh Arugula, Duck Confit, Pecorino, Merlot Gastrique (2nd pic)
- Crispy Skinned Snapper: Cheddar Grit Cake, Pulled Pork, Loca Radish, Wilted Arugula with NC BBQ Reduction (3rd and 4th pic)
Poogan’s Porch, founded in 1976, may be a haunted destination for some, but this cute Southern house offers four dining rooms and an outdoor front porch seating perfect for lunch or dinner. The house is yellow on the outside and located in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. There is not much of a showy dining scene, but it’s more of a destination for locals and tourists to enjoy some real down southern cooking- think pimento cheese fritters, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits, etc. You will see families, bachelorettes, elderly and the young. The biscuits presented to you at the start of the meal were the best biscuits I had all weekend in Charleston. I found out there was a pinch of sugar in the recipe and honey in the butter…obviously this is what made these sweet biscuits a killer. We ordered the Fried Alligator Salad which I’d never had before. It was extremely tender, and the fried batter is cooked in peanut oil- there is quite an abundance of peanut products at all of the restaurants here. The alligator was delicious, and the greens paired nicely with it giving you some sort of nutritional value for the evening. The Crispy Skinned Snapper was quite a tower and very impressive. You get your fish, a layer of wilted arugula, pulled pork and then a cheddar cheese grit cake. What more could you want? The sauce that decorates the plate is sweet and the fish drapes over the meat and grit. The pulled pork is also sweet and tastes like BBQ. While not being a huge fan of grits, this grit cake was incredible and really livened the dish. Deconstructing this thing was an exciting experiment. The distant sweetness in each part of the dish makes it all work together and it almost feels like you get three different meals. The Duck is a bit heavier and they ask you how you like it prepared which I rarely hear restaurants do. It is as tender as filet mignon, and the skin is sweet. It laid across a creamy sauce with potato dumplings and tasted extremely southern, warm and like soul food. I loved everything at Poogan’s and each dish really surprised me with flavors I’d never mixed together. The dishes are creative and fun.
The dessert menu is well, stressful. How do you decide between a chocolate Texas sheet cake with strawberry ice cream, Banana Pudding, Peanut Butter Cheesecake and Cobbler? We got the Chocolate Pecan Pie (pic below) and the Blueberry Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream. The adorable presentation serves each dessert in a little bowl similar to french onion soup bowls. You have to peek inside under the ice cream to see what your dessert looks like once it hits the table. The pecan pie is not as good at Houston’s Goode Company BBQ, but really whose is? I’ve never seen blueberry cobbler the way they serve it here. It was more like a cake or a blueberry muffin instead of a flaky pie and gooey concoction. Still a satisfying dessert but maybe better for breakfast? Overall, Poogan’s Porch delivered the exact experience and low key atmosphere I was looking for during my trip to the Lowcountry with the nicest people and simple, southern food. Definitely try to make it to Poogan’s if you’re looking for something that resembles the city.
