Charleston, Day 3: Sullivan’s Island, Poe’s Tavern & Jestine’s

A short jaunt across the bridge on a beautiful morning led to a relatively easy drive to Sullivan’s Island. After driving around some side streets in search of a suitable beach access, we found the ideal spot. The short walk to the beach revealed very few people, plenty of room to roam and relatively warm water—the perfect combination of ingredients for a fun day at the beach.


We stayed for almost two hours before embarking on the sandy walk back to the car. The next stop was the highly regarded Poe’s Tavern for lunch. Surprisingly, the place was pretty packed for a lazy weekday afternoon in early May, so we had to sit inside, which was fine due to the heat.


One cool touch was that the bathroom wall was lined with pages and pages of Poe’s writing. The food took forever after we ordered, but a Coast IPA helped pass the time. And just as I was starting to get a little pissed and impatient, it arrived—the best burger I have ever had. I had chosen The Sleeper, which featured roasted garlic blue cheese and buffao shrimp and went down as my favoritist burger of ever times.


When our lunch was over, we headed back to Charleston proper, completely exhausted. After unplanned naps that were much longer than anticipated, our plans to head back downtown for some alley scouting and shopping were rendered obsolete, which was fine.

Instead, we walked a couple of blocks from the hotel to nearby Jestine’s, a famed soul-food spot that we had tried to eat at a couple of days ago. This time, we were first in a confusing line, and we sampled the chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet tea and Coca Cola cake. The food was good, but not quite great, even though it was ideal for what we needed at the time.

Back at the hotel, I sampled the Palmetto Espresso Porter, a Palmetto IPO and a Tusker from the Charleston Beer Exchange, and the Espresso Porter was unequivocably a standout. The quiet time gave a chance to catch up on world events, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Boston-Miami playoff game. Ah, the circle of life.

All in all, it was a much-needed low-key day, especially since tomorrow included an early-morning trip downtown, a visit to the Middleton Place plantation and the long journey home.