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Located within Charleston Place, Palmetto Cafe overlooks a lush courtyard complete with fountain and garden.
The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch daily. In addition, brunch is served Saturday and Sunday offering gourmet omelets, Belgian waffles, and fresh seafood. |
By Tom Crosby
(January 2009) In the center of Charleston Place, the city’s premier urban hotel, is the Palmetto Café, a casual restaurant partially surrounding an outdoor garden that provides an intimate oasis from Charleston’s hustle and bustle.
The 145-seat Café has been rated Four Diamonds by AAA since 2005 and joins Charleston Place and the slightly more formal Charleston Grill, both also rated Four Diamonds by AAA, to make this the only site in the Carolinas with a total of “12” AAA Diamonds.
Entering the Café, which is at the end of the marbled main hallway before it bends left to pass additional upscale shops and the Charleston Grill, a sideboard on the right holds local magazines and newspapers and a square, wooden table in the center of the entrance is topped with a vase containing freshly cut flowers.
Wicker chairs with patterned green cushions matching the carpet pattern, nuzzle up to glass-topped tables with white linen coverings. Another sideboard on the right wall contains decorative plates and hanging wine glasses on its three shelves.
One wall contains photos snapped by Robert Waggoner, the Charleston Grill’s renowned and award-winning chef.
Two pale yellow pillars have couches around them fronted by tables, with the remaining tables standing alone and decorated with fresh sunflowers and silver-capped colorful blue bottles of Charleston Place’s own water.
 Inside the Café on the right, an elevated platform with a polished white pine floor contains a line of mirrors along one wall, and overlooks the dining area, which receives natural illumination from a partial glass roof. The ambiance is warm with the white, yellow and green color theme and natural light, providing a visually enticing appeal for a leisurely breakfast with French press coffee or a long lunch with friends.
Drew Dzejak, a graduate of Johnson and Wales University, is the Café’s Chef de Cuisine, having worked in the Cayman Islands and at Summerville’s The Dining Room at Woodlands (AAA Five Diamond) and the AAA rated Four Diamond Sienna restaurant on Daniel’s Island before coming to the Café.
Coming from a family with its own bakery in Florida, Chef Dzejak also prepares treats for the Charleston Place’s Thoroughbred Club, the hotel’s bar area, where elegant afternoon tea (priced from $19-$24) is served six days a week with scones, bite-size sandwiches, crumpets, cakes, tarts and tea cookies.
Dessert choices include Blackberry Cheesecake Tart, Orange Cranberry Muffin, Mango Jelly, Raspberry Frangipane and Hazelnut Truffle – all offered at afternoon tea at other Orient-Express Hotels from Maryland to Brazil.
“This is the thoroughbred of high teas,” gushed Mrs. Peter Crescenti of New York during a visit to Charleston.
The centerpiece of the Café on a sunny, not-too-hot day, is the garden, where the brick courtyard dazzles with sun-dappled palmetto trees, potted blossoming flowers of various colors and green plants to create a kaleidoscope of outdoor beauty.
Tables and chairs of polished wrought iron surround the garden’s centerpiece, a three-tiered water fountain, with a soothing, steady sound more relaxing than a babbling brook. Canvas canopies provide shade.
 Some tables are next to windows overlooking the hotel’s marbled hallway, some next to windows for the Charleston Grill and the remainder, overlook the Café’s interior.
Garden tables sport vases with fresh flowers, rectangular white ceramic salt and peppershakers and a ceramic bowl for sugars and sweeteners. Service comes on Villeroy and Bosch china with Reed & Barton silverware.
Inside or in the garden, the Café’s menu whets the appetite. Signature Breakfasts include Green Eggs and Ham (pesto omelet, shaved Prosciutto, grilled Tuscan bread, grits or breakfast potatoes) or Peaches and Cream French Toast (cream cheese stuffed raisin bread with a Georgia peach compote), $16 each.
And there are also omelettes, waffles, poached eggs, salmon, Lowcountry shrimp and grits, etc. Waffles are the least expensive at $14; an omelette with fresh lump crabmeat, lobster knuckles, mozzarella cheese and spring onions for $18 is the most expensive.
A lunch visit began with the Café’s signature iced peach tea, with a real peach and a small sugared water carafe. Pre-lunch samplings include homemade breads, such as lavage, Tuscan sourdough and black olive with small ramekins of arguella pesto, palmetto olive and sun dried tomato for toppings.
Coffee choices abound, from French Vanilla from Colombia to Costamala from Guatemala to Kenyan Estate from Africa to Kona Blend from Hawaii. ($5.95)
Appetizers include Carolina Crab Cakes ($13) and Lowcounty Pork Barbeque and Brioche Cornbread ($10). Salads range from a seasonal exotic fruit sampler ($16) to a Lobster Salad ($29) with huge chunks of butter poached lobster that includes fried cherry tomatoes, toasted pecans, dolce gorgonzola and pancetta, all mixed with marinated limestone lettuce topped with apple cider vinaigrette – tasty, filling and yet light enough that dinner isn’t ruined.
Of course, there are sandwiches, such as the grilled lamb loin gyro ($20) or grilled vegetable ($17). The Reuben en Croute was especially tasty for $18).
Entrees are available – free-range chicken ($19), wild striped bass ($20) and Angus beef filet mignon ($25).
Of course, there are cocktails, wines and desserts. The white chocolate pear bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce is a mouth-watering treat ($8). The best variety can be found in the Chef’s daily house-made sorbets ($7.50). We tried coconut, orange/raspberry and mango (they come in three’s) with the mango tasting like fresh fruit just removed from the tree with a sharp, precise fresh mango taste.
The Café combines its tasty cuisine with the service expected of a Four Diamond restaurant, all in a more casual atmosphere than many similarly styled restaurants. It is a pleasant respite from more structured and formal Charleston dining options. (Updated January 2009)
Please call:(843) 722-4900 to make a reservation. |
