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"&lt;em&gt;&lt;small&gt;(Photos: Terry Manier)&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\nEver since Sean Brock opened his celebrated &lt;a href=\"http://www.huskrestaurant.com/\" target=\"new\"&gt;Husk Restaurant&lt;/a&gt; three years ago, Charleston, South Carolina, has exuded a gravitational pull for food lovers as the one city they absolutely, positively must visit. But you could argue that it wasn\u2019t until very recently that this picturesque town\u2014gaslight lamps, cobblestone streets, centuries-old townhouses\u2014offered the breadth of restaurants that truly make it a dining capital.\r\n\r\nNow, in addition to the heritage Southern cuisine that Brock serves at Husk, Charleston boasts a growing number of chef-driven places, from a boisterous oyster bar to a pan-Asian hideout in a former garage. Combine this energized scene with the old-fashioned charm and comforting flavors of Low Country cooking already present, and you\u2019ve got a town you really do need to visit.\r\n\r\n&lt;strong&gt;Where to Stay: Charleston&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\nSteps from the Old City Market, &lt;a href=\"http://www.charlestonplace.com/web/ocha/charleston_place.jsp\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Charleston Place&lt;/a&gt; is the ideal launching pad for exploring uptown and downtown. (Bonus: Kids love the pool with a retractable roof.) The charming, historic &lt;a href=\"http://www.wentworthmansion.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Wentworth Mansion&lt;/a&gt; is for those weekends when you want to leave the tots at home. &lt;p&gt;Want to induce table envy? The three-tiered shellfish &lt;em&gt;plateaux&lt;/em&gt; at &lt;a href=\"http://eattheordinary.com/\" target=\"blank\"&gt;The Ordinary&lt;/a&gt; does the trick every time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;People notice when Mike Lata, the chef behind the beloved &lt;a href=\"http://www.eatatfig.com/\" target=\"blank\"&gt;FIG&lt;/a&gt;, opens a restaurant. You should, too. His latest, &lt;a href=\"http://eattheordinary.com/\" target=\"blank\"&gt;The Ordinary&lt;/a&gt;, is anything but. The sophisticated oyster bar and seafood brasserie is located in a historic bank (the original vault door offers a peek into the kitchen), and there&amp;rsquo;s more white marble and tile in the soaring space than at the Acropolis. Sit at the long wooden bar and order a seafood tower that includes local oysters and clams from celebrity fisherman Clammer Dave. What &lt;a href=\"http://www.balthazarny.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Balthazar&lt;/a&gt; is to New York, The Ordinary is to Charleston: big, buzzy, and fun.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href=\"http://twoboroughslarder.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Two Boroughs Larder&lt;/a&gt; is a bit off the tourist trail, but venture out to this hybrid neighborhood restaurant\u2013market and you\u2019ll be rewarded with the city\u2019s best all-day spot. Josh Keeler\u2019s cooking, as good as any in town, is centered around local ingredients and enhanced with global flavors. It\u2019s best for brunch or a long, lazy lunch filled with dishes like fried quail with &lt;em&gt;berbere&lt;/em&gt; spice; roasted okra with curry and onion soubise; and the ramen-inspired Bowl-a-Noodle with pork confit and a soft-boiled egg\u2014all at a fair price. Every town needs a Two Boroughs Larder, but for now it\u2019s only in Charleston. Fried quail with &lt;em&gt;berbere&lt;/em&gt; spice; roasted okra with curry and onion soubise at &lt;strong&gt;Two Boroughs Larder&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;p&gt;This is a brunch town, and on Saturdays, &lt;a href=\"http://ilovetheglassonion.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;The Glass Onion&lt;/a&gt; is the place for a Bloody Mary (with house-pickled vegetables, of course). Hangover cures include shrimp and grits, and pork country sausage with pimiento cheese and garlic bread. The service is sweet and the setting is casual&amp;mdash;think refined diner. At night, blue-plate specials include fried chicken livers and Cajun boudin ravioli with collards and potlikker.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Charleston might be the last place you&amp;rsquo;d expect to find text-book &lt;em&gt;mapo tofu&lt;/em&gt;, that satisfying Sichuan dish, but that&amp;rsquo;s what you&amp;rsquo;ll find at &lt;a href=\"http://xiaobaobiscuit.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Xiao Bao Biscuit&lt;/a&gt;, a hip hangout set in a converted gas station. Owners Josh Walker, Duolan Li, and Joey Ryan serve what they call Asian soul food, their take on authentic dishes from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. This mashup means you might run across kimchi- spiked mung bean cakes alongside &lt;em&gt;paratha&lt;/em&gt; bread with green curry. Wash it all down with a To&amp;ntilde;a lager.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The South's well-documented love of all things pork gives it a leg up when it comes to charcuterie. Case in point: the incredible cured, smoked, and cooked meats crafted by Craig Deihl and his team at &lt;a href=\"http://www.magnolias-blossom-cypress.com/cypresshome.asp?catID=20427\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Cypress&lt;/a&gt;. Bypass the main dining room and head upstairs for a meal assembled from a revolving selection of over 80 types of country ham, salumi, and terrines. Deihl sources pig breeds like the American Guinea hog, whose marbled meat marks the difference between the artisanal and mass stuff. Locals have the luxury of a steady supply via the restaurant&amp;rsquo;s meat-share subscriptions. Out-of-towners, fear not: They'll sell you a few slices, too.&lt;/p&gt; Upper King Street bars gets crazy on the weekends, but this den of mixology stays sophisticated. A jalape\u00F1o-cucumber gimlet is a good start. Lunch is worth a visit at new-wave sandwich shop Butcher &amp;amp; Bee, but the warehouse space really comes alive after 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, with a late-night menu. You\u2019ll likely see restaurant-industry folk with six-packs on their tables (it\u2019s the city\u2019s only BYOB), scarfing down the signature burger with pimiento cheese or an eggplant banh mi. Also look for special guest-chef pop-up dinners. World-class, wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza knows no boundaries these days. More proof can be found\u00A0 at the freewheeling &lt;a href=\"http://evopizza.com/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Extra Virgin Oven (EVO)&lt;/a&gt; pizzeria in North Charleston, where perfectly blistered crusts are the canvas for toppings like summer squash and cherry tomatoes, and house-made sausage and mozzarella.\u00A0 The bakery behind the restaurant features some of the area\u2019s best baked goods (the Speck and provolone croissants are particularly noteworthy). Locals know to stop for lunch on the way\u00A0 in and out of town."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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