Charleston’s Newest Restaurant Openings, Now on Resy

This gorgeous downtown restaurant is perfect for a date or a night out with friends over classic tapas and generously proportioned (and shareable) mains. The dazzling original cocktails and covered patio that looks like a corner of paradise complete an idyllic night.

Fans of the former Trattoria Lucca can rejoice, because chef Ken Vedrinski is back and has brought his beloved family-style Italian menus with him. A casual counterpart to Vedrinski’s Coda del Pesce, Volpe’s is where guests can experience his signature seafood dishes alongside excellent pastas, served in the four-course tasting or the à la carte menu.

Felix Landrum’s Felix Cocktails et Cuisine was a hit, but he didn’t stop there, and you won’t want to either. Instead, walk down the glowing hallway at the back of that place to his Provençal-inspired “sipping lounge,” and settle back for some good wines, rare whiskeys, colorful cocktails, and a curated menu of French-accented small plates. 

Charleston almost lost a vital piece of its culinary history when the century-old Harold’s Cabin prepared to close on this site. That is until a neighbor, Heather Greene, stepped in to save it. And though the name’s changed, the spirit of Harold’s (now Lillian’s) still prevails, with its gourmet market, bar, and restaurant, where one can find excellent Southern-accented cuisine three times a day.

If deviled eggs, pimiento cheese, shrimp and grits, and fried chicken sandwiches are your idea of good food (and why wouldn’t they be?) then Momo is for you.

When the owners behind Pasta Beach (a much-loved pasta restaurant all over New England) partner with a Roman chef, you get something like this King Street stunner. Enter Legami, where chef Andrea Congiusto dreams up an Italian menu like no other, where caviar service, veal Milanese, and handmade pastas collide.

This high-style addition to the local dining scene, from the owners of Berkeley’s, first got Charleston’s attention with a series of pop-ups featuring deft takes on familiar fare (like gin and tonic salmon crudo and chicken-fried grouper), and it continues the theme in brick-and-mortar form, with a dazzling cocktail program added for good measure. 

The three-meals-a-day dining room at The Dunlin, a luxury resort on Johns Island, exudes beach-house cool, and establishes its Lowcountry credentials with views of the Kiawah River, sea-fresh fish and shellfish (much of it local), seasonal produce, and the mix of culinary informality and sophistication that characterizes Southern cooking at its best.

Because Herman Ng (longtime director of operations for Oak Steakhouse) is energizing the Charleston Chinese restaurant scene with XO Brasserie. The upscale-yet-casual establishment brings modern Sichuan and Cantonese dishes to this dramatic (see the building’s architecture) NoMo corner, rooted in the food his family cooked at home but also in the Chinese restaurant they once ran in South Carolina.

When the group behind paradigm-busting restaurants like Husk and Minero opens a steakhouse, you know it’s going to be something else. Think an exciting menu that boasts almost as much seafood as there is meat; side dishes that go above and beyond the traditional offerings; and a wine list that covers a world that transcends the usual trophy Cabernets.