Weekly Specials CHS: June 6-12, 2025
Sake and oysters take over at Roseline, the Archive hosts a biodynamic wine tasting, and Off Track celebrates turning 6 with a new bday-themed flavor. Plus, a roundup of Pride specials that give back!
I hope everyone has had a good week! It’s such a FUN time of year here right now…so much music and art happening at the Spoleto Festival, and celebrations of Pride across the city, too.
I went to Wine & Company’s rosé showdown last week and had such a wonderful time tasting six rosés! My favorites were the 2024 Château Coussin La Croix du Prieur and a dry sparkling rosé from South African wine producer (and certified B Corp!) Lubanzi. I’m definitely going to stop by again soon to grab a few of those bottles for summer.
I also went to the CHS Vegan Collective’s market last Sunday at the Garden by Charles Towne Fermentory. We had delicious vegan pizza from Pizza da Michelino, and I picked up some treats like a blueberry pancake cookie sandwich from Lil Sprout Vegan Desserts and a bag of Globetrotter Granola’s slightly spicy Charleston chili chocolate granola. If you missed the market, their next one will be on September 6th at Wyrd Sisters Brewing in Park Circle.
Weekly specials
Looking for last-minute plans tonight?
Park Circle Pride still has SO many more events planned through the 8th, benefitting two non-profits doing amazing work to support our local LGBTQ+ community: Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), who advocate for LGBTQ+ rights across South Carolina, and We Are Family, who provide safe spaces and resources for LGBTQ+ youth. Tonight, Jackrabbit Filly is hosting a Proud & Lau-d Dinner with guest chef Christine Lau from 5-9pm, and their FoH staff will be dressed in drag! Stems & Skins is hosting a Vinyl Drag Night Show from 8-11pm, and Holy City Brewing is hosting gay bingo from 7-10pm. For more info and the full Park Circle Pride schedule, check out their website.
Taka Izakaya is back at All My Exes with a Japanese-inspired bar food menu, including a tuna tartare with tonnato and nori wraps, and a Raven Farms lion’s mane mushroom skewer.
If you’re staying in for the night, then watch Top Chef at 9pm! Chef Shuai Wang of Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ has been absolutely crushing it, and last week, he won the challenge and made it to the FINALE! I’ve been so inspired learning more about Shuai: seeing him reflect his love for his mom and his grandma in his cooking, seeing his wife Corrie support him from afar (the letter!!!), watching him in his element cooking outside in Calgary, and observing how much the other chefs just love being around him. The two-part finale starts tonight and culminates next Thursday on June 12th. GO SHUAI!!!
Friday, June 6th
Harken’s spring Happy at Harken series wraps up tonight. They’ll be serving drinks and sweet treats on the piazza from 5-8pm during the First Friday Art Walk, and there won’t be another one until the fall.
Sarah’s Dumps will be doing a free dump sample event at Odd Duck Market from 5pm until the dumps run out!
Bangin’ Vegan Eats is at Wyrd Sisters Brewing from 5-8pm.
As part of Park Circle Pride, Odd Duck Market is hosting a Pride edition “Book Tasting” from 6-7pm in partnership with Itinerant Literate Books, which will pair their favorite LGBTQ+ books with wine samples! Also, Commonhouse Aleworks is throwing a First Friday BBQ and Bluegrass Pride celebration from 5-9pm, with food by Swig & Swine. I had Swig & Swine’s food at the Meals on Wheels fundraiser last weekend, and their crabcakes are awesome. Check out the full Park Circle Pride schedule here.
Saturday, June 7th
As part of Park Circle Pride today, there will be a drag brunch at Tattooed Moose hosted by Ava Clear from 11:30am-3pm, and Commonhouse Aleworks is hosting a Prideful Pets costume contest from 2-2:30pm.
Chef Sophina Uong of Mister Mao in New Orleans is popping by Sullivan’s Fish Camp today for a Lowcountry Khmer Boil from 3-6pm.
I love this idea: Odyssey Bottle Shop is collaborating with The Flow Co to host a Sip & Swap clothing swap event! There will be light bites and drinks (including NA options) available for purchase, and any leftover items after the event will be donated to My Sisters House, a local nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence. Substack is not letting me embed their cute digital flyer here, but the swap will go from 3:30-5:30pm, and you can find more info about what to bring here.
From 4-6pm, Bar Estrella is back at Estadio with a Champagne and potato chip tasting menu!
Sunday, June 8th
It’s the last day of Park Circle Pride! Sissy Bar is hosting a “Sparkly Sissy Drag Brunch” from 11am-3pm, and both Paddock & Whiskey and Tattooed Moose are hosting finale parties. A special Pride version of the Feminist Magic Market is also happening today from 11am-4pm, with food vendors like Bangin’ Vegan Eats, Butter Half Bakery Seol Ah’s, Don Sazón Empanadas, Tamales by Guadalupe, Salty Crumbs, Lil Sprout Vegan Desserts, Whip Wagon, and A-Roi Thai. For more on the Feminist Magic Market, check out the post below, and for the full Park Circle Pride schedule, head to their website here. (Psst…if you’re a fan of ube, Butter Half Bakery will be bringing her ‘strictly ube’ pastry boxes to the Market! These will have five ube pastries featuring treats like an ube cornflake cookie with brown butter cornflakes (YUM), and an ube cinnamon roll.)
Celadon Home and the Navy Yard are back with another Boulevard Bazaar. From 10am-2pm, head to the Navy Yard for some shopping and food by JM Bros Provisions, Luther’s, and My Big Fat Greek Trailer. Want to stop by both this market and the Feminist Magic Market in Park Circle? Black Sheep Pedicabs will be going to and from both markets!
Monday, June 9th
Greer Gilchrist and Cameron Neal from Harken and the Harbinger will be at Buxton Books at 6pm to talk about their new cookbook. It’s a free event, but you can find more info about how to save a seat here.
Try organic and biodynamic wines at Charleston’s recently opened local dark academia bookstore, the Archive! At 6:30pm, guest Damian Priday will lead tastings of four wines, with a focus on how lunar cycles and earth rhythms influence vineyards and vintages. Get tickets on Eventbrite here.
Tuesday, June 10th
Resident Culture Brewing Co., a Charlotte-based female-owned brewery, is popping up at Herd Provisions starting at 3pm.
Wine & Company’s Tasting Tuesday this week celebrates the wines of Italy! From 5:30-7:30pm, you can taste five different Italian wines, and the tasting is free if you buy a bottle!
Kultura’s next event in their Sama-Sama Guest Chef Series is featuring the team from Comfort Kitchen in Boston. Seatings are at 5:30 and 7:45pm, and you can book on Resy.
Thursday, June 12th
Roseline is doing a sake and oyster takeover tonight! Starting at 4pm, sake sommelier Jenny O’Donnell will be pouring three different kinds of sake (including a rose sake!) and Shucktowne will be there shuckin’ with three different mignonettes, too. To see the sakes and oyster menu, check out their post here.
Eat delicious ice cream for a good cause! Jeni’s Mt. Pleasant location is hosting a Pride ice cream social fundraiser from 4-7pm. A quarter of all sales will go towards supporting the mission of Charleston Pride, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community through events like the annual Charleston Pride Festival.
Sarah’s Dumps is popping up at Rooted Bottle Market and Bar in North Mt P from 5-8pm.
Follow me on Instagram for real-time updates on foodie events and special dishes in Charleston:
🌈Pride specials that give back🌈
It’s giving…back to our local LGBTQIA+ community!
Park & Grove’s Melon Rouge cocktail supports We Are Family and is available through the end of June.
A dollar from each Pride-themed cocktail at the Little Palm at the Ryder Hotel will go to Charleston Pride. Learn more about their five Pride-themed cocktails in their post below…the Saguaro sounds like it would be my pick!
Taco Boy’s One Love margarita is back and benefits We Are Family (plus Taco Boy is bringing back their Pride tees for the fifth year!)
Clerks’ Love is Love cookie gives back to Charleston Pride. $1 from each cookie sold will be donated, and psst…these are available at the Coffee Counter in the Ryder Hotel, too!
Lil updates
I guess you’ll be seeing me at the Tippling House a lot this month! They just announced a new Blackbird deal that is right up my alley - complimentary oysters when you get a glass of wine and pay with Blackbird - PLUS they just launched a new rainbow happy hour with a four-wine flight for $12 from Tuesdays through Thursdays. Check out both of their posts below for more deets.
You all may know that I usually don’t include meat-centric dishes in my newsletters, but I wanted to include this one since it’s a fundraiser for such a great cause: for the month of June, Home Team BBQ is donating 100% of sales from their cheeseburger taco to Compassionate Care ALS. Compassionate Care ALS is a nonprofit that supports people diagnosed with ALS, their families, and communities as they collectively navigate the complexities of the disease.
Even better, The Works is matching 25 cents for every taco sold, too. Home Team and the Works are doing this in honor of their friend Tom Hodges, who passed away earlier this year. Learn more about Tom and the Tacos for Tom campaign in the post below.
Here are the dishes and drinks that caught my eye this week:
If you live here, you already KNOW CudaCo has some of the best fresh fish in town…but did you know they’ve also got the hook up for veggies, too? Their veggie trio features za’atar pickled beets, curry carrots, and, for a limited time, pickled ramps. Eat the rainbow!
ALL of Indaco’s new limited-time menu items sound SO good, but if I had to pick one, it would be the agnolotti with sweet corn, ricotta, Raven Farms mushrooms, fresh tomato, and chives.
HBD, OT! Off Track is celebrating their sixth birthday with a new birthday cookie cake flavor!
Coming up
Chubby Fish is hosting another wine dinner on June 12th. It might already be sold out by now, but the dinner will be at their next door bar, the Seahorse, in partnership with CA-based winemaker Martha Stoumen. Find more info in the caption of their post below and reserve your spot by emailing kate@chubbyfishcharleston.com.
That’s a wrap!
Haha, I was wondering if you were watching top chef - should have known! I’m rooting for Shuai too!