Charleston ; The "Grits"Capital of the World.

The first time I ever ate is whilst my term at Carnival cruise industry, it was served for breakfast and just cooked like a normal creamy polenta but a lot blander,  pale and white i even said to ma self ,who on earth will eat this bland stuff?

In late 1985, the store manager of the St.George, SC, Piggly Wiggly Supermarket, was giving a broker of a large grits company an order for grits. The broker made a remark that his company sure shipped a lot of grits into St. George, considering how small the town was and its meager population,

As it turned out, the people of St. George actually ate more grits per capita than any other place in the world!   Thus the World Grits Festival was , which was held in April 1986, and served in that capacity until 1988.  Since the very first festival, this weekend long celebration has drawn much attention to this small Southern town, considered to be a bedroom community of Charleston, SC.  It has been estimated that the crowds during this three day event sometimes exceed 45,000!

The festival is not, however, all fun and games.  From the very start it has been dedicated to community improvement.  It provides the local folks a festival of wholesome, family fun and our students some needed scholarships, while also attracting lots of visitors to enjoy the multitude of events that are designed to appeal to persons of all ages.

Southend Brewery and Smokehouse is located in the historic Wagener Building on East Bay Street, just down the street from the famous Rainbow Row and Waterfront Park. The gorgeous building has three unique floors, accessible by indoor glass elevator. A three-story atrium houses large copper and stainless steel brew tanks in which they brew eight craft beers. An exhibition kitchen runs the length of the restaurant, extending into a large wood burning oven. they offer casual fine dining,
The building has long, interesting history since 1880 that continues on. Southend Brewery has a haunted past,  featured on many local ghost tours as one of Charleston’s most haunted places.

As i got a bit more experienced in the cuisines of southern regions of the Americas i came to know that there is a lot more to this bland gravel  which I feel could be manipulated in a lot of ways, with all the above information on grits i wanted to taste the best from the place where it actually originates, and thus when the option came by, I just did not want it to pass, along with my "Best Grill Chef David Davilla" we hit the local brewery which had stood there in the course of time "Southend Smoke House" established at 1880, As i entered the air was filled with melodrama of the smoky sensations installed in there yet for me i wanted to get the house special which for a smoke house is quite peculiar my waiter educated me on the history of the dish which actually corresponded with my above enlightenment, Alex , and I understood that the Grits are the only specialty in any part of Charleston,  

As its the Brewery I had to call on the selection of beers and to my amazement i was fortunate enough to savour the sampler which had all hot favorite local ones, the enigma was overwhelming, the beers each had a character of their own and as my waiter Alex gave a brief description before I had each one of them, 

The beers had taken me away to an uninhabited arena, and what brought me back was the aroma of my specials arriving towards my table.

It was a simple Carolinian Prawn Stew over Grits,A straight forward preparation with fresh cherry tomatoes which gave an hit of sourness rich in cream and a sauce which was nothing i had ever had thus far,smothered over a creamy pile of Grits, The flavor the aroma was more than inviting me to to just dig in and forget the beers,Hence after a clean pep talk on the history of the grits from Alex, i just added this to my most desired dish on the globe, I have eaten prawns but the melodrama what the grits created here was something to savor for me for the rest of my life,

As for the beers there is long down lane of my other blogs which would speak volumes on it, but before I could get there, I got to blog about David Davilla "The Best Grill Man" and his obsession towards Chicken Wings and thats coming up next, Eureka !! Eureka!!