How a growing number of restaurants along the historic thoroughfare are reshaping the city’s culinary landscape
“We’re in a very special part of Charleston, being on Broad Street,” says Elliott Howells, executive chef of The Establishment. To see what he means, take a stroll from the Old Exchange at East Bay four blocks west to King Street, where centuries-old commercial buildings give way to houses. During the day, the sidewalks bustle with life: lawyers in suits grabbing coffee, residents walking dogs, and tourists snapping pics of the architecture. As the sun sets, they’re joined by locals dressed to the nines for celebratory dinners or headed for happy hour drinks.
For two centuries, Broad Street, with its famous Four Corners of Law—City Hall, St. Michael’s, the U.S. Post Office, and the County Courthouse—at the intersection with Meeting, was the city’s legal and financial center, a corridor of three- and four-story buildings housing law offices, banks, and insurance companies. Here in the 21st century, though, it has quietly but steadily evolved into one of the city’s prime dining districts.
When Oak Steakhouse opened in 2005, the fine dining action in Charleston was happening just around the corner on East Bay, the city’s restaurant row. That’s where the “New Southern” establishments—Magnolia’s, McCrady’s, Cypress, and the cheekily named Slightly North of Broad (SNOB)—earned the city its national culinary reputation.
Oak Steakhouse, which occupies the circa-1848 former South Carolina Loan & Trust Co. building—featuring two stories of heart pine floors, soaring 20-foot ceilings, and high arched windows overlooking Broad—was the street’s lone outpost of fine dining. More typical eateries included beloved café Gaulart & Maliclet (aka “Fast and French”); Blind Tiger Pub; and Brent’s on Broad, a counter-service deli. At the time, Charleston’s dining geography was shifting, too, as retail stores on Upper King were converted into glitzy new restaurants and cocktail bars. As the dining scene migrated up the peninsula, Broad Street was increasingly left to slumber.
17 Broad Street
Steve Palmer, founder of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, discovered that vibe when he became a managing partner at Oak in 2009. “The first two years, we were so slow,” he recalls. “At that point all the development was coming to Upper King.”
Across the street, Mike Shuler bought one of the buildings that houses Blind Tiger in 2013 and took over operating the pub and restaurant two years later. “It was still a little sleepy,” Shuler says. “It was a lot of lawyers, you know.”
Today, things look very different. In 2017, a series of new restaurants began moving into the old Broad Street buildings, starting with the distinctive Renaissance Revival-style brownstone at the corner of East Bay that originally housed the State Bank of South Carolina. After an extensive renovation, One Broad Street began offering breakfast sandwiches and pastries in the morning and sandwiches and grain bowls for lunch. The restaurant shuttered during the pandemic, but Palmer and The Indigo Road jumped at the chance to take over the space, launching Brasserie La Banque there in November 2021.
By that point, a fine dining resurgence was well underway. In May 2018, The Establishment opened at 28 Broad, a building constructed around 1791 and long known as the James Gregorie House, after the prominent Scottish merchant who occupied it. “It’s the most gorgeous restaurant I’ve ever worked in,” says executive chef Howells. In front, with tall windows looking out onto the sidewalk, is an elegant main dining room, with rows of four-top tables and brown leather-backed chairs. Behind that is a large horseshoe-shaped bar, then a second dining room with a ceiling of sleek brown planks and an L-shaped chef’s counter wrapping around the open kitchen.
“Every time someone comes in here, they’re like, ‘Wow!’” Howells says, “because if you walk past it during the middle of the day and the blinds aren’t open, it looks like a law office.” For many years, that’s precisely what it was. Aptly, the restaurant, located on Broad between Church and State streets, was named as a playful nod to the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which mandates the separation of church and state.
The “Banque” in Brasserie La Banque nods to the past life of 1 Broad. The Renaissance Revival-style brownstone at the intersection of East Bay, with its distinctive rounded front that hugs the street corner, originally housed the State Bank of South Carolina, and later Carolina Savings Bank of Charleston, Bankers Trust of South Carolina, and finally Carolina First.
Another surprising fact about Broad Street is that it’s one of the highest points on the peninsula, which means many of its buildings have a feature not often found in downtown Charleston: basements.
At The Establishment, an old vault that extends downward into the basement has been repurposed as a two-story, climate-controlled wine tower, the bottles arrayed from floor to ceiling in gleaming racks. To visit the restrooms at Sorelle, you’ll be directed down a flight of stairs into the basement, which also houses a full prep kitchen. The most distinctive basement on Broad Street, though, is the one beneath Brasserie La Banque, which is home to Bar Vauté (above). It’s a unique setting where you can sip a French 75 or a boulevardier alongside a happy hour burger or plate of escargot—and all below street level.
Fast forward to February 2023, and no Broad Street restaurant opening attracted more attention than that of Sorelle. The restaurant’s name, which means “sisters” in Italian, refers to Davidina and Florida Fabian, who operated Miss Fabian’s School for Boys and Girls in the building from 1885 until 1925. Beemok Hospitality Collection, the owners of The Charleston Place, engaged celebrity chef Michael Mina and his Mina Group to help launch it. Nick Dugan, who would become Sorelle’s executive chef, was at the time working at two of Mina’s restaurants in Las Vegas, and he flew to Charleston to check out the new space—his first time visiting the city.
“I remember it was a rainy day when I saw it,” Dugan says. “I was walking down the street. I started at East Bay, and as I got further up, the businesses slowed and it became more neighborhood and I was like, ‘This is an interesting kind of location.’ I walked right past it, because there was no signage or anything, and I thought, ‘This can’t be it.’”
Sorelle’s three buildings spanning 88 and 90 Broad served many functions over the years—the headquarters of the Hebrew Orphan Society, a private school, and the offices of lawyers and real-estate developers—but they had sat boarded up for more than a decade. “It was completely gutted,” Dugan recalls of his first time setting foot inside. “It was still a blank slate at that point, just pure exposed brick on every single level. The only walls were load-bearing walls. When you go up to the main dining room [now] and you see the beautiful, very historic ceilings—those were there, but in horrible condition.”
The three now-connected buildings that house Sorelle served many functions over the years. The largest, 88 Broad, was built circa 1810 and was the headquarters of the Hebrew Orphan Society for a century, starting in 1833. The organization’s offices were on the first floor, and the second—now Sorelle’s grand dining room—served as the Hebrew Orphan Society Hall, which hosted hundreds of events. Between 1885 and 1925, the Fabian sisters operated their School for Boys and Girls on one of the upper floors. In 1931, 88 Broad was purchased by real estate developer J.C. Long, whose Beach Company would go on to build many of the homes in Wagener Terrace, erect the Sergeant Jasper apartment building, and develop most of the Isle of Palms. Long’s family sold the building and 90 Broad next door to Charleston County in the mid-1990s, and the structures sat boarded up until a firm affiliated with Beemok Hospitality Collection bought them in 2018.
Dugan moved to Charleston permanently in October 2022, and the restaurant opened the following February. “At the time,” he admits, “I was thinking, ‘I don’t know about this neighborhood.’ Coming from Las Vegas, especially, where everything is flashy and very much the opposite of that, I was a little unsure of what this was going to turn into.”
What it turned into was the most talked-about Charleston restaurant launch in years. Guests invited to previews raved about the interior—the hand-painted wallpaper, the soaring white ceilings with ornate columns and cornices, the elaborate marble-topped bar. They gushed over the flashy Italian-inspired plates, too: tagliatelle with steamed blue mussels, ricotta and truffle gnocchetti, piccata-style Sicilian swordfish. Fine dining’s foothold on Broad Street was secured.
The term “South of Broad” once referred to the city’s old money elite, who tended to dine privately at home. That’s changed in recent years. “There was a period of time when a lot of people weren’t calling the lower peninsula home,” Shuler says. “It was a second home for wealthy Northerners, but I think a lot of people since then have decided to call it home.”
That trend was accelerated by the pandemic, which prompted many transplants to turn their second homes into primary residences. In the years that followed, the lower peninsula has enjoyed a residential real estate boom, drawing buyers looking to live in a historic setting in the heart of a vibrant downtown. For Howells of The Establishment, which closed for 14 months during the pandemic, the rebirth has been remarkable. “We’re coming into year five after being reopened from Covid,” he says, “and we’re watching business grow every year, which is great.”
In May 2018, The Establishment opened at 28 Broad, a building constructed around 1791 and long known as the James Gregorie House after the prominent Scottish merchant who occupied it. Named after the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which mandates the separation of Church and State, the restaurant sits on the block of Broad between Church and State streets. During the day, the exterior of the building resembles a law office; for many years, Hagood, Rivers & Young and its successor, Young, Clement & Rivers, occupied the building. In 2011, the firm moved into larger offices on Calhoun Street.
“Oak’s busier than it’s ever been,” adds Palmer, “and it has its own crowd. The South of Broad neighborhood really embraces it.”
Sorelle’s Dugan sees the same thing. “There’s quite a massive community that lives right there,” he says. “The bar and lounge fills up every night of the week with people that live within maybe a 10-block area. Some come in two or three times a week for their glass of wine and bowl of spaghetti or whatever it is, so the bar and lounge has developed a really solid following.”
Another element that sets Broad Street apart from Charleston’s other dining districts is that it’s bustling with activity from early in the morning until well into the evening. “We’re blessed to be a part of such a walking neighborhood,” says Blind Tiger’s Shuler. “People are out, but it’s not just at night. That’s the important thing. On Upper King Street, because it’s so heavy on the nightlife, you don’t see a whole lot of suits in the middle of the day.”
That foot traffic has proved a boon to the Mercato at Sorelle, a casual café and market on the first floor of 90 Broad that offers paninis, Sicilian-style pizza, pastries, and coffee. The market was in the plans from early on, but Dugan had no idea how it would blossom. “We always thought of it to be a little bonus,” he says, “where maybe 200 people would come through on a busy day.”
Initially there was one full-time cook making sandwiches, one baker making pastries, and two or three baristas. Month after month, though, traffic steadily grew. “Now it’s 15 full-time employees,” Dugan says. “We’re selling 700 specialty lattes a day—and that’s just the specialty lattes. We never imagined it would turn into what it is now.”
Next door to Blind Tiger, the building at 40 Broad that formerly housed the Brown Dog Deli is being transformed into a new restaurant called Quarter French. When deli owner Brent Petterson decided to close his Broad Street location (the Brown Dog at 225 Calhoun remains open), Shuler was the first person he called. They quickly made a handshake deal, and Shuler bought the building.
The name is in part a play on the French Quarter, that apocryphal neighborhood that, depending on who’s describing it, may or may not include Broad Street. For Shuler, there’s a second meaning. His maternal grandmother was born in France, survived Nazi occupation, and immigrated to Charleston just after World War II. “My mother grew up right here down the street,” Shuler says, “and her first language was French.” That, he points out, makes him a quarter French.
“We are not intending to open a French restaurant per se,” he continues, noting that Broad Street already has Gaulart & Maliclet and Brasserie La Banque. His new restaurant will be “rooted in French style, cuisine, and technique” but will focus on steak frites and similar widely recognized dishes. “It’s just a quarter French, right?”
For Shuler, the most important feature will be the large courtyard in the back, where guests can dine outdoors all day long. “There’s a reason we feel strongly that serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner is the right move, and it’s the street,” he says. “We’ve got the best foot traffic on the street at all hours of the day.”
“What I see happening now is the next phase,” Shuler says, “with The Cooper open [on Concord Street], and then with the Four Seasons coming over there on Meeting Street.” From either hotel, he notes, one could map out a roughly four-block by four-block rectangle, with Cumberland Street on the north and Broad on the south, forming a circuit of about a mile.
“Put yourself in the mind of a tourist,” Shuler says, “and say, ‘Let’s just walk.’ You’re almost naturally going to make this loop.” That stroll would take them past the Gibbes Museum of Art, Hibernian Hall, St. Michael’s Church, the Old Exchange, and St. Philip’s Church—and, along the way, a rich selection of places to stop in for a drink, a quick bite, or a full dinner.
The Establishment’s Howells feels that Broad Street is now starting to exert its own gravitational pull on the dining scene, too. “I think it’s moving more in this direction,” he says. “People are attracted to this side [of the city] now. It’s not just horse carriages and ghost tours.”
Or, as Shuler puts it, “There’s nothing better than being here, taking your time, and having a day on Broad Street.”
