I’ll admit it. I’m a little bit of a food elitist. I probably wouldn’t run a restaurant blog if I didn’t have a bit of that in me. I may live on a typical college student’s budget, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to settle for the mass produced, watered down culinary equivalent of a Nickelback album (Applebee’s and Ruby Tuesday, I’m looking at you).
I’m not trying to say that I only enjoy fine dining–if I felt that way I would starve to death pretty quickly–but I do try my best to patronize as many of Charleston’s most unique and innovative restaurants as possible.
With that in mind, I’m a little disappointed in myself. How could any self-respecting semi-food snob wait 10 months to visit his city’s only “holistic soul food” cafe? Blame it on ignorance or whatever you’d like, but I corrected my mistake last Thursday, when I made my way over to Reid Street for dinner at Alluette’s Cafe.
From the outside, Alluette’s Cafe isn’t much to look at. It’s in a pretty nondescript strip mall on the border of the sketchy side of town. The inside continues the low key theme. Alluette’s, named for its proprietor Alluette Jones, only has about a half dozen tables, none of which adhere to any recognizable pattern. The walls are covered in paintings by local Gullah artists and the book shelves are filled with titles promising “natural cures.”
The menu, which makes Alluette’s commitment to fresh, local, and organic ingredients abundantly clear, is fairly small, but complemented by a sizable list of daily specials. It’s important to choose something you’re pretty sure you’ll like, however, because the prices at Alluette’s are way higher than you would suspect in that location.
We chose to start with a cup of the fish stew ($7 for what appeared to be about 6 oz.). Warm and hearty with loads of delicious vegetables and wild-caught salmon, it would be the perfect cure for a cold winter night. The tomato basil-based stew wonderfully combines flavors from the farm and the ocean.
From there, we moved on to entrees. Relying on the recommendations of just about everyone who has ever been to Alluette’s Cafe, I went with the fried local shrimp ($19). I’ve always thought that all fried shrimp were roughly the same, but boy was I wrong.
Alluette’s fried shrimp have a light, crispy exterior that doesn’t drown out the taste of the shrimp. They are seasoned with a healthy dose of dill and served with a spicy cayenne mayonnaise. I have to agree with Robert Moss of the City Paper’s assertion that Alluette’s is dishing out the best fried shrimp in the city.
My partner opted for the chicken salad ($15). Served over a bed of some the freshest, tastiest local veggies I’ve tasted in quite a while, this dish would be an absolutely ideal light meal if the price tag wasn’t so absurd. Fifteen dollars for a single, albeit delicious, scoop of chicken salad and some greens just isn’t a reasonable purchase for anyone living on a budget.
For dessert, we were tempted by Alluette’s giant cookies ($3) but ended up selecting the bread pudding ($6). The pudding was full of raisins and nice, crunchy apples. The flavors were all right, but I found it to be a little on the dry side.
Another interesting item to note is Alluette’s sweet tea, which is sweetened with fruit juice instead of sugar. On the day we went, they were serving a pineapple tea which I really enjoyed. It’s a particularly attractive option for those of us who get turned off by the amount of sugar many restaurants around these parts put in their tea.
Overall, the food at Alluette’s was excellent, but I don’t know how highly I can recommend it, given the cost. I can’t really blame Alluette for that, though. It’s got to be difficult enough to turn a profit in a restaurant that small, but I imagine it gets significantly harder when you commit to the quality of ingredients she does.
So, if you’ve got money to burn, by all means move Alluette’s toward the top of your “must-try” list. However, if you’re like me and $30 dinners are a substantial investment, you might be better off heading down to your neighborhood vegetable stand and trying to recreate some of Alluette’s dishes yourself.
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David,
It seems to me that you enjoyed your meal at Alluette’s except for the price. If we were located at the Charleston Place Hotel, would you have complained? We do not have the money to spend on decor so we reinvest all of our modest profits in our food. At this time of economic upheaval, many restaurants are scaling back on the quality of their food. Alluette has not. Alluette puts so much love and energy into all her food. She makes the iced tea, the soups, the hot tea and anything else using water with bottled water only. I have seen Alluette clean her beans five times before she was satisfied that the water was clean enough. I wish you could see how many times she cleans the collards. Alluette is committed to quality food and to making your meal the healthiest it can be. Smaller portions are really just the normal size servings before the days of “supersize me”.
As for heading to the local farmer’s market, excellent idea! If you are able to recreate Alluette’s delicious flavor, come by with a sample. We can always use help in the kitchen.
Please come visit us in our second location opening soon. Our newest address will be 137 Calhoun Street. We will be opening in early 2009.
I appreciate your comment. Like you said, I definitely did enjoy my meal at Alluette’s. I didn’t make any disparaging remarks about the quality of her ingredients. In fact, I pointed out that I understood why the prices were so high.
You have to remember, however, that I am writing from a college student’s perspective. I live on a pretty tight budget. I spend a bigger portion of my budget on restaurants than most people my age, but when I spend $60 on a meal I expect a certain result.
Would I have complained if Alluette’s was located in Charleston Place? If everything was the same, yes. If the restaurant had the same ambiance and level of service as Charleston Grill has, then maybe not as much. Still, $15 for a scoop of chicken salad and some greens is more than just about any student I know will find acceptable. I have no problem with portions being smaller, as long as the portions are in line with the price.
I wish you the best of luck in your new location. I appreciate what Alluette is doing with healthy food. If I was wealthier, I’d probably be in a lot more often. If I make a trip to the new location and have a different experience, I won’t hesitate to alter my review.