​​BY ELIZABETH HARPER

In keeping with a growing trend, two culinary tours have taken hold of historic downtown, Charleston Culinary Tours and Culinary Tours of Charleston, offering a variety of walks combined with some of the best food the city has to offer. Each company has a unique take on Charleston food culture, with tours of celebrated restaurants on upper King Street and  historic downtown, intimate demonstrations by some of Charleston’s esteemed chefs and even a tour of the Marion Square Farmer’s Market, all combined with a walking tour highlighting the history of the city itself. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at Charleston Culinary Tours upper King Street Tour, where you’re met with a disclaimer: come hungry—very hungry.

​     First stop: newcomer HōM, known by day as a great burger joint and by night as the place for beer-fueled Ping-Ping tourneys. The intimate tour of 11 guided by Guilds Hollowell began in a back booth with flatbread and house-made pimento cheese, duck confit, barbeque sauce and arugula piled high. The mix of the sweet sauce, peppery arugula, savory duck confit and the crunch of the toasted flatbread made my tastes buds sing.

     Up next, Sugar Bakeshop, where we were treated to miniature vanilla and mint cupcakes with a tiny strawberry on top—the perfect decorative note. Typically, I detest anything mint flavored other than mints themselves. But that didn’t stop me from sampling one of the delectable cupcakes from Sugar, one of my favorite bakeshops on the peninsula. Truth be told, I was pleasantly surprised by the medley of tastes that followed my inaugural cupcake bite. The mint flavor was so slight and blended so smoothly with the vanilla that I almost became a convert—almost but not quite.

     Charleston born-and-raised, Hollowell embodied the perfect mix of tour guide characteristics: entertainer, amateur historian, Charleston-lover and, as a bonus, he speaks fluent Gullah; in fact, he had to learn English phonetically in the first grade. “Charleston is about one minute from a party all the time,” said Hollowell, describing the town’s near obsession with festivals, food, music and otherwise.

     I pride myself on being an adventurous eater and relish the idea of eating at places like The Macintosh, Cypress, FIG and The Grocery. However, the tour put an emphasis on another food I’ve never warmed to: mushrooms. Ready to face my culinary fears, though, I dug into Five Loaves Cafe’s Portobello burger with feta cheese, cucumber and sour cream spread. Success. I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth mélange of flavors.

     Final stop on the culinary parade: Rue de Jean. Stepping through the doors of this fine dining establishment is like stepping across the Atlantic and into Paris. The exposed brick, dim lighting and antique mirrors transported me to a Parisian brasserie on the Left Bank. To top off a delicious afternoon, the culinary masters at Rue de Jean served us moules frites, one of my all-time favorite French dishes. The warm, crisp fries coupled with cooked-to-perfection mussels left me in a food coma—an absolutely wonderful food coma.