14 editor-picked lowcountry restaurants across 2 cities.
Lowcountry cuisine is the cooking of the coastal plain of South Carolina and Georgia (and parts of North Carolina), a region defined by tidal rivers, sea islands, and the Gullah-Geechee community of African Americans who descend from enslaved West Africans, particularly from the rice-growing region of Senegambia. The cuisine takes its name from the geographic 'low country' (the flat, low-elevation coastal plain) and is distinct from Southern food broadly and from soul food. Its center is Charleston, with strong satellites in Savannah, Beaufort, and the sea islands (St. Helena, Edisto, Sapelo, Daufuskie).
The defining grammar is rice. Carolina Gold rice (the heritage long-grain variety that built Charleston's antebellum wealth and was nearly extinct before being revived by Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills) is the foundation of the cuisine. Around the rice are shellfish (shrimp, oysters, blue crab, clams), pork (the country ham and bacon tradition, plus fresh and smoked sausage), benne seed (sesame, brought by enslaved Africans, used in benne wafers and brittle), sea island red peas, okra (also West African in origin), and the tidal vegetables of the coastal gardens (collards, butterbeans, field peas, summer tomatoes).
Lowcountry cooking shares with West African foodways the rice-and-stew structure (think jollof and West African one-pot rice dishes), the use of okra as both vegetable and thickener (gumbo's grandparent), and the peanut and benne seed pantry. The Gullah-Geechee community on the sea islands preserved these traditions through 200 years of geographic and cultural isolation, and the recent revival of Lowcountry as a serious culinary identity (led by Sean Brock at Husk in Charleston, Mashama Bailey at The Grey in Savannah, BJ Dennis as Gullah-Geechee ambassador) has finally brought it the recognition it has long deserved.
The center of Lowcountry fine dining and the modern revival. Husk, FIG, The Ordinary, Rodney Scott's (BBQ adjacent), and the heritage institutions like Hominy Grill. The cuisine's most refined contemporary expression.
Slightly less refined, more home-style, with Mashama Bailey's The Grey as the modern reference point. Strong influence from Liberty County and the historic Geechee community.
St. Helena, Edisto, Sapelo, Daufuskie. The most directly West-African-rooted cooking in the United States. One-pot rice perloos, red rice, okra soup, hoppin' john, smoked-pork-and-bean stews. Saltwater Geechee cooking is its own specific subregion.
Overlap with Lowcountry, with stronger pork BBQ and lighter rice emphasis. Wilmington and the Cape Fear delta share the coastal-shellfish base but cook with a North Carolina Coastal Plain inflection.
A Lowcountry meal often starts with a shrimp or crab starter (pickled shrimp, she-crab soup, crab cakes) or boiled peanuts at a bar. The main is rice-led (shrimp and grits, red rice with sausage, hoppin' john) or shellfish-led (lowcountry boil, fried oysters, soft-shell crab in season). Sides are stewed vegetables (okra, butterbeans, field peas, collards) and cornbread or biscuits. Benne wafers or peach cobbler closes the meal. At a serious Lowcountry restaurant, the wine and beer list will include local Charleston and Savannah breweries and a thoughtful Southern wine selection.
The rookie mistakes: ordering shrimp and grits at every meal (it is one of many great dishes, not the only one), expecting the rice to be plain (Carolina Gold and red rice are the dish, not a side), ignoring the boiled peanuts at the gas station (they are the regional snack), and missing the soft-shell crab season (May into early summer, with the best examples in coastal Carolina and Georgia). Tipping is 20 percent.
Sweet tea is the table drink, though Charleston has the strongest cocktail program in the South (sazerac, mint julep, gin-and-tonic with garden herbs). With shrimp and grits, a crisp white (Albarino, Vermentino, a dry Riesling) works. With country ham, a sherry or madeira. With lowcountry boil and shellfish, ice-cold beer (Westbrook IPA, Holy City lager). The South Carolina wine industry is small; the local pairing strength is in beer and cocktails, plus an increasingly serious selection of Old World whites and roses on the better Charleston wine lists.
Charleston is the center: Husk, FIG, The Ordinary, Hominy Grill, Rodney Scott's BBQ, Bertha's Kitchen (the Gullah-Geechee soul food anchor in North Charleston), Hannibal's Kitchen. Savannah for The Grey, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, and the Geechee-influenced cooking of the Georgia coast. Beaufort and the sea islands for the most directly Gullah-Geechee experience (Gullah Grub on St. Helena Island). Outside the region, the cuisine has not really exported, which makes a Charleston-Savannah trip the essential way to encounter it.
Lowcountry cuisine emerged from the rice plantations of coastal South Carolina and Georgia from the late 17th century, where enslaved West Africans, particularly from the rice-growing region of Senegambia, built one of the wealthiest plantation economies in the antebellum United States while preserving and adapting their own foodways. The Gullah-Geechee community on the sea islands maintained these traditions through Reconstruction, the Great Migration, and the 20th century. The modern Lowcountry culinary revival began in the 1990s and accelerated through the 2000s and 2010s with the chefs (Sean Brock, Mashama Bailey, BJ Dennis) who recentered Carolina Gold rice, benne, and Gullah-Geechee cooking in fine dining.
The descendants of enslaved West Africans, primarily from the rice-growing region of Senegambia (modern Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone), who were brought to the sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia to work the rice plantations. They preserved a distinct creole language (Gullah, related to West African Krio) and a foodway that retained more direct West African elements than any other Black American community.
Lowcountry. The dish originated as a coastal Carolina fisherman's breakfast (shrimp dressed simply over grits) and became a restaurant standard via Bill Neal at Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill in the 1980s. It has since spread to Southern menus nationally, but the original is Lowcountry.
A heritage long-grain rice variety, with a slight golden hue when ripe, that was the cornerstone of the South Carolina antebellum rice economy. It nearly went extinct in the 20th century after rice production moved to other states. Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills led a revival starting in the 1990s, and it is now the rice of choice for any serious Lowcountry restaurant.
Automatic Seafood and Oysters in Lakeview Birmingham won Adam Evans the 2022 James Beard Best Chef South, with a Gulf-anchored menu and a half-shell raw bar.
Signature: Gulf oysters, Whole fried fish, Shrimp and grits
Bayonet on 2nd Avenue North in Birmingham is Rob and Emily McDaniel's spring 2025 seafood and raw bar sibling to Helen, in the NYT 50 Best Restaurants 2025.
Signature: Oysters on the half shell, Tableside martini, Crudo
Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope's FIG in Charleston has been the neighbourhood-scaled dining benchmark since 2003. Kitchen leans lowcountry, seasonal.
Signature: Fish stew, Ricotta gnocchi with pork ragu
Order: The fish stew with house-cut potatoes and aioli; rotates by season.
Tip: Book 30 days ahead on Resy. Bar seats are first-come.
Slightly North of Broad in Charleston has run on East Bay Street since 1993. Brunch and lunch are easier seats than dinner. Bar seats are walk-in only.
Signature: Shrimp and grits, Maverick Grits with sausage
Order: The shrimp and grits with stone-ground grits and house kielbasa, on the menu since the 90s.
Tip: Brunch and lunch are easier seats than dinner. Bar seats are walk-in only.
Jason Stanhope and partners reopened Sullivan's Fish Camp on Middle Street in Sullivan's Island in 2022. Located in Sullivans Island. Priced at $$$.
Signature: Raw bar selections, Wood-grilled whole fish
Order: A half-dozen oysters from the daily list, then the wood-grilled whole fish.
Tip: Book on Resy. The bar serves the full menu and turns faster than the dining room.
Brannon Florie's The Royal Tern on Johns Island opened in 2019 as a fancy neighbourhood eatery on Maybank Highway. Kitchen leans seafood, lowcountry.
Signature: Whole fish, Local raw bar
Order: Whatever whole fish is on the wood grill, plus oysters from the daily list.
Tip: Book on the website. Dinner only, closed Sundays.
Hyman's Seafood in Charleston serves the city from a Meeting Street row of historic buildings the Karesh-Hyman family has held since 1890; the seafood.
Signature: She-crab soup, Fried local seafood
Order: She-crab soup and a fried-fish plate with hushpuppies.
Tip: No reservations; arrive before 17:30 or expect a 45-minute wait. Hush puppies are free.
82 Queen in Charleston has poured she-crab soup for 40 years from three historic buildings on Queen Street with a courtyard garden under a magnolia tree.
Signature: She-crab soup, Shrimp and grits
Order: The 18-time-award-winning she-crab soup, table-side sherry pour optional.
Tip: Book on OpenTable. Courtyard seats are the best in the house.
Poogan's Porch in Charleston has run since 1976 from a restored Victorian on Queen Street. Order the shrimp and grits at brunch, biscuits to start.
Signature: Shrimp and grits, Buttermilk biscuits
Order: Shrimp and grits at brunch, biscuits to start.
Tip: Book on OpenTable. Brunch on weekends draws a queue from 10:00.
Poogan's Porch in Charleston has run since 1976 from a Victorian on Queen Street. Book on OpenTable. Brunch on weekends draws a queue from 10:00.
Signature: Shrimp and grits, Buttermilk biscuits
Order: Shrimp and grits at brunch, biscuits to start.
Tip: Book on OpenTable. Brunch on weekends draws a queue from 10:00.
82 Queen in Charleston has poured she-crab soup for 40 years from three historic buildings on Queen Street with a courtyard garden under a magnolia.
Signature: She-crab soup, Shrimp and grits
Order: The 18-time-award-winning she-crab soup.
Tip: Book on OpenTable. Courtyard seats are the best in the house.
Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope's FIG in Charleston has anchored the city's fine-dining scene since 2003. Both chefs hold James Beard Best Chef Southeast awards.
Order: The fish stew, plus the bone-in pork chop with whatever seasonal sauce is up.
Tip: Book 30 days ahead on Resy at 10:00. Bar seats fill within an hour of opening.
The Royal Tern on Johns Island opened in 2019 as Brannon Florie's fancy neighbourhood eatery. Book on the website. Dinner only Mon-Sat, closed Sunday.
Order: Whatever whole fish is on the wood grill, plus oysters off the daily list.
Tip: Book on the website. Dinner only Mon-Sat, closed Sunday.
Jason Stanhope's Sullivan's Fish Camp on Sullivan's Island reopened in 2022. Order the oysters from the raw bar, then the wood-grilled whole fish.
Order: Oysters from the raw bar, then the wood-grilled whole fish.
Tip: Book on Resy. Bar seats walk-in and serve the same menu.
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