Jenny Rosenstrach, Features Director

The always fine culinary scene in Charleston, SC has been getting extra fine in the past decades (See Gourmet's lowcountry dispatch in the May 09 issue for the lastest evidence) and it seems that every time I visit, which I do once or twice a year, there's a new discovery to get excited about. The latest is The Wreck a local seafood hang-out in suburban Mt. Pleasant, over the Ravenel bridge from downtown, so named because it sits on a marina where a trawler was upturned and wrecked by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  (My friend, a professor at College of Charleston who lives in Mt. Pleasant asked "How did you even know about this place?" when we met him there for dinner. The answer: Matt & Ted Lee's Lee Brother's Southern Cookbook of course!) The restaurant was woefully understaffed and we picked the wrong time to go with the kids (prime time, 7:00) which resulted in a loooong wait to be served. But my friend assured me that our experience was unusual. And that usually the greasy spoon is the perfect place for a no-frills night  of savoring the fried (or grilled) scallops, shrimp, flounder, and oysters that seemingly swim right to your plate from the marina you are overlooking at sunset. My daughters, of course, particularly liked the doughnuts...I mean hush puppies.