Critic Takes a Break From ‘Culinary Hoopla Downtown’

Mount Pleasant newcomer Mainland Container Co. Kitchen & Bar received its first big review from Post & Courier’s Hanna Raskin, and she finds a “real interest in local ingredients and unfussy ways of celebrating them.”

With the Mainland menu, chef Daven Coad puts forth pork belly steamed buns, Mexican shrimp cocktail, tri-tip steak with chimichurri, and ponzu chili wings — far outside the realm of normal bar food one typically finds in the South. Though, Mainland has the staples of sandwiches too. Raskin writes:

Look, this is not to say there is a world-class restaurant covertly squatting in a near-beach bar where dressing for dinner means shaking the sand off your flip-flops. The ghost of Buddy Roe’s Shrimp Shack hasn’t been entirely exorcised. But it’s an exciting reminder that food in places that appear peripheral to all of the culinary hoopla downtown is getting better and better, which is surely the mark of a world-class food scene.

Charleston City Paper critic Vanessa Wolf goes in search of noodles at Pho Saigon in James Island and finds the real deal. She recommends sticking with the Vietnamese side of the menu — the “New York-style” Chinese dishes weren’t that great, but the pho, banh xeo, and stir-fried rice noodles were spot-on.

• Find Surprises Inside Mount Pleasant's Mainland Container Co. [P&C]
• Pho Saigon Brings Solid Vietnamese Food to James Island [CP]