Our food editor's 5 favorite Charleston-area restaurants to enjoy in November

My November dispatch of Charleston-area restaurants to try right now brings steak, seafood, biscuits, quail and eggplant to the dinner table — or raw bar. One was the subject of a recent review , and another is helmed by a Michelin Guide-recognized chef . As a whole, these five restaurants represent the range of cuisines currently dominating the Lowcountry’s restaurant scene, from downtown to Summerville .

Ambiance is difficult to establish. Some restaurants have it; many more do not. Bexley Fish & Raw Bar in Summerville does, and the action is centered around the restaurant’s open kitchen/raw bar.



About a dozen high-top chairs line the tight enclave, where chefs shuck oysters and place them on ice next to tinctures filled with various sauces and mignonettes. Another chef extracts a thin slab of tuna, choosing from a kaleidoscope of colored squirt bottles and generously dressing the fish. Behind them, a tall, thin man in a backward hat — that’s owner Jeremy Holst — pours mussels from a cast iron pan into a smaller skillet, one of several scattered across the pass.

Jeremy Holst, the owner and chef of Bexley Fish & Raw Bar, prepares a dish in the kitchen of Bexley in Summerville on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Bexley opened at 100 W. Richardson Ave.

in 2022 with a frequently changing menu driven by “simple ingredients thoughtfully cooked and thoughtfully presented,” Holst told me at the time. Nearly three years later, it’s become one of the very best restaurants in the Lowcountry that few diners seem to know about. Holst hones in on seafood through an assortment of shareable plates, a pair of handhelds and entrees.

There’s roasted oysters, pork and shrimp dumplings, a crispy shrimp roll and ceviche, which arrives in a gorgeous black bowl produced and glazed in Summerville. Review: Bexley's local plates in Summerville take flavors in unexpected directions 36 George St., downtown Charleston Lowland, led by James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Stanhope, keeps getting better and better.

The Cheryl Day biscuits continue to be divine, buttery and hard to put down, and I can't say enough good things about the yuzu soy-sauced tuna and glazed crispy quail, jolted by a side of garlicky toum. The restaurant opened about a year ago in The Pinch Charleston, a ritzy boutique hotel near the College of Charleston. The hotel’s signature restaurant, though, is stripped of any arrogance.

Rather than fancy adornments or excess additions, Stanhope leans into thoughtfully sourced ingredients that are cooked well and served on crisp white plates. The restaurant’s upstairs dining room, draped in a mural by acclaimed Maine painter Dean Barger, is an elegant place for a refined Southern meal. Salads with arugula and celery with dates are bright preludes to pastas like fresh-made shells with peas, rock shrimp and lump crab.

Order this with the pork schnitzel, whose golden crust is a vehicle for salty, juicy goodness. Celery salad is served at Lowland. 210 Rutledge Ave.

, downtown Charleston Makan opened in June and is the second location of chef and owner James Wozniuk’s Malaysian restaurant. The original in Washington, D.C.

, opened in 2020 and was subsequently given a Bib Gourmand designation by the Michelin Guide. Malaysian food is inspired by the marriage of Indian, Indonesian, Chinese and Muslim cultures — plus the colonial remnants of the Portuguese, Dutch and British — that exist in the country today. There are noodles and curries and sour stews and an abundance of spice.

Wozniuk leans into this melting pot of flavors — starting with mee goreng, which translates to “fried noodles” in Malay. To prepare the dish, Chinese lo mein infused with Indian spices is cooked in a Chinese wok and served with a Malaysian sambal. Makan’s menu includes noodles, entrees and shareable small plates.

There are Cantonese char siu wings, fried potatoes, chicken skewers with peanut sauce and peanuts with chili, lime leaf and dried anchovies Wozniuk flies in from Malaysia and fries in-house. Makan in Charleston might be SC’s only Malaysian restaurant. Here’s what to know before you go.

Be sure to try his spicy Hakka noodles, a variation of chili pan mee that features a mountain of mustard greens, crispy anchovies, green onions, ground pork and slivered wood ear mushrooms, all surrounding a soft egg. Nestled underneath are flat wheat noodles with wavy edges. When blended from the bottom up, crispy, crunchy and crumbly textures combine to form bites that vary in spice.

The brittle sardines, whose tiny spines are visible in the center of the curled filets, invite a pure saltiness that only this small seafood can provide. The dish is uniquely Malaysian, just like most of the food currently being served at Makan. 480 East Bay St.

, downtown Charleston Marbled & Fin is owned by the Neighborhood Dining Group, proprietors of Husk, The James, Delaney Oyster House and Minero. Before opening in June, president David Howard, executive chef Eucepe “Cepe” Puntriano, general manager Geno Dew and their respective teams set out to bring chef-driven ingenuity to the steakhouse format. My favorite dishes over three meals excelled in this department, starting with the bone marrow and oysters.

Set on a bed of salt, a half-dozen shells are sprinkled with cheesy breadcrumbs. Spooning the fatty tissue meat on a square of soft bread, laying a bivalve on top and finishing with a spritz of charred lemon releases a concert of salty, citrusy and sweet notes, with each instrument working in tandem. A platter that could feel cluttered is adeptly balanced, with the crumbly crisps delivering a delightful final verse.

Benton’s bacon permeates Marbled & Fin’s wedge salad, another highlight. The wonderfully smoky cubes of Allan Benton’s country ham are just the tip of the iceberg. The mountain of lettuce is drizzled in dressing, with more tucked between the firm waves to form a near-perfect ratio.

More impressive than that is the dressing's balance of citrus to mellow Stilton cheese. Charleston’s new steakhouse comes from the owners of Husk. Is it worth the price of admission? Each steak, from filets to bone-in ribeyes and porterhouses, is cooked in a New York-style charbroiler that sears the meat at 1,800 degrees.

The result is a firm crust and rosy center, whose shade depends on your preference. Melted butter steeped with sprigs of thyme and full garlic cloves is spooned tableside. The bone-in filet is augmented by marbled fat, producing a juiciness that’s rare in this cut.

The dry-aged porterhouse is more robust, its time in a temperature-controlled space enhancing what’s already a shining cut. 601 Meeting St., downtown Charleston It’s amazing how much the ambiance of a space can change with a few adjustments.

The restaurant location where Gale previously served is now draped in dark blue and dim lighting. A half-wall separates the dining room from a bar with leather swivel chairs that can turn and face an illuminated open kitchen. There, chefs churn out plates of steak tartare, lamb croquettes, roasted chicken and chocolate mousse for dessert.

Each is empowered by local ingredients from Baguette Magic, Ghost Grow 843, Lowcountry Fungi and Storey Farms. Baked oysters are served at The Archer. The restaurant is owned by Marc and Elizabeth Hudacsko, who opened Berkeley’s on Rutledge Avenue in 2021.

The Archer, 601 Meeting St., is the more elevated of their pair of businesses. And unlike most restaurants in Charleston, its kitchen stays open until 11 p.

m. six nights a week. The crispy eggplant is a signature dish.

The delicately fried orbs are surrounded by clouds of whipped buttermilk — airy, creamy and tart. Thai chilis add a welcomed spice that pulls the small plate together. For entrees, consider the grouper, expertly roasted and set in a celery root purée with hazelnuts and roasted cauliflower.

It’s autumn on a plate. Small plates, bold ingredients. Our thoughts after revisiting a Spanish eatery in Charleston.

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