High Cotton

When you are having a girls weekend of course you need to have a special dress up dinner and this one took place at High Cotton, a sister restaurant to Slightly North of Broad. The restaurant had live music, beautiful light blue striped fabric on the walls lots of candles creating this intimate that drew up in.   Like a lot of restaurants in Charleston, they pride themselves on using as many fresh and local ingredients as they can. The meal started off with some She-crab soup, a soup that is a feature of the Charleston region. It is similar to a bisque and uses the female crab. Though heavy cream is a main ingredient in the soup, it didn't feel like a very heavy soup and there were large chunks of crab meat in the soup. It had paprika notes in the background and a nice balance of flavor.

 Along with that was a grilled peach and watermelon salad. If that doesn't say summer on a plate, I don't what does. I haven't had a ton of grilled fruit but I do know that for some reason it seems to bring out the fruit flavor even more. The peach was still extremely juicy and the watermelon was super fresh and crisp. It was served on a bed of arugula with crumbled feta and a Serrano vinaigrette dressing. The saltiness of the feta and the arugula helped round out the flavors in the salad. The dressing had a hint of heat to it, but it wasn't too overwhelming. The salad had sweet, salty, acidity, and a little bitterness from the arugula. It was one of the most well composed salads I have had. The soup and the salad set the bar pretty high, so I started to get very excited about how the rest of the meal would unfold.

The first selection was a roasted chicken breast on a bed of sauteed spinach with a parsley coulis. Though I was a bit skeptical of the chicken because most of the time it is not usually something that amazes me. However, this one did...but only because of the parsley coulis. It was a mix of parsley, lemon, chives, tarragon, olive oil, salt and pepper. It's amazing how much flavor these simple ingredients have which took the dish to the next level. It was a chicken dish worth ordering again and proved that when prepared properly chicken can stand on it's own.

I can't say that I am wild about ordering exotic meats but I will usually try them if someone else orders it. Maybe it's because I am not a huge meat eater, but this was one of those times where I was willing to try. This was rabbit served on a bed of pimento cheese grits. It had an au jus sauce over it to keep the meat nice and tender. I tried not to think about what I was actually eating too much or else I think I might have psyched myself out. However, I was surprised at how mild and tender it was. The pimento cheese grits were very representative of local favorites and where pretty hearty in texture. I am not sure if I would ever order rabbit on my own, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to try it as it was much better than I expected.

The last entree selection was roasted monkfish with pork shoulder sugo, fried capers, calabrese olives and tomatoes with a touch of lemon. The monkfish is a fairly mild whitefish that some have compared to lobster tail. The fried capers added a textural element to the dish and olives brought some salt to the dish without it being too salty. The pork shoulder sugo (sugo is Italian for sauce) added richness and depth to the fish. The pork was tender and not too fatty and was interesting play on the traditional red sauce. I would have never thought to put together pork and fish, but it was a surprisingly good combination.

We finally arrived at one of my favorite parts of the meal. Why dessert comes last doesn't make sense to me, but maybe it's just because you save the best for last? Of course the dessert selections were just as creative tempting as the meal and the decisions were very difficult. Creme Brulee is a favorite so naturally this Grand Marnier Creme Brulee was selected. It was served with a dollop of whipped cream and a piece of candied orange. The crust was perfect and the custard wasn't overly sweetened. The orange in the background was light and perfect for the summer. The whipped cream tasted like it was made from scratch and didn't leave that coating in your mouth. They do know how to make one delicious Creme Brulee.

Of course you can't have dessert without some kind of chocolate involved. This was a dark chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream, pretzel pieces and a caramel drizzle. I was a bit skeptical at first since pudding wouldn't be the first thing that popped into my head when thinking about upscale desserts. However, this wasn't your typical pudding that can be thin and artificial tasting. It seemed to be on the verge of a chocolate fudge with a decadent chocolate taste. The crunch of the pretzels helped to keep the dish from becoming overly sweet and the whipped cream added a lightness to the pudding. Chocolate and caramel are one of the combinations that you can't go wrong with and definitely proved to me that pudding can be very upscale.

Last but not least was a set of ice cream sandwiches. They may not sound super fancy, but it was a nice flashback to my childhood. One was made with chocolate chip cookies and a scoop of peanut butter hazelnut gelato. The other was sugar cookies with lemongrass lavender gelato. The cookies were able to hold in the ice cream fairly well without getting soggy. The chocolate chip cookies had lots of chocolate chunks throughout and sugar cookies were silky and buttery. You could taste the peanut butter and the hazelnut in the gelato and neither one overwhelmed the other. The lemongrass lavender gelato was heavenly and fresh with both floral and citrus notes. Neither one was too sweet and somehow managed to not immediately melt into a giant puzzle. I wouldn't recommend eating these if you are trying to impress someone as they did get a bit messy, but sometimes it's the messiest things that are the best. The meal at High Cotton was truly memorable and definitely highlighted the wonderful culinary world in Charleston.