One hour in Charleston

Well, 1.5 hours

Last week, on our way back from a trip to see Adam's family, the two of us spent roughly 1.5 hours in Charleston before catching our plane. We'd been to Charleston on a day trip once before, about three years ago. It was a cool, overcast day — not ideal. On that day, we had one destination in mind: the Trip Advisor-praised Glazed Gourmet Donuts. 

We bummed around town, grabbed lunch at some sports bar (what we were thinking?!), then made our way over to Glazed — it was about 3:30. The place closed at 3:00. Why — why?! This time we were determined to make it, and we did so just in the nick of time. Basically Adam slowed the car to a crawl and I leapt out — this was about 2:45. We'd mentally prepared ourselves for there to not even be any donuts left, but luckily there were a few. Naturally I took one of each to go. 

There was a simple raised donut with chocolate icing, a raised chocolate-brownie-butterscotch one with a dollop of butterscotch pudding in the middle, and a maple bacon apple fritter. Let me tell you: The raised dough alone was divine. The chocolate icing though? Let's just say I like our supermarket icing better (blasphemy I'm sure!). But that apple fritter is the stuff of dreams. Holy moly. 

Adam and I capped off our donuts with some southern eats at Hominy Grill. It had good reviews online and was conveniently open all afternoon. Most of the other restaurants and cafés I looked into were open for lunch, until 2:00 or 3:00, then closed and opened again for dinner around 5:00. "Who knew Charleston took siestas," Adam said. 

But we were perfectly thrilled with Hominy. It's in a pleasant building with a brick and ivy-covered courtyard and a farmhouse feel inside. Simple and charming. The menu of southern favorites was exactly what we wanted before heading back home. Adam went for the Chicken Country Captain: Sautéed chicken smothered in a tomato curry sauce with currants and toasted almonds over jasmine rice. It was really tasty and I kept going back for extra bites. 

I went for a two-piece fried chicken plate with a side of macaroni and cheese and a buttermilk biscuit. Scrumptious! Adam and I also shared a basket of jalapeño hush puppies — light and airy with sweet sorghum butter that took them over the edge into to-die-for territory. 

Friends, have you been to Charleston for longer than 1.5 hours? Longer than a day trip? Tell me what you loved! Food? Hotels? Streets to explore? All info will be stockpiled for a future get-away.