Atlanticville Restaurant, Sullivan's Island, SC

Over the July 4th weekend, we joined some very good friends at Wild Dunes near Charleston, SC. If you have never been to the resort I would highly recommend it. It is the perfect vacation spot for families: 2 golf courses, several pools, tennis, boardwalks with live entertainment, and 2 beaches with perfect layouts for beach bocce ball!

Wild Dunes is on Isle of Palms near the historic city of Charleston, SC. While there are plenty of wonderful places to dine in Charleston, it's great to know you don't have to go into the city for good grub. Sullivan's Island is just south of IOP by about 15 minutes. There are several places for good food and some outstanding people watching. Poe's is an old favorite for great burgers, cold beer and some serious NACHOS!

On this trip, we fell in love with a new (to us) place; Atlanticville 2063 Middle Street, Sullivan's Island, SC 843.883.9452 Owner and GM: Drew Harris 

http://www.atlanticville.net/

Most of you know that I like to take my own bottles from my cellar to restaurants to enjoy without having to do any of the cooking myself. I never do this without taking a look at the wine list to be sure I don't bring something they sell. I consider it bad form to bring something they offer.

This adventure started in the usual way: I called to get the wine list and wound up on the phone with the owner, Drew. A quick conversation with him told me he is a wine lover like myself...curious and always learning more. He promised the wine list via email and then explained to me that there are several wines which do not go on the list. He explained that he preferred to meet people in person and talk about the other offerings. This personal touch seals the deal for me. I love a restaurateur who has passion around his wine offerings. It immediately creates a sense of bond for me.

The wine list arrived as promised and I found the selection to be very good and the pricing to be on the low side of fair. I was really impressed to see rose wines from Txakolina Spain. Anyone who knows South Carolina heat and humidity will appreciate rose and those from Ameztoi are great examples though they are misspelled on the menu. Out of respect for passion in wine, and the fact that they will change regularly, I will not name the wines which were offered off the list. Suffice it to say that there were many great wines available and half the fun would be to have the chat with Drew.

Rather than go through all the food consumed, let me just say that everything was fantastic! One small nit and honestly the only one all night was with the mussels in green curry sauce. No chef should allow a mussel which remains closed after cooking to exit the kitchen. That said, the dish was killer! I sopped up the sauce with the bread like it was my last meal. In the party of 4 there were 3 tile fish specials and 1 braised lamb shank special. Everyone was happy and full! I haven't had lamb shank that good since visiting Nancy Oakes at Boulevard in San Francisco. After dinner we retreated to the covered porch in typical Southern fashion and enjoyed more beverages including some of the finest coffee I have had in ages. The vanilla bread pudding was sinful. Drew was an impeccable host and joined us for more conversation on the porch. This place is now my favorite restaurant in South Carolina. It is the Fig Tree of Sullivan's Island! (Most of you know Fig is my favorite restaurant in Charlotte hands down.)

And one final note on dinner...Drew made the experience. He knows that service is king. After the restaurant was winding down for the evening, he sent me an email thanking us for coming in and sharing the wines with him to taste. Wine is best when shared with friends. I have a new friend in SC. Thank you!

To quickly cover the wines I brought for the evening:

2005 Lucia Pinot Noir by Pisoni (Santa Lucia Highlands, CA) - Gary, Mark and Jeff Pisoni are magic! Buy all you can get your hands on. On the way to Atlanticville we stopped off at The Boat House for fried oysters and the sunset over the water. Beautiful location, decent oysters and a sunset topped off by dolphins swimming out back.

2005 Ambullneo Pinot Noir (Santa Maria Valley, CA) - This is what I call a Chateauneuf du Pape lover's Pinot. Paired perfectly with the Mussels and Oysters....yes, dammit, more oysters! I love'em!

Finally 2005 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Red (Columbia Valley, WA) - Always amazing, the Quilceda wines are notoriously long lived. The 2005 was finally starting to open up when I had my last glass....oh well!