I’ve decided to create a separate category to document my favorite things around Charleston – everything from top-rated experiences to sandwiches and ice cream flavors – so that, should you wish, you can make them a part of your own visit.

I’m kicking this category off with a post about our recent dining experience at Zero George. As an overall, start to finish experience, Zero George has cultivated something truly special. The menu at Zero George is not your standard menu, but a carefully designed tasting menu. If you’re looking for something unforgettable, something potentially unlike any dining experience you’ve had before to make your trip to Charleston extra special, then you’ll find it here. Word to the wise though, unless you manage hedge funds for a living, this will probably be an experience that you’d only want to take part in about once a year…or once every five years. You get the idea.

For us, we’d booked dinner at Zero George to celebrate our anniversary. My husband Jamie and I usually try to either go somewhere new or do something new for our anniversary. Our first anniversary was spent in Paris, the second in Edinburgh (both made possible by the fact that we’re usually visiting Jamie’s family in England around our anniversary and flights from there to Europe are fairly cheap), and the third in a small but neat town called New Harmony, Indiana about an hour away from my home town. This year, travel looks very different obviously, so we decided to stay in Charleston and celebrate by eating out somewhere special. I’ve gotta say, this particular find has to be attributed entirely to my awesome husband. Usually I’m the one finding new food places, but this one was all him. See picture below to confirm his cuteness. Can you tell he’s a Math professor? I think he gives off the professor vibe. We’re actually both Math professors, but I don’t think I give off that vibe like he does. Maybe it’s because he’s English.

The menu can essentially be broken down into five courses, which you can choose to have paired with an assortment of cocktails and wines. For a cheaper option you can simply opt not to have the beverage pairings or just have a single glass of something of your own choosing. They are also more than happy to switch out alcoholic options for nonalcoholic pairings if you would prefer that.

1st Course: “Snacks”/Hors d’oeuvres

Can I just say that I adored this idea?! Our snack course was served finger-food style which was such a playful way to start an incredibly elegant meal. I loved that! The snack was a variety of smoked and charred or pickled vegetables with a house made dipping sauce. But this was no ordinary dipping sauce. It was a magic dipping sauce. It was warm and creamy, but also light at the same time and topped with toasted quinoa. Sigh.

2nd Course: Appetizers

Appetizers. Plural. Four to be exact. These were all brought out at the same time so that we got to enjoy a little smorgasbord of small bites. One of my favorite ways to eat is tapas style, so this was very much up my street. Our appetizers (in the order seen in the above photos) included shrimp skewers, oysters with a cucumber ice and hot sauce (hot and cool at the same time?!), crispy corn tostadas with smoked trout roe, and steak tartare on top of a flaky potato cake. Each one had so many layers of flavor – they were insanely good! The tartare bites were a first for me. I’m an adventurous eater and will try anything, but I’ve never ordered tartare before. For those who don’t know, steak tartare is seasoned, raw, ground beef. Honestly, the idea has always weirded me out, but oh my gosh was I wrong. In my mind, tartare was cold and squishy and well, raw tasting. But this was warm, creamy, and so rich in flavor. Plus the crispy potato cake added a flaky texture for a perfect combo. So the part of the meal that I was most apprehensive about, ended up being one of my favorite bites of the entire experience.

3rd Course: Fish

There were two separate fish dishes on our menu. Both were so fresh and were served with the recommendation to get a little bit of each component in every bite. The first dish was a smoked tuna, wrapped in pancetta, and served with a crispy pancake and a side of vegetables. Again, this dish gave us the “I get to play with my food!” feeling that made eating it so fun. See below my self-made little tower of yum!

The second fish dish could almost be eaten nacho style, even though it looks anything but. This was the trout plate with a side of crab rice. The yellow, crispy looking thing that you see in the picture below is a fried squash blossom. You know the flower that grows at the end of a zucchini when it first begins to set? That’s what that is. Using squash blossoms was something I was introduced to in Italy. They have a very light, squash like flavor and are so crispy when fried. I used it as a chip and just layered on a bit of the trout and a bit of the crab rice for each bite.

4th Course: Main

Beef. Wellington. I mean…just look at it! This was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. And it was not your typical Beef Wellington (as if Beef Wellington could ever be described as typical). Inside the pastry that surrounded the beef was a layer of caramelized onions and a small amount of foie gras. All of this was sitting on top of a black truffle sauce that tasted as if God himself made it. As my grandpa used to say, “Mercy!”

5th Course: Dessert

I guess technically you could say these were two separate courses because the blueberries and custard topped with passion fruit sorbet basically served as a palate cleanser, but they were brought out together. The real star here was the chocolate dessert you see on the left. The base is a slice of caramelized brioche. Caramelized brioche! And on top is a salted caramel, creamy, almost pudding-like chocolate with a touch of orange zest. I want to marry it. Goodness gracious.

Although I’m very very glad that I married this guy instead. The conversation is better. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed that visual trip through our dining experience! If you make your way to Charleston, consider adding Zero George to your list! Cheers!