| rev:text
| - Henry's at the Barn is actually a restaurant/ bar that incorporates a 100-150 year old barn. The restaurant features an upscale version of Carolina Low Country cooking. The bar features cozy, cozy cuddliness, especailly in the loft.
My BFF (best foodie friend) took me there for my birthday. Such a present, that was! The menu was recently updated for fall. Such a menu!
THE FOOD: Carolina Low country cuisine is southern (South Carolinian) cooking infulenced by the proximity to astounding seafood. Expect spicy and salty flavors, delicately battered and fried preparations and devistatingly good seafood.
On previous visits I.. enjoyed?... nearly fainted over?... grew entirely too passionate about? the shrimp/ andouille grits. Perfectly tender shrimp, spicy slices of andouille, creamy grits and heavy cream. Purrrrr. I've had their cold bowls-- either raw or chilled seafood served with a medly of dipping sauces including a subtle mustard.
Tonight BFF and I went all out. We started with cocktails-- I had a whiskey sour that was NOT made with cheap-ass sour mix. It was a true cocktail. BFF had a Manhattan which he proclaimed perfect. For apps, I had fried green tomatoes. The batter was crisp and flaky and the tomatoes were tart. I would have sliced the tomatoes a bit thinner-- they were not completely warmed. BFF had the scallops seared with cinnamon. That could so easily be awful. It was perfect. the scallops were egg white tender and the tiny mist of REAL cinnamon was slightly charred. The sweet potato cake that came with it was sweet, but still had a bit of tooth to it.
I had the Frogmorton Stew-- a giant bowl of oysters, clams, shrimp, mussles and andouille in a spicy broth with a giant slab of insane garlic toast. It was astounding. All the seafood was done perfectly-- despite the different sizes of each piece, each was cooked to its individual perfect doneness. The broth was peppery-- we had fun sopping it up with the giant crouton.
BFF had the strip steak-- an odd choice given the venue, but it turned out to be exquisite. The steak must have been a good grass-fed, well aged bit o' cow. It was tender and complex and buttery. It was exactly medium rare (What do we want? Steak! How do we want it? Medium Rare!!!!) The sauce was subtle and not overpowering. The sides were a good mix of sweet and savory.
Dessert was disappointing. The place buys them from a bakery. Nothing is made in-house. The red velvet cake was simply white cake colored red, instead of the rich, dense stuff it should be. The icing was the proper boiled kind. The tiramisu was not, in fact, tiramisu. It was marscapone on top of some sort of ladyfinger, sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Good in it's own way, but not tiramisu.
The wine list was excellent, including a 25 under $25 list that was grand!
THE ATMOSPHERE: The bar portion of the building is the coolest place to get a drink ever. it is built inside the old barn portion of the building-- with a river rock foundation and gothic revival wooden walls. The loft is the place-- featuring giant, overstuffed leather couches and portraits of dogs!!! Had I gone with a sweetie, I would have insisted on cuddling up there. As I was not, we left the space to the sweeties. These areas are super popular, so they fill up immediately on weekends. You stand a better chance on a weekday.
The dining room has been improved. Before, it was a drafty cold place covered in french-ish fabrics. It looked like the grille room at a country club. The space has been revised with the addition of rough hewn beams which separate the high loft-like ceiling space from the dining room. It is much cozier now. Still, I wish they would lose some of the toile and the bad art and let the place get a bit more Low Country.
THE SERVICE: Eric, the waiter is the best waiter!!! He had good and candid information about the menu. When he didn't know an answer to our annoying foodie questions, he found out. As we are a chatty bunch of foodies, we ended up talking and laughing with him all night.
I wish there was such a thing as 4.5 stars. .5 off for the sad, sad desserts.
I love it anyways. Wants me sommore grits!!!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)