A vegan and vegetarian’s weekend in Charleston
After spending the last four months in my house I was really looking for a short, safe getaway. With a couple of days off work for the 4th of July holiday I decided to drive to Charleston, South Carolina for the weekend. Early on Friday morning my boyfriend, dog and I piled into the car and we hit the road. My boyfriend is vegan and I identify as a flexitarian but very rarely eat meat so it can be more difficult to figure out where to eat when traveling. We enjoyed some wonderful vegetarian and vegan options while on this trip so I wanted to share our experience for others who are planning a trip to Charleston and are looking for these kinds of restaurants as well. Please keep in mind that our experience was very different due to additional precautions in place for COVID-19. We didn’t eat in any restaurants and kept it strictly to carry out and takeout.
Day 1:
Drive to Charleston
This took us about 6 hours. We left around 10 am and arrived in Charleston around 4. Trying to minimize our contact with heavily trafficked areas we only stopped once at a rest area to let everyone use the potty and stretch their legs. I packed Lara bars, peanuts, and some chips to snack on while on the road and to tie us over until dinnertime.
Arrive in Charleston, Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row, the Battery, White Point Garden and RuRu’s Tacos
Arriving just in time for our 4pm check in, we immediately went to our pet friendly airbnb in the Cannonborough Elliotborough neighborhood. After dropping off our bags at the Airbnb, we headed east to see some sights. After parking the car in a garage, the first thing we stumbled upon was the Pineapple Fountain at Joe Wiley Waterfront Park. We picked a bench and sat for a while just looking out over the channel at Fort Sumter and watching the activity on the water. I had downloaded a self guided audio tour by the Historic Charleston Society and set off the do one of the 2 tours they offer. The walking tour took us past Rainbow Row, along the battery, and through White Point Garden. After we finished the tour I decided to order some food to go from RuRu’s Tacos Charleston. I got the I am McLovin which is RuRu’s chips and queso and the You Had Me At Hello, a bowl with roasted cauliflower, mushrooms, rice, crispy zucchini, creamy white beans, lettuce, pepper jack cheese, crema, and avocado aioli. While the chips and queso were awesome I wasn’t much of a fan of the bowl. Several of the flavors really overpowered the others such as the cauliflower and aioli.
Day 2:
King’s Street and Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts
In dire need of some caffeine we headed out for Kings Street. I popped into Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts for a cinnamon swirl donut and an iced vanilla latte. Cinnamon sugar doughnuts are my favorite and this one really hit the spot! The doughnut was so airy, soft, and fresh. Now armed with coffee, we started walking and window shopping along King’s street. Due to the current environment, we didn’t go into any of the stores. There were so many unique clothing stores and antique stores that really intrigued me so I made notes of the names of the stores I really liked so I could look up their websites and potentially order from them later. In different times, I would have been able to spend an entire day just moseying down this street popping from store to store.
Lunch from D’Allesandro’s Pizza and Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
All of that walking worked up an appetite so we decided to order pizzas from D’ Alessandro's Pizza. I ordered a simple white pizza with cheese and mushrooms and my boyfriend ordered one of their vegan pizza’s, Amy’s pizza. The vegan pizza had an olive oil & garlic base, golden beets, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and rosemary on it. We both thoroughly enjoyed our pizzas and discovered that my dog Meeko loves golden beets. So all around fun. Being that it was the 4th of July we were having a hard time finding restaurants with vegetarian/vegan options that were open so we decided to get 12” pizzas ( 6 slices) and munched on it for lunch and dinner.
After lunch we headed to see a plantation and garden. I chose Magnolia Plantation and Gardens because it was dog friendly so Meeko could tag along. It cost $20 per person to get in so I expected the gardens to be more manicured then they were but it was still a beautiful place to walk around. We even saw an alligator in the wild while we were there which thoroughly frightened me. I would have loved to do one of the tours they offer, especially one that goes out on the water such as the Ricefield Boat Tour.
Kings Street and Mora Ice Creamery
To cap off the afternoon we headed back to Kings Street to grab a milkshake from Mora Ice Creamery to enjoy sitting in Marion Square. After being out in the heat all day, my banana milkshake was so refreshing and the perfect treat for the 4th of July. We headed back to our Airbnb for the night and watched fireworks from our window, cuddled in bed, and watched a movie.
Day 3:
Huriyali and Isle of Palms
On our last day in Charleston we woke up and got ready to check out the beach on Isle of Palms. On the way we stopped by Huriyali for some breakfast. I ordered the OG Acai Bowl and a latte. It was my first time eating acai and I wasn't crazy about the flavor of the acai itself but all of the additional flavors and textures of the other ingredients in the bowl made it a very interesting dish.
When we arrived at Isle of Palms it was around 10 am and the beach was already very busy. We also had to pay $15 for a parking spot so if you go you may want to be prepared to stay for a while to get your money’s worth. I selected Isle of Palms out of the available Charleston beaches because it is the only beach where dogs are allowed on the beach during the day in the summer. They just have to be on a leash. Seeing and hearing the ocean is always so relaxing- we found a small area away from the crowds and just took some time taking it in.
Lunch from Brown Dog Deli, Angel Oak Tree, and afternoon pick me up from Second State Coffee
We left the beach and made it back to the airbnb around lunch time to freshen up. I ordered my first impossible burger and curly fries from Brown Dog Deli. I had heard so many meat eaters talk about the impossible burger and how it really did taste like beef and I needed to find out for myself. I will say I was impressed. The impossible burger was delicious and the texture and flavor definitely resembled beef more closely than any other vegan alternatives I have had. The curly fries were incredible and the serving was large. I ended up sharing them with Meeko.
After lunch settled we made our way out to James Island to see the famous Angel Oak Tree. This attraction was too crowded for us to feel comfortable getting out of the car and walking around but luckily we were still able to see the tree as we drove slowly past. The tree was absolutely stunning. I'd highly recommend checking it out especially if you are able to get out and walk under it.
The sun can really take it out of me so by my usual 3 o’clock slump I was especially struggling. We stopped by Second State coffee and I picked up a fabulous iced dirty chai latte.
Colonial Lake, Charleston City Market, and Hokkaido Sushi and Hibachi
Once recharged I decided to head out for a walk with my camera and no set directions. We ended up stumbling upon Colonial Lake Park and the Charleston City Market. After we had walked until our legs felt like they could no longer carry us we headed back to the Airbnb to order some dinner. We ordered from Hokkaido Sushi and Hibachi. I got vegetable gyoza and the vegetable hibachi. My boyfriend got several vegan sushi rolls. My gyoza and hibachi were absolutely incredible. Everything was seasoned and cooked perfectly.
Day 4:
Hustle Smoothies and Heading Home
Too quickly the time to head home had arrived. I knew I needed to grab some breakfast before the long drive or I would be starving and cranky by the time we made it back. We loaded back into the car and said our goodbyes to the city. On the way out we stopped by Hustle Smoothie Bar to pick up some smoothies for the road. I ordered the Strawberry Banana Bliss and my boyfriend had the Powerful Wild Blueberry. We each tried one anothers so I can say they were both super tasty. They left us slurping at our cups trying to get every last drop.
Despite the circumstances we had a great trip to Charleston and would love to go back at some point. I was very happy with the vegetarian/vegan options Charleston restaurants had to offer. To have only had one eh meal while I was there feels very successful. There were a number of other restaurants that I really wanted to try but wasn't able to due to the limited time we had. The Gnome Cafe and Basil were at the top of that list. If you are planning a trip to Charleston and are a vegetarian or vegan I hope this helps you out!
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