The Obstinate Daughter on Sullivans Island near CHS

File under Greatest Days Ever:

My dear friend Theresa, my housemate at Wesleyan and in the early San Francisco days, and I hadn't really spent quality time together in literally 15 years. She flew down from Brooklyn recently to rectify the situation, so we met up in Charleston for a bro getaway.

First order of business, after coffee and a Sea Biscuit Cafe biscuit on the beach at Isle of Palms, was to hit the new Sullivan's Island restaurant, The Obstinate Daughter. I'd heard about it from the smart humans at The Local Palate magazine and was dying to go.

With reason. This "Natural Blonde" Bloody Mary tasted just like a fresh, yellow heirloom tomato. Light and lovely and amazing. Mix made by one of their bros. So good.

We loved the shrimp roll (a take on the New England lobster roll), and dare I say it: I kinda liked it better than the lobster roll at The Ordinary, Mike Lata's King Street CHS hall of glorious seafood. Heresy! But maybe true!

Then the housemade ricotta gnocchi with short rib ragu and pine nut gremolata hit the table, and it was game over. I would be happy to eat this once a week until I die of heart failure.

Only logical next step was a stroll around Fort Moultrie.

I love South Carolina, y'all. Even better when enjoying it with a friend from afar.