Maggie Crenshaw’s Monday morning visit on the podcast includes her favorite escargot on the island, a can’t miss Cobb Salad and a few other stops in between. Meanwhile, Jesse shares some highlights of his quick weekend visit to Richmond, Virginia.
JB: Good morning, and welcome to our second installment of our weekly gathering, we call it Mondays with Maggie. My name is Jesse Blanco, host of not only this podcast, but the primary contributor to eatitandlikeit.com. Her name is Maggie Crenshaw, good morning, how are you?
MC: Good morning, Jesse. I’m doing fine, how about you?
JB: I’m good. You have a good weekend?
MC: I had a great weekend, you know, I usually work on weekends, which I did this weekend as well, but I always have a good time.
JB: When you say work, is that showing houses and all that stuff?
MC: Yes yes yes yes yes, I have clients in town. You know, the summer is usually kinda slow with that, but then when the tourist season kind of comes to an end, most of my folks who have interest in property will come to the island starting now and all through fall, so, yeah, my showing season has kicked in.
JB: Has it kicked in? The kids go back to school, and it kind of slows down on the island, has it happened already?
MC: Yeah, a little bit. And particularly, it’s noticeable–like, I had a lot of dining opportunities this past week, because I have clients in town, I eat out more, because it’s nice to, you know, go out to eat with your clients and chat and what not, and the restaurants have, you know… they’re still busy, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not that crazy summer frenzy kind of thing.
JB: Right, two hour waits at Skull Creek and Hudson’s and all that craziness.
MC: That’s right.
JB: Yeah, no. (laughing) You could put your name on a list, go eat dinner somewhere else, and come back and then get sat for dinner. Yeah, I don’t know. I, actually, real quick I’ll mention, before we get into what you have been eating and liking the last few days, I spent one day, Saturday, in Richmond, Virginia. Have you ever been to Richmond?
MC: I have not. I have only ever driven through Virginia on my way to somewhere else.
JB: Ain’t that the way it always goes? Same with me.
MC: Then what were you doing there?
JB: We went–the short version of the story is that my daughter, as you know, is at NYU, and Richmond, Virginia is literally the halfway point between New York City and Savannah.
MC: Really?
JB: Yep, it is exactly halfway, within a couple of miles, but yeah. When we took her up to school for freshman year, you know, I just dropped my daughter off, not only at college, which is a big deal for a lot of parents, but it was college in New York City.
MC: I know. That must have been nuts.
JB: Yeah, it was, and she knew the city, and was very comfortable in the city, so it wasn’t about that. But it was still New York City. So that day, the day we left, you know, I was a bit emotional, and I was coming to grips with the reality of life and all that stuff, and we ended up overnighting halfway in Richmond, Virginia.
This was August of 2020. And in doing so we discovered that there’s a bubbling brewing scene/brewery scene and all kinds of stuff. And so it became our routine whenever we drove her up there to school, we’d stop and check out a few more breweries that we’d never seen. Well, this year, she, my daughter, took an apartment in New York over the summer, so there’s gonna be no move-in weekend, no dorm weekend and so it was my wife that said, “now we can’t get to stop in Richmond!” And I said, “well…”, and she goes, “we need to go anyway.” So we picked a weekend, and we left Saturday morning and came back, I was home by 5 o’clock on Sunday.
MC: That’s driving a long way to go to a brewery. You’re dedicated.
JB: Well, we did three breweries, and then one of our favorite restaurants is there, it’s called The Roosevelt, it’s in the Church Hill neighborhood–Church Hill, not Winston, [Church Hill] as in, like, a hill. And it’s just–Richmond, to sum it up, you know, we’re not gonna spend all of our time talking about Richmond, but to sum it up, we stayed downtown for the first time at a wonderful hotel called Quirk, it’s just every shade of pink, it’s kind of crazy.
But Richmond is having a moment. Richmond reminded me of Asheville 20 years ago. And if you like beer–you know, plenty of people go to Asheville, and, yeah, there’s the attraction of the mountains and all that, but Richmond’s having a moment, and you can see it everywhere. There’s new housing, there’s new apartments being built, kind of like what’s happening in Savannah but on a bigger scale, and then 40 breweries, and great food everywhere. So when you talk about, you know, under the radar spots to visit… especially if you like, you know, going to breweries/brewery hopping… 40. With more on the way I’m sure, so, it was really cool, and I would recommend it to anybody if you want to get out of town. It was a little warm, but, you know, it is here, too. But if you can go in the fall, I’m sure it would be a lot cheaper than going to Asheville, because Asheville is nuts right now. Have you been to Asheville recently?
MC: No, it’s been a few years since I’ve been up that way.
JB: We went last October for a wedding, and the Farmer’s Almanac said it was peak leaf season–peak leaf weekend was the one we happened to go, that was when the wedding was. And it was just… it was like downtown Savannah, it was just jammed with tourists, and a line for everything, it was like, oh boy, I remember when Asheville was a quiet little mountain town, and now it looked like Disney World. So, anyway.
MC: Yeah. Well, you know, the last time I wanted to go to the mountains, I went, actually, to the north Georgia mountains, but kind of right over the line into North Carolina, and I can’t remember the name of where I was. Would it be Black Mountain? Is that something?
JB: Black Mountain is, I think, outside of Asheville. Cashiers is up over there.
MC: No, I was more west.
JB: I don’t know… I don’t know. But it is pretty up there. I will agree with you. It’s very nice.
MC: Yeah, it was really cool.
JB: Yeah. Speaking of really cool, are you keeping cool these last few days? We had heat warnings, and, like… you know, I’m waiting for the weatherman to just put up an ‘OMG stay inside, back to you in the studio’ sign.
MC: (laughing) It was–on Saturday, when I was showing property, the clients I have in town and I, we were just, all of us, just sweating, you know, just from the car to the door, and the minute or two that it takes to get into the combination lock, you know, to get into the house, and we were all just dripping with sweat. And I was–here’s the thing about it, you know, it’s so exhausting, you know? So I got back home, you know, I’ve been showing property for a few hours or whatever, you know, not a big deal, but I sat down in my chair and I didn’t get up for, like, two or three hours. I mean, it was just exhausting.
JB: Yes, yes, the sun zaps you. The sun absolutely just zaps you of your energy.
MC: It does.
JB: So, in your showing, in your gallivanting around the island, you, I’m sure, made some time to eat, yeah?
MC: Yeah. Oh, I went to so many great places last week I–you know, you and I have talked about Charlie’s, and that’s on my regular. So I grabbed a girlfriend, and we needed to catch up anyway, so we went to Charlie’s. And my friend of, like, 40 years is the bartender there, Jeff Mix–yes, he’s a bartender and his last name is Mix. And he is just an island icon, everybody loves him and, anyway. He’ll take care of you there, sitting at the bar, which is first come first serve. But anyway, we shared the escargot, you know, you can never go wrong with that, had to get extra bread to sop up all the yummy garlic butter, and then I had the swordfish. Jeff recommended the swordfish and it was delicious. And their scallop potatoes are ridiculous, oh my gosh.
JB: I’ve actually heard that, I’ve never had them.
MC: So good, tender and cheesy and yummy–
JB: And low-fat, right? (laughing)
MC: Yeah, yeah, there’s no calories in any of that. And Bev, my friend Bev, she had the towelfish, which looked equally amazing. And then we opted out on dessert because we were so full, but Jeff will always give you chocolate kisses at the end of your meal with your check.
JB: Nice!
MC: Yeah! Yeah, so that was good. And actually, I stopped into Che George, actually, before I met her, because I had 30 minutes to kill, and I didn’t want to drive all the way home. So I stopped into Che George and had a little glass of prosecco, and I ran into George, who I’d never met before, and we had a lovely conversation.
JB: Yeah. George is a good guy, hard-working guy. He’s built–you know, the last time I chatted with him he was like, “look, we’re not reinventing the wheel here, people just want good food and drink.” And that quote has stuck with me. It’s easy to say, harder to do, but they’ve done it. I am a big fan of what they do at Chez Georges. Yeah, they do a nice job. And Monica behind the bar is one of the best on the island as well, speaking of bartenders. Where else did you make it the last week?
MC: Well, I had to take notes.
JB: (laughing) She’s taking notes! Episode two and you’re already taking notes.
MC: (laughing) Well, I didn’t wanna miss anything. So, I had seen in I think CH2? Or somewhere, that Truffles is celebrating their 40th year. I can not believe 40 years has passed, it seems like yesterday. But Truffles has always been one of my favorites, you know, you walk in the door, it’s there in Sea Pines Center, you walk in the front door and it just… it has this very unique, yummy, yummy smell. I don’t– it’s like a smoky kind of… it smells like smoked Gouda, if that makes any sense. But anyway, I stopped in there and grabbed a Cobb salad the other day–
JB: Which has no smell, ironically enough.
MC: Not until you put the dressing. It comes with a honey money–excuse me, it comes with a honey mustard dressing, which, sometimes I choose ranch over that, because I think ranch is so good with a Cobb salad. But I did have the grilled chicken on top of that Cobb salad…
JB: Oh boy.
MC: Oh yeah, and it comes off the grill nice and hot and juicy, which adds to the whole thing, and it has avocado on it as well. It’s just the most delicious. And, speaking of bread and butter, oh my gosh, have you been to Truffles?
JB: In Bluffton? There’s one in Bluffton, right? Or there was?
MC: Yeah, yeah, out at Belfair. Yeah, so they have this (NAME) butter that they serve, and the waiter was so cute when I ordered, he said, “do you want any bread and butter?” And I was like, “oh no thank you.” And then he had this look on his face like, why would you say no to that? And I went, “Oh fine, just bring it.” Trying to save myself some calories, but that (NAME) butter is enough to visit that restaurant for sure.
JB: At least it was a Cobb salad. Though, Cobb salads… you know, people sometimes like to fool themselves by thinking they’re eating this healthy thing, and it ends up being a calorie bomb. Cobb salad’s big on protein, at least. Yeah. Cobb salads are good. Not my favorite, but they are good. Do you have a favorite salad? Is it a Cobb?
MC: Yeah… a Cobb salad– yeah. I like a Cobb salad, yeah. I also like a good Garden salad with a grilled piece of salmon on top, that’s also one of my favorites.
JB: I’m a Caesar guy.
MC: I love Caesar. Can’t go wrong with Caesar. Oh, speaking of Caesar, the other restaurant I visited was Wise Guys, which, where I live on the island, it’s just–it’s like three minutes away, so it’s an easy, kind of, go-to place. But I was there with a group of friends, so we just ordered, you know, drinks and a bunch of different appetizers and just shared, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been there or not, but we did have a Caesar salad, and I love their Caesar salad, because the dressing is so light, and it’s clearly homemade, you know, it doesn’t come from a bottle. Their french onion soup is to die for. And they have a cauliflower appetizer that is so good, also their short beef rib stuffed mushrooms…
JB: Short rib beef.
MC: What?
JB: You said short beef rib. I’m just teasing you, short rib beef. (laughing) Beef short ribs, yeah it’s early. It’s Monday morning, we’re getting the cobwebs out, it’s okay.
MC: (laughing) I’m only halfway through my first cup of coffee. So, that, and then their tuna tacos… just, they have great appetizers, actually, anything I’ve ever eaten there. There’s not one thing I’ve ever not liked.
JB: At Wise Guys?
MC: At Wise Guys, yeah.
JB: The last time I was at Wise Guys, they had just reopened that renovated space with the new bar that they have now, which is very beautiful, I sat in the corner, it was 4:45 in the afternoon, I was on my way home back to Savannah, and I thought, ‘you know what? these guys are open, let me stop and say hi to the guys and sit there in the corner and get an app or two and a glass of wine and go home.’ And so, I sit at the bar, it was 4:45 and by five–I laugh because, you know, that bar is huge, it sits probably 25-30 people, if not more, and by five minutes after five it was full. The bar was full at five minutes after five. I’m like, boy, it’s a good thing I came early so I can get a seat, the happy hour crowd there is no joke, you know that. The happy hour crowd on the entire island is no joke.
MC: Yeah. And it usually starts at 4.
JB: Correct. One time I had to go–I was at Hudson’s, this goes back a couple of years. I needed to pick up some video ahead of the promotion of the Hilton Head Seafood Festival, which is coming up in February–tickets, by the way, go on sale in September, early bird tickets. But, anyway, I go in to Hudson’s and the dining room was empty, it was about 4:30-4:40, and I just needed to go in the kitchen and get some shots of whatever piece of seafood we were talking about or whatever, and–video, I mean–and so I go in there, and the guys weren’t cooking anything, because the dining room was relatively empty, and so I asked them, I go, “when will it pick up?” They said, “oh, in about 10 minutes.” No joke, about five minutes/ten minutes after five, they started getting tickets, and I got my video, and I was leaving there by quarter after, 20 after five at the latest, and I laughed because I went in a little before five, came out a little after five, and the dining room at that point was about 80% full. It was like, rrrraaahhh, 5 o’clock! It’s like they’re sitting in their cars, waiting to come and jump in, it made me laugh. But that’s how it goes on the island.
MC: Yeah. Truth.
JB: So, you and I, last week, for those who listened, we promised a movie review for Barbie, you and I both were unable to make it, so we’re gonna move that to next week, right?
MC: Correct, I’m going tomorrow night.
JB: Okay.
MC: I have a lineup this week of more restaurants, Barbie is on for tomorrow night, and I’ve got a different set of clients coming in this weekend, so there’ll be lots of opportunities for some more good eating.
JB: Very good. You hit Truffles, Che George, Charlies, and Wise Guys, is that average for you? Four or five a week?
MC: Well, and I also hit San Miguel‘s for lunch, you know I always do that. So, no, I mean, that was a pretty heavy week, it’s because when clients are in, you know, and I’m busy, it’s just easier to eat out.
JB: Yes, of course.
MC: But, you know, I tend to cook a lot.
JB: Okay.
MC: You know, so… and I don’t mess around, like, I made bouef bourguignon this past week.
JB: Really? In the middle of the summer you made bouef bourguignon? Lawd.
MC: Well, I had some trimmings from off a beef tenderloin in the freezer, and I wanted to move those items in the freezer, so that’s kinda my go-to thing that I make with those trimmings. And I–
JB: Sounds yummy.
MC: I’m sorry?
JB: Sounds yummy. Not saying I wouldn’t eat it, but I don’t know that I’d enjoy cooking it in the middle of the summer.
MC: Oh, it’s easy.
JB: Oh, I’m sure it’s easy, but it’s also 1,000,000° outside, I don’t wanna make it 1,000,000° inside.
MC: Oh. Well, you know, you can always just turn the air conditioning down. But I like to share when I cook, you know, because I’m single here, I live by myself. My daughter, speaking of daughters, she’s over in– well, she lives in Charleston, anyway, but she’s over in Greece for the summer, so, anyway, I’ve been cooking this summer and I like to share it with friends, because, you know, you can only eat so much, right?
JB: So, when you start cooking a little more, I would assume when the temperatures start to cool off you cook all the time, you gonna share any recipes with us?
MC: I certainly will, I’d be glad to.
JB: Good, I’m sure some people would love to have them, we can post those. We’re going to wrap this up here for another week, and thank everybody for hanging out with us for 20 or so minutes, I’m gonna get back into my cup of coffee, and thank you for hanging out with us for another Monday with Maggie.
MC: Good to talk to you!
JB: Yeah, it’s always a good time, we will have more next Monday. Do you have definite plans, real quick, we’re running low on time, definite plans where you’re gonna eat this week that we could talk about next week? Or are you just winging it?
MC: No no no, I’ve got reservations tonight for Piatti, it’s a new Italian restaurant on the island, and I will be visiting Mellow Mushroom, Frankie Bones, and Smokehouse. Those are on the lineup for this week, so we can talk about that next week.
JB: Very good. Sounds like a plan, Maggie, have a wonderful Monday, thanks, everyone, for hanging out with us. Her name is Maggie Crenshaw, this is Mondays with Maggie, my name is Jesse Blanco, and you can hear more of our podcasts, you can find them at eatitandlikeit.com, we drop a few a week, we’ll be doing it again next Monday. Thank you so much young lady, you have a good week.
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