A Star is Reborn No matter what you call it, Charlie’s became an island institution for a reason. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
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It’s been a few years of pretty wild changes in the restaurant industry. As sick as we are all of talking about the pandemic, the fact is we’re still seeing long-term effects from a time period that basically shut down every restaurant in the Lowcountry for a few months. It’s been noticeably harder to find help. Patron behaviors have changed, with more people looking for outdoor seating. And oh yeah, that whole supply chain shutdown is still happening, driving costs through the roof. “We spent the last two years going through so many different changes, now it’s like we’re getting back to focusing not just on survival, but on being creative again,” said Margaret Pearman. She and her brother Palmer Golson have taken the reins at Charlie’s since their dad found himself sidelined by health issues, but their creative spark has moved the restaurant forward for years. Part of that spark has manifested in cooking classes, planned before COVID and ultimately postponed, but now roaring back into the kitchen. Loose and informal, held about once a month, these classes give small groups of 10 a chance to learn first-hand from Pearman and Chef Josh Castillo how 14
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to make some of the restaurant’s most iconic dishes. “We show them how to make classics like the flounder meuniere, the pate, the caramel cake… those have been really fun,” said Pearman. The return of the cooking classes is, obviously, not the biggest change to hit this island institution, which has fed locals and visitors for decades. And no, we’re not talking about the expanded outdoor dining across the restaurant’s sprawling patio spaces. And we’re not talk about the technology upgrades that made takeout orders easier to handle. We’re talking about what’s written on the sign out front. As the restaurant emerges from the years of pandemic slowdown, it rises with a new moniker. Out is the old “Charlie’s L’Etoile Verte,” streamlined to the more straightforward “Charlie’s Coastal Bistro.” “Quite honestly, all of the locals refer to us as Charlie’s anyway,” said Pearman about the name change. “With the number of new people in the area, we had some confusion about having a French name but not really being a classically French restaurant. But that’s never been what we are,” said