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While Georgia might officially be named the Peach State, "South Carolina actually produces far more peaches," asserts The Establishment's Executive Chef Matt Canter. It was from this nugget of truth that Chef Canter decided to make The Establishment's new summer dish focus on our most popular fruit.
He starts the base of the dish by halving South Carolina-grown peaches that are then "roasted in a little bit of brown butter to bring out their sweetness." Chef Canter then places the peaches on a bed of watercress greens. "Next, we top them with Ubriaco di Raboso cheese and thinly-shaved ham which is sourced from Goodnight Brothers in North Carolina," he said.
"My entire food philosophy is to make sure that a dish's flavors don't compete with each other. It's all about balancing between the five types of tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami," Chef Canter explains.
He goes on, "When you take a bite of this, you've got the sweetness from the peaches, the creamy texture of the cheese, the more grassy bitterness of the watercress and then the saltiness of the thinly shaved ham."
It wasn't just the fresh fruits of the Palmetto state that attracted Chef Canter to Charleston. "There are a lot of passionate chefs here and the vibe of the city is unique," he says. What drew him to The Establishment was the ability to "create a new rendition of a destination seafood restaurant."
"There are a number of great raw bars and we didn't want to reinvent the wheel," Chef Canter said. "Instead, we wanted to combine the abundance of amazing fresh local foods with a balanced approach to their preparation."
That effort is clearly working and this summer peach dish, located under their "Taste" section on the menu, is sure to be a summer success!
The Establishment wants to expand their menu into the homes of their customers, offering up customized menus for each client and event. "We have been consistently doing multiple dinners every week," said restaurant general manager Brad Morgan.
With a standout holiday dinner at The Establishment still on my mind, I decided to pop in for brunch with a friend on a recent spring afternoon. It's hard to imagine a more ideal downtown venue for a leisurely midday meal. Seated at the edge of Charleston's famed South of Broad neighborhood, the stylish eatery is bound by the harbor to the east and the Four Corners of Law on its west side. The Broad Street location delivers the best of two worlds: the restaurant is at once central yet removed from restaurant row, promising an amazing dining experience with world-class shopping and antebellum mansions a short stroll away in either direction