Since Amy and I were married almost 18 years ago we have visited Charleston, SC at least once a year it seems. Some years, if we are lucky we go several times. We tend to explore the historic sites, walk downtown and eat wherever we happen to stop.
This trip – we are in our next to last day here as I type this – we decided to be more methodical about our trip. We have started to plan our vacations a bit more since a trip out of the country last year and it really helps if you want to see a lot in a short period of time. With that said we still don’t worry about where we eat as much as what we see. The difference this trip was that we were meeting friends on James Island/Folly Beach the first night we got here so we planned a dinner at Taco Boy at Folly Beach.
Taco Boy is a local Taqueria/Cantina (to use their phrase) that serves really fresh tacos and nachos and, if you are so inclined, lots of alcohol. My friends, Rodney Brockwell and Tammy Spake Rice, go to Taco Boy enough that the staff knows them by name so they suggested we meet them there. The restaurant is in a low stone building about two blocks from the beach and right in the middle of the frenzy of activity that occurs during Spring Break. At 7 pm on a Friday, the place is hopping but we got a table in about 20 minutes.
The menu is pretty simple – several apps, a couple of salads, and a list of tacos which include fresh fish, pork, sausage, veggie and portobello to name a few. I ordered a Mahi Mahi taco with red cabbage, cilantro and ancho chile yogurt sauce and a Tuna Taco (fresh Ahi) with chipotle slaw and cilantro
Ahi Tuna Taco in double soft taco shells
and they were both really delicious. The ingredients were very obviously fresh and tasted great together. We also had chips and salsa which is expected here and they were good as well – fresh and warm with homemade salsa, queso and guacamole dips.
We noticed the folks at Taco Boy have opened a new location in Charleston that appears to be in an old warehouse. If the food at the Folly spot is an indicator the Charleston location will be packed. Good luck to these guys.
More to follow on the Charleston Tea Plantation in a future post.