There are lots of things to love about Mt. Pleasant’s Towne Centre, but its variety of restaurants is not necessarily one of them. The outdoor mall is stocked with every breed of chain eatery from Qdoba to Atlanta Bread Company to the new P.F. Chang’s. Father-daughter team Jerry and Casey Crites hope to fill in the gap with a heaping plate of local comfort food from their newest collaboration, Heirloom Eats (which is housed in the same building as their former barbecue venture, The Palmetto Pig).
Specializing in cozy cuisine made from family recipes and local ingredients, Eats aims to provide patrons with a dining experience rare to its corner of Mt. Pleasant — one that incorporates tradition, value, and community.
“We’ve incorporated recipes from friends, the Crites family, and my family into the menu,” says Chef Chad Billings, who is also a full-time instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston. “Fans of the Palmetto Pig will also find some of their old favorites.”
While the Pig undoubtedly had lots of supporters, Billings admits that nowadays, restaurants have to keep themselves fresh and new.
“This is our way of doing that,” he says. “We have kept some of our classics, but incorporated them into a whole new restaurant concept.” With an interior full of reclaimed materials from places like the Wentworth Mansion and a menu that includes pork rillettes and sweet tea smoked chicken (and boasts no entrée over $17), the Crites have created an eatery that will undoubtedly stand out from the hoards of cookie-cutter bar and grills surrounding it. Heirloom Eats opened on Tuesday.
Check out their menu at heirloomeats.com or visit them in Towne Centre across from Lowe’s.
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