Banana pudding, like many Southern favorites, is usually best when it’s made by someone’s grandmother. There’s something about a deft matriarchal hand that finesses those banana slices like none other.
But what if you don’t have a mam-maw to make you the
classic dessert? Charleston has a variety of banana pudding options across the city.
A classic dessert around town
Swank Desserts owner Danetra Richardson grew up eating banana pudding in Virginia Beach, Va.
“It is probably my favorite dessert that my mom made before I learned how to make it better,” she said. “She likes mine better now, so I can admit that.”
Banana pudding is a staple at her Summerville shop, but it wasn’t always that way. The item ended up on the menu by accident.
“I was actually making a banana mousse filling for a banana creme brulee doughnut, and then when I torched it, it melted all over the place,” she said. “I didn’t want to waste the rest of it, so I ended up layering it with some little wafers and just put it in the case, just as a special.”
As soon as the shop ran out of pudding, calls started coming in asking when they would have more. Richardson decided to bring it back, and now she can never take it off the menu.
“When people think Swank, nine times out of 10, they will say, ‘You need to try the banana pudding while you’re there.’”
The secret to Swank’s version is that the team makes the pudding completely from scratch.
“We don’t use Jell-O pudding,” Richardson said. “We’ve perfected our technique over the years. The texture is very silky and creamy and it’s rich, but it’s also nice and light and fluffy.”
Another reason Swank has become synonymous with the Southern dessert is its viral fame. Richardson posted a video about the shop’s offerings in 2024.
A slow shot of a scoop of banana pudding captured her audience’s attention and went viral. She said that new customers started lining up within a few days of her social media success.
“We used to sell maybe 30 [puddings] a week,” she said. ”Now that’s on the low end of what we can sell in a day.”
Some secrets
Anthony DiBernardo, pitmaster and owner of Swig and Swine, did not grow up eating traditional banana pudding in Mantua, N.J. But he has fond memories of his mother’s icebox cake version. She dipped graham crackers in chocolate and layered them with sliced bananas, pudding and whipped cream. At DiBernardo’s restaurant, he keeps it more traditional.
When asked the secret to his textbook-perfect pudding, he said, “There’s no secrets — it’s real. We make our custard. I think that’s the only secret.”
The base is a custard made with eggs, flour, sugar and milk. The mixture is cooled overnight and then layered with banana slices, Nilla wafers and whipped cream.
But over at Burbage’s Grocery on Broad Street, there is a secret to what makes its version of the Southern treat so delicious.
“It’s sour cream,” says store co-owner Lisa Bowen. The vanilla pudding is created with a mix of whole milk and sour cream, she said. Bananas and Nilla wafers are folded in after. The addition of sour cream tempers the sweetness, making the dish more balanced. Bowen borrowed the recipe from her mother, Lyndal Fields, though she said her aunt Jeanine Weatherford was always in charge of bringing the dessert to family events.
The banana pudding isn’t at the corner store every day because it’s popular (though not as much as the chicken salad) and only one person makes the dish: the owners’ daughter, Taylor Bowen. Though she recently admitted she doesn’t really care for banana pudding, the duty fell to her.
From simple to nontraditional
When thinking about banana pudding for the menu at My Three Sons, co-owner Lorraine Smalls knew she didn’t want to make her mother’s version.
“My mom used to bake it,” she said, “I never liked the baked stuff. It takes a little time and a lot of stuff goes in it.”
Lorraine co-founded the Gullah restaurant with her son Antwan Smalls and the late Alice “Ms. Alice” Warren. The North Charleston destination is known for Lowcountry classics, from seafood rice to she crab soup to deviled crabs. And when it comes to the banana pudding, the kitchen keeps it simple.
My Three Sons uses banana-flavored pudding mix and adds milk and a bit of Cool Whip to make it creamier. The result is a bright yellow base for adding sliced bananas and Nilla wafers. The dessert is sweet, but it’s nothing in comparison to the restaurant’s sugar-filled sweet tea.
Antwan once urged his mother to switch to vanilla-flavored pudding, but Lorraine didn’t care for it.
“Everybody tries to make the pudding so fancy now,” said Lorraine. “They want to put [Pepperidge Farm] Chessmen cookies in it, but I’m old-school.”
In a decidedly unclassic move, Upper King Street newcomer Mother’s Ruin offers a banana pudding hand pie on its menu. The bar, which comes to Charleston by way of New York, is known for its cheeky takes on bar classics and raucous throwdowns. So why would it stick to the tried-and-true version of the dessert?
The Mother’s Ruin version takes the dish to another level of indulgence. The pudding is stuffed into flaky, buttery empanada dough and then deep-fried. It is then drizzled with a caramel sauce and served with a whipped cream infused with Galliano, a sweet Italian liqueur. It’s not traditional Southern, but Southerners do love to fry things.
“The reaction has been great,” says Mother’s Ruin Director of Culinary Mark Grimes. “People recognize the flavor right away but are intrigued by the format. Once they try it, it clicks. Guests often order it out of curiosity and then come back for it on future visits.”
If you need to outsource your banana pudding duties this summer, there’s a version for every taste out there.
Unless you don’t like bananas; then we can’t help you.
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