Parker Milner, a Pittsburgh native and Boston College graduate, is now based in Charleston, South Carolina, where he serves as the Food Editor for The Post and Courier. Previously, he won two National Championships as a starting goaltender for the Division 1 ice hockey team. Milner began his journalism career while still playing, contributing to Eater, Charleston Magazine, and the Charleston City Paper. Since 2021, he has been leading the Food & Dining section at The Post and Courier and writes a weekly premium newsletter, Charleston’s Menu, highlighting unique local dining spots.
Please introduce yourself to our members.
My name is Parker Milner. I am a 33-year-old Pittsburgh native who graduated from Boston College, where I won two National Championships as the Division 1 ice hockey team’s starting goaltender before becoming a food writer and journalist. I started my journalism career in the midst of my playing days, writing for Eater, Charleston Magazine and the Charleston City Paper during my time away from the rink. Since 2021, I have led The Post and Courier’s Food & Dining section as its Food Editor. In addition to our online and print coverage, I pen a weekly premium newsletter called Charleston’s Menu, which focuses on wonderful off-the-beaten-path restaurants, food trucks and pop-ups that I visit in my free time.
Tell us about your current project.
As Food Editor of South Carolina’s oldest daily newspaper, my coverage is rooted in Charleston but extends to the entire state. Our Wednesday Food & Dining print section features restaurant reviews, food and beverage industry news, recent openings, chef spotlights and more.
Tell us about the restaurant scene in Charleston.
Last year’s debut of Italian hotspot Sorelle certainly caught the attention of local diners, but three other downtown restaurant openings in 2023 showcase how Charleston’s dining scene is changing, with new spaces serving international cuisine standing out in the growing market.
The first to open was Ma’am Saab, a Pakistani restaurant that made its long-awaited debut in May. Believed to be the only Pakistani restaurant in the Lowcountry, owners Maryam Ghaznavi and Raheel Gauba opened to a stylish dining room filled with groups of four and six happily scooping up chopped goat and butter chicken with doughy disks of naan. The atmosphere, inspired by Ghaznavi and Gauba’s Pakistani heritage, is well suited for a special night out in Charleston.
The same can be said for Kultura, a Filipino restaurant that opened last July on Spring Street, a downtown thruway that also features Bistronomy (French, inspired by Asia), Pink Bellies (Vietnamese), Xiao Bao Biscuit (Inspired by Asia), Pink Cactus (Inspired by Mexico), Estadio (Spanish) and Malagón (Spanish).
These restaurants, located in the Cannonborough-Elliotborough neighborhood of downtown Charleston, are close to other local favorites like Vern’s, D'Allesandro's Pizza, Chubby Fish and Chasing Sage. Located blocks away from King Street’s main entertainment district, this neighborhood continues to be one of my favorite places to dine in Charleston.
Similar to Ma’am Saab, Kultura is the only fully Filipino restaurant on the peninsula. Housed in the space where two bakeries previously served, Kultura is an extension of Mansueta’s pop-up, named after the grandmother who taught owner Nikko Cagalanan how to cook.
Few Charleston restaurants are more rooted in the Lowcountry than Bintü Atelier, a West African restaurant that opened in the East Side in late June 2023. Bintü Atelier’s East Side home is a mile from the newly opened International African American Museum, which will eventually showcase food from the African continent at an on-site café. Charleston owes its vibrant food scene to the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of slaves who inhabit the sea islands and lowlands along the Atlantic Coast from southern North Carolina to northern Florida.
The connection between the food cooked by enslaved African Americans and what is served at high-profile downtown restaurants helped bring owner Binta N’Daw Young to Charleston. At her restaurant, the chef’s recipes take that stroll through history before stepping into the present, with her artful plating, precise technique and use of local produce.
This year’s growth in dining diversity extends to Charleston’s barbecue scene, where two new options have joined the Holy City’s “big three” of Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Lewis Barbecue and Home Team BBQ.
Those who have visited Hector Garate’s Palmira Barbecue know to expect a few signature items inspired by his Puerto Rican upbringing and connection with local farmers. Beef cheeks, vinegar-sauced whole hog from Marvin Ross at Peculiar Pig Farm and arroz con gandules, an ode to his Puerto Rican heritage, are among the options on the menu at his new spot in West Ashley.
In North Charleston, Chinese flavors are entering the barbecue scene at a new restaurant led by the owners of Park Circle favorite Jackrabbit Filly. Char siu (Cantonese barbecue pork), Chinese sausage and roasted duck are some of the dishes Shuai and Corrie Wang are serving inside King BBQ.
Most agree that there is still much more room for growth when it comes to diversity in Charleston’s dining scene, but I have noticed a shift in the seven years since I moved here. Perhaps most exciting to me is the fact that diners are taking notice of the locally-owned restaurants and food trucks that are serving international cuisine in Charleston.
"The connection between the food cooked by enslaved African Americans and what is served at high-profile downtown restaurants helped bring owner Binta N’Daw Young to Charleston.
This year’s growth in dining diversity extends to Charleston’s barbecue scene, where two new options have joined the Holy City’s “big three” of Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Lewis Barbecue and Home Team BBQ."
What are your three favorite restaurants in Charleston and why?
- Chubby Fish – A sense of pride emerges when I bring friends to Chubby Fish for the first time. That’s because this restaurant — transformative, inspiring and … cool — exists in the city we call home, though it could easily belong in the country’s culinary hotbeds, like New York City or San Francisco, where chef and co-owner James London cooked before returning home to South Carolina. Even before we enter the 1,250-square-foot no-reservations restaurant, I’ve done my best to convey what makes this place so special. I tell my guests about the bites I know will be on London’s dynamic fresh-off-the-dock-driven menu: buttery blue crab tagliatelle spotted with trout roe; fall-off-the-bone charred lamb ribs resting on romesco; tempura fried fish with soy beurre blanc; caviar sliders, spread atop softened butter, chives, sea salt and lemon zest. That’s just the start. Inevitably, every visit I taste something I could only dream of imagining myself.
- Palmira Barbecue – In a city filled with top-notch barbecue, Palmira Barbecue stands out with its Texas-leaning, Puerto Rican-influenced preparations. Those who have tried owner Hector Garate’s beef cheeks know they eat like a fattier brisket, with a peppery bark bordering the intensely rich and satisfying sliced meat. Barbacoa is chopped to order and placed on a crisp tortilla with cheese and red onions. While those bites are memorable, Garate’s whole hog still steals the show at his new restaurant. Juicy as can be, the chopped strands are doused in a thin, pepper-flecked dressing with a nice vinegar kick. Palmira platters come with sides of barbecue sauce, but if you’re like me, you won’t even need to pop the top off the plastic cups.
- Lowland – James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Stanhope, who previously led the kitchen at FIG, opened Lowland in November. The restaurant is already on its way to becoming the talk of the town. After several visits, I’ve witness Lowland's offering improve in each iteration, with small tweaks and additions helping Stanhope inch closer to the story he wants to tell in his first solo venture. The yellowfin tuna crudo now floats on a mat of Carolina Gold rice, a small preparation shift when compared to the evolution of the chicken tsukune, now amplified by the addition of shrimp and sorghum. A brothy seafood dish that once starred poached bay scallops has been replaced by speckled sea trout, which rests next to a tangle of the best collard greens I’ve had so far this year. Stanhope regularly breaks down Peculiar Pig Farm hogs, using the meat in various dishes, a server told me the other night. A fried bone-in pork chop recently entered the chat, and ground pork factors into a bowl of shell pasta with pesto. The off-cuts are creatively combined to form a meat pie filling that is just as tasty as it is obscure.
What’s a new restaurant or hidden gem in Charleston that you think is doing great things?
Costa in Charleston is not your typical red sauce Italian joint. Incorporating miso, fish sauce and other Japanese sensibilities into a menu filled with intrigue, chef Vinson Petrillo blends nostalgia with a flair for the dramatic at the downtown restaurant, which debuted in November 2023. Petrillo’s sharp technique and penchant for playing with textures are on display here, as they are at The Restaurant at Zero George, a small downtown spot where for the last decade the chef has curated a multi-course menu.
At Costa, the crudo and raw fish program is particularly impressive. Diced tuna, tossed in bonito aioli ($24), receives a citrusy pop from finger lime. Floating above the tartare are crispy sunchokes, providing the crunch that pulls the whole pile together. Soft scallops ($19) are dressed generously with agua chile, diced barely ripe avocado, droplets of capers and translucent white onion ribbons, spicing up the classic crudo. These are just the palate-energizing bites to kick off an evening.
What’s your favorite kind of restaurant and why?
I seek out restaurants where communal dining is encouraged and the service is detailed but not stuffy. Restaurants where seafood, cooked or raw, plays a starring role and global flavors are incorporated are my favorite places to dine right now.
What are your three favorite food cities and your favorite restaurants in those cities?
1. Washington, D.C. — Reveler’s Hour, Bar Spero, Rose’s Luxury, Casa Teresa
2. Tokyo, Japan — Maz, Katsudon-ya Zuicho, Unagi Watabe, Tempura Kondo
3. New York City — Estela, Frevo, Semma
What is your favorite dish and where is your favorite restaurant to have it?
Last year, I was introduced to a dish named thieboudienne. Translating to “fish with rice,” thieboudienne is considered by some to be the national dish of Senegal. UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, added the dish to its cultural heritage list in 2021.
At Charleston’s Bintü Atelier, owner Binta N’Daw Young serves hers with grouper, rice, eggplant, carrots and cabbage — juicy as can be with a tender snap of crunch. The grouper is sliced, revealing a buttery center, hidden beneath a golden crust — spiced just enough to let you know it’s there. The fish tastes fresh, light and decadent, a delightful combination that makes me ponder the seasonings.
To its side, red rice is broken into small grains, condensing its nutty flavor. The heap — which enjoys the grouper’s essence without soaking up its juices — has a better-than-risotto texture, offering a lovely chewiness.
Who is an up-and-coming chef you are keeping an eye on?
Nikko Cagalanan of Kultura in Charleston, who I nominated for a James Beard Award in the Emerging Chef category. I have been closely following his career since the summer of 2019, when I attended his very first pop-up at a Charleston brewery. I was intrigued by the Filipino chef and his Mansueta’s pop-up, named after the grandmother who taught him how to cook in the Philippines. With what Cagalanan has accomplished in the four years since that first pop-up, he is the standout up-and-coming chef in a city filled with new talent.
Who is a food expert whose restaurant recommendations you’d like to see?
Food writer Ruth Reichl
