Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Old Village Post House-Restaurant Review

Oh how I love the Old Village Post House in Mt. Pleasant, SC. It’s located in the Old Village in the corner of Pitt and Venning. It’s a quaint little place on a strip with some other quaint little places. OVPH is not only a restaurant, but is also an Inn that has six rooms. Dinner is served every evening and brunch is served on Sundays from 10:30-2:00. Private rooms for parties are also available. May I recommend a reservation, as they do have certain times for seating.

 

Let’s proceed…

 

May 1 was my first encounter with the Old Village Post House. It was my birthday and a good friend recommended it to me. I’m so, so glad I listened to her! Let’s re-visit that night. My brother, sister and six of my girlfriends joined me there for a lovely dinner to celebrate my birthday! (I’m just going to be brief and right to the point here.) We sat upstairs (yes, two floors) at a beautifully set table with all the different appropriate silverware, wine glasses, water glass, plates, candles, high back chairs, cloth napkins etc. making the ambience very nice. If I’m remembering correctly, they had plantation shutters. This is probably not important to most of you, but I really like them and added a nice touch for me. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is in the details. So there you have it.

 

For an appetizer I ordered the Cream of Crab Soup. This is not the same as She Crab. This soup was more of a stock base and not cream and it had no sherry in it. I love She Crab soup, but this was a nice change. It was light without all the cream, which was nice, and had such a wonderful butter flavor and large chunks of crab.

 

For my entrée I ordered the cornmeal crusted fried flounder with stone ground grits, steamed okra and field peas.  I, now, much prefer this type of fried flounder over the heavily battered fried flounder. It wasn’t heavy and it didn’t taste of oil that it was fried in. I tasted flounder and with the fiery red sauce that topped it, it was tender and flavorful. Stone-ground grits-I won’t say anything other than the chefs grind the grits themselves. That’s right-made in house and wow! Field were great and the steamed okra (I’ve never had it cooked that way) was crisp and not slimy (which is often the case with okra due to any moisture) and very delicious!

 

Dessert-do you think I’m about to leave a restaurant like this on my birthday without dessert? Um…no. Especially since dessert is on the house if it’s your birthday. I ordered the mixed berry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream and a bourbon caramel sauce. The part of this dessert that branded my mind was the crust on top of this cobbler. Heaven in my mouth I tell ya. As I’m sitting here thinking about that dessert I’m thinking that next time I make a cobbler I’m going to make it with less fruit and more crust. I think other people would like that. I know I would! I mean, people usually want more crust, don’t they? Definitely the best part!

 

Different date:

This past Sunday my aunt and I took my Pop-Pop to the Old Village Post House to celebrate his 83rd birthday. Again, let me say that brunch is only served on Sundays. Aunt Teresa and I both ordered a White Sangria and ordered Pop-Pop some coffee. We all shared the fruit platter that was drizzled in ginger simple syrup and the cornbread that is given upon arrival.

 

Pop-Pop ordered the French Toast which I think is worth mentioning here. The restaurant first makes a homemade brioche. I watched Julia Child make this the other day and until then had no idea what made it different from other breads. It’s butter. That’s the difference. Brioche is made with A LOT of butter, which is what makes it so light and soft and buttery. I feel as though it’s similar to challah bread in this respect. The brioche is cut into two 1-inch slices and cooked up into French toast. It’s served with a side of fresh strawberries and a warm maple syrup.

 

This being the second time I came to the OVPH for brunch I ordered what I love-Crab Cakes Benedict. And if you can just imagine two crab cakes (with no fillers) topped with two perfectly poached eggs, hollandaise sauce (one of the world’s best sauces) and fresh chopped chives. The crab cakes benedict is served with a side of stone-ground grits and fresh strawberries. I ate the whole thing. I couldn’t help myself! And you won’t be able to either.

 

Go here. I have three times in the past three pasts (which is a big deal for me) and I will be returning. The food is great, the service is great and the atmosphere is great. You can’t go wrong here! Try it out for yourself and just try to prove me wrong!

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