Meet Chef Steven Manall, Executive Chef at Belmond Charleston Place's The Palmetto Cafe.
Chef graduated in 2005 from Atlantic Cape Community College's Academy of Culinary Arts. Steven has worked the last ten years as Sous Chef and Chef de Cuisine for The Palmetto Cafe, a four-star restaurant.
I find it intriguing that Chef acknowledges his grandfathers as his inspiration to his career in the culinary arts. Chef Manall's grandfathers were outdoorsmen who he says, "They taught me from a very young age to respect the food, where it came from, as well as the tools and techniques that are used with food, be it the rifle, rod or chef knife."
Charlesmopolitan was honored to be asked to taste the new dishes that Chef rolled out this November on The Palmetto Cafe's lunch menu. They started us out with a boom! Veuve Champagne to start the celebration.
A gorgeous presentation of split pea soup to start.
This dish is not only a celebration to your taste buds but a feast for your eyes as well.
Golden Split Pea Soup
First a panko and goldfish crumb coated egg, perfectly cooked, is set before you. I hate to ruin the surprise but take a gander as your server effortlessly baths the egg in the wonderfully smooth soup. Chef Manall uses a regional variety of peas to create this mouthwatering soup.
Temped yet?
Goldfish crumbs coating your fried egg, that to me is genius!
The egg and the soup pair exceptionally well together. The panko, a Japanese-style breadcrumb, and goldfish crumbs play nicely with the pea soup consisting of chicken stock, ham hocks, carrots, celery, onions and fresh herbs.
The next dish, octopus poke, is not one to be overlooked on the menu. Poke is a Hawaiian appetizer which is often raw but this is a cooked Poke.
Octopus Poke
This delectable dish has braised octopus which is later cooled and marinated. The octopus sits atop a mouth-watering coconut rice cake and adorned with masago mayonaise and soy dressing. Masago mayonnaise is a spicy mayonnaise based sauce with flying fish roe, commonly seen as a garnish on your sushi. Just beautiful.
This savory octopus is marinated in soy, sesame oil, cilantro, jalapeños, sugar, and rice wine vinegar.
I just love the next dish which had a brilliant twist on it's presentation. It's much easier to gobble up than in the original, messy rolled pita.
Lamb Pita
This is Chef Manall's magnificent interpretation of a Lamb Gyro. Chef uses a boneless, marinated, New Zealand Lamb loin with bite size fried pita bread and Tzatziki sauce. The plate is garnished with cherry tomatoes, Feta cheese, cucumbers, herb salad, and aged balsamic. The Lamb is grilled to order and if not specified will be medium temperature.
Grilled Shrimp Panzanella
Pesto marinated, grilled- shrimp, frisee lettuce, olives, roasted tomatoes, capers, roasted potatoes, with red onions all accompanied by a crispy Tuscan bread.
I simply cannot choose just one dish as a favorite, they were all equally incredible.
After Brunch don't forget to checkout the beautiful holiday decor at Charleston Place.
The Palmetto Cafe is located right in the heart of town and inside one of the city's main shopping venues. Walk outside and do some more shopping or watch as the beautiful horse carriages pass by. I could watch the horses all day.
Kate Spade New York Dress find it here.
A huge thank you for the generous sponsoring of this blog to:
Chef Steven Manall
Austin Hubbard
Michael Barto
and
The Palmetto Cafe
(843) 577-4522
Open 7 days a week
Breakfast: Monday- Friday from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM
Lunch: Monday - Friday 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday Brunch: 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Sunday Brunch: 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM
CharlestonPlace.com
