Ask a Local: A Bar Manager's Most Frequented Food & Drink Spots in Charleston, SC

What better way to find the best spots in a city than to ask a local? We caught up with Jeremiah Schenzel, former chef and current bar manager at Bar Mash, one half of the city's coolest concept Mercantile and Mash (Mercantile is the gourmet food side and Bar Mash is the bar side), to get the scoop on some of the coolest foodie spots. From his first cup of coffee to his last drink of the day, check out the places Jeremiah frequents the most in Charleston. 

For a Cup of Coffee – You have to go to Black Tap Coffee. They’re awesome dudes and really humble. They started really small and are growing at their own pace and are doing really good things with coffee. We actually use their coffee next door (at Mercantile). They treat coffee the way we treat booze. You can tell they put a lot of care into it.

For Lunch – I’m a big taco guy and I love Santi's Restaurante Mexicano. I think it’s one of the only places in town where you can get some good ol’ Mexican style tacos. If you’re not into tacos, another great spot is The Rare Bit. It’s a got a cool vibe to it and they do really good cocktails on tap.

For Day Drinking – I go to Kudu Coffee & Craft Beer. It’s actually a coffee house but they also have an amazing craft beer selection.  For how small they are, they do an amazing job with their beers and they rotate them constantly, like every two or three days.

Dinner - The place I frequent the most is Indaco, which is a modern Italian-style restaurant. They do great little pizzas and awesome house-made pastas. It’s the kind of place where you can go with two people and get a bunch of small things to share or go with a bunch of people and get tons of stuff and share. I also like Edmund's Oast. Everything about the place is amazing. The food, the drinks and the people. It’s just a great atmosphere in general. That’s my fancy place if I want to take someone out on a date.

Late night drinks – The Belmont is a good haunt of mine. It’s small and the guys there really know what they’re doing. These days because I drink cocktails practically every day of the week, typically when I go out, I just want a glass of wine so I go to Bin 152. The staff knows their wines, and they have a bunch of cool wines you can't find anywhere else. They also have a great meat and cheese selection. It’s the kind of place you can settle into and get lost for a few hours.

One word of advice for someone visiting Charleston – Explore. Charleston has such a reputation so it’s easy to look at any list online. There’s so much in Charleston that deserves respect but there’s only so much respect to go around sometimes. Don’t just listen to what people are saying. Do your own research and walk around. The small spots that you don’t expect to be amazing are just as amazing as the spots you hear about all the time.

Web: www.mercandmash.com

Jeremiah Schenzel, Bar manager at Mercantile & Mash in Charleston.