Vegetarian Thanksgiving in Charleston

October 15, 2012 11:57 AM

I will be in Charleston, South Carolina on Thanksgiving Day as a tourist. I am a vegetarian. Help.

Do you know of any upscale or higher end restaurants that will have a vegetarian option for Thanksgiving dinner? I've had several personal suggestions from frequent visitors but all of the menus I've seen have been quite meaty, with only one having a vegetarian option of "Vegetable Plate." Uh, no. Any ideas?

Where I live (Raleigh-Durham area) there is a Vegetarian Society that does a community Thanksgiving dinner - something like that would be great too. Or should we just bring a cooler and have a Thanksgiving cheese & fruit picnic in the hotel room?

posted by something something to travel & transportation around Charleston, SC (7 answers total)

Call some of these places, would be my suggestion. Happy Cow is a good resource, too.

Charleston is a very foodie town. They should be able to please you somewhere.
posted by bearwife at 1:28 PM on October 15, 2012

Also, my google fu fairy revealed the existence of these folks.
posted by bearwife at 1:30 PM on October 15, 2012

Back in the '90s, my family and I made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Charleston for Thanksgiving. We failed to plan for actual Thanksgiving dinner, and the Shoney's had closed after breakfast. So we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Huddle House. Waffles = vegetarian, so I guess that's a possibility, if not really a traditional one.
posted by asperity at 1:57 PM on October 15, 2012

Send this question to the good folks here at Slow Food Charleston. Tell 'em New England sent ya.
posted by Miko at 9:48 PM on October 15, 2012

This is a tough one. Charleston is definitely a foodie town but it's also relatively meat-centric. I've never actually been in Charleston on Thanksgiving so I'm not completely sure how the restaurant scene is for the day. I'd expect there to be a good number of prix fixe menus at the higher end places. Of the ones on Yelp listed as Vegetarian, I've only heard of Black Bean and Mustard Seed (the latter also serves meat, but has several vegetarian options on the menu). Neither is what I'd consider upscale though. So far all the "upscale" restaurants that I've checked that have special Thanksgiving menus all focus on Turkey or Ham, unsurprisingly. Check through my AskMe history and you'll see lots of recommendations for good restaurants. You could always call them and see if they will have options available. I'll see if I can come up with some better options.
posted by This Guy at 8:34 AM on October 16, 2012

Thank you for all the suggestions! It looks like I am not a bad googler and that this actually is a pretty tough one.
posted by something something at 1:05 PM on October 16, 2012

Can you expand on what type of food options you're looking for? Something tofu-based? Fake-meat? Just well-prepared veggies?

Sorry, all my Thanksgiving experience is with my family and my partner's family. They're all very meat-centric except for my half-brother who brings his own tofurkey.
posted by This Guy at 4:19 AM on October 17, 2012