Click the link in NETWORKS for more information. Review to come….yummmm……

1050 East Montague Ave. 843-554-3007
Hours: Lunch Mon-Fri 11am-2pm, Tues night dinner 5pm-8pm

On a sunny Thursday afternoon I decided to give Aunt Bea’s a try. Knowing that it was meat and three country cooking, I was prepared for comfort food.

Upon entering this old timey establishment, I quickly realized that there is more to Aunt Bea’s than country cooking. A multi-taskers dream, there is a post office where you can check your po box, send a package, or a fax, have some clothing altered or buy an antique sewing machine.

I ordering the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans, and my lunch date chose the fried flounder, red rice and coleslaw. I was half way through jotting down some slogans like “Country Cookin’ makes you Good Lookin” when our food appeared. It was easy to see why the place is packed with folks on their lunch break!

Down home country cooking! Aunt Bea has a mob of loyal lunch patrons, ready to gobble up whatever she dishes out.

As I waved good bye to the nice lady behind the post office counter, I realized the charm of this establishment is timeless an unwavering.

1083-A East Montague, 843-747-4567, The Barbeque Joint
Hours Mon-F 11-3pm Sat 10-4pm closed Sunday.

The newest culinary edition to the Park Circle Food Scene is The Barbeque Joint! Just when we thought we had enough soul food, we find that we didn’t know what we were missing.

Wow, you couldn’t ask for a freindlier staff! Owner Scott Cloud fixed our plates while describing his food history. This Louisiana native learned to Barbeque from his grandfather Dewayne, a cookoff king, and we think his grandma must have influenced the desserts!

We both had the pulled Barbeque Pork sandwich one with coleslaw and the other with collards, both were fantastic. Of the three sauces, we tried them all, mustard based “gold”, “spicy” vinegar and classic “red” tomato based. I liked the gold, but my freind loved the vinegar, even on her collards.

The intense flavor comes from the meat marinading for a couple of days, smoking with hickory for 4 hours and then cooked slow and low all on location at the restaurant.

The interior is warm and inviting, with picnic tables, checker board floor, and mustard yellow walls accented by corrugated tin for a true Southern feel, there was even great music from Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.

After lunch we split a bowl of “Dirt” for dessert. It tastes much better than it sounds. How great it is to have the ex Garde-Manger chef from the Woodlands serving up dirt and pork in Park Circle, thanks Chef Scott, we’ll be back soon!

1049 East Montague Avenue, 843-200-8016, Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5, closed Sun.

Tuesday morning I went shopping at the new Dukes Garden Center in Park Circle….

Park Circle resident Marty Dukes is the owner of the Garden Center. Marty is a native of North Charleston an was actually born at the old Naval Hospital. He recently moved back to Park Circle to be closer to his family. He and his wife Lucero and their two children, daughter Isabella (18 mos.)and son Christopher (21), live right around the corner!

Marty’s loves his baskets! He keeps them in top shape fertilizing them regularly, because he actually invests in his plants, unlike the chain stores.

This colorful Talavera pottery is directly from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where it is hand crafted by Mexican Government certified artisans. Considered ceramic art, this pottery is sure to make your garden pop!

How about spending a Saturday afternoon having a great lunch in Old North Charleston. Afterwards, fill your trunk with some seasonal herbs, hanging baskets, native plants, Vietnamese and Mexican pottery, or just have it all delivered to brighten your garden corner…

Check out Park Circle’s newest establishment: The Chart!

Offering an extensive martini menu, tapas, and traditional bar food, SUSHI on thursday nights, LIVE MUSIC most weekend nights, pool table, bowling & golf video games, fabulous atmosphere and a beautiful staff!

Located: 1078 E. Montague Ave. (behind Park Circle Coffee ‘n Cream & next to Wachovia)
Hours: Wed-Sat. 4pm-1am
**It’s a smoke-free environment!

See you there!

Video by: Heilig Multimedia Design

Platinum Record
One small business earns LEED’s highest certification.
By Tobin Hack

Among small businesses and restaurants in the town of North Charleston, South Carolina sits a cutting-edge building. The structure, a new distribution center for outdoor gear company Half-Moon Outfitters, is attractive, much more so than it was in its previous lives as a Piggly Wiggly grocery store and a transmissions shop.

But its attractiveness isn’t what makes the building so remarkable. The structure is the first building to receive a LEED Platinum certification, the nation’s most stringent green building certification, under the recently revised guidelines for new construction and major renovations.

While most people might only consider building green when they’re starting from scratch, Half-Moon owner Beezer Molten was determined to make the center as eco-friendly as possible through renovations, despite the challenges.

“Working with an existing building is a handicap,” he says. “It’s easier for engineers to manage their calculations when they’re starting fresh, than to come in and measure existing walls, existing window openings.”

The US Green Building Council’s (GBC) LEED system recognizes projects for their sustainability by rating performance in site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED Platinum is the highest certification awarded within the system, and a rare accomplishment: Only 57 new construction platinum projects exist.

Half-Moon is the only LEED Platinum project in South Carolina, and the nation’s first in a new 2.2 measurement standard, implemented by the GBC in 2006, to replace the previous standard, 2.1. But others are in the works.

“More and more projects are trying to up the ante and achieve platinum—it’s the best for the environment and the best for the bottom line,” says Ashley Katz, GBC media coordinator. “It used to be that just a handful of office building projects were getting platinum, but now we’re seeing a diversity in the building types that are achieving LEED platinum certification,” including schools and homes.

As more and more project managers work to achieve platinum status, attaining that goal is becoming increasingly difficult. The 2.2 standard for new construction is much stricter than its predecessor; for example, it requires that project managers account for not only regulated energy loads, or those energy drains that the design team has control over, but also plug loads, energy used by all computers, copiers, table lamps, and other appliances. The new standard also requires that materials are not only manufactured locally, but also grown or harvested locally.

Today, Half-Moon’s one-story, 9,800 square foot distribution center, completed in December 2006, is a work of sustainable art. The renovation saw the installation of a rainwater catchment system, solar panels, heaps of locally sourced cedar, and many other innovative, sustainable building techniques.

Molten didn’t have to make as many eco-friendly renovations as he did to receive a platinum rating; he could have registered the project under the more lenient 2.1 standard. But to Molten, a kiteboarding daredevil, taking the most challenging route was the only choice. The move didn’t surprise his employees.

“Once we heard that 2.2 was out, there wasn’t really a decision,” says Polly Dickson, a staff member at Half-Moon who tracked all LEED points earned during reconstruction. “We’re an outdoor shop, so we want to preserve the outdoor sports we promote: hiking, climbing, surfing, kayaking, camping. Beezer’s all about adventure, and if you don’t take care of what’s around you, it’s not going to be any fun to travel.”

Even within the more stringent 2.2 standard, Molten earned 56 of the 69 total LEED points available—every point he’d applied for. Most notably, he earned the complete set of ten points in the notoriously arduous “energy and atmosphere” category, where many green projects cut corners.

“A lot of projects were calling themselves green and getting certified and getting a zero in the energy efficiency category,” says Nathan Gauthier, Half-Moon’s LEED consultant and a former employee, who is now a green building consultant for Harvard’s Green Campus Initiative. “They’d make up points in the easy categories, and have no energy efficiency.”

As a result, the GBC passed a new rule in June 2007 mandating that projects earn at least two energy efficiency points.

The innovative Robert Redford NRDC building in Santa Monica, long considered the greenest building around, originally inspired Molten to reach for platinum and beyond. Molten hopes that his own contribution will cause others to seek even more sustainable levels.

“There seems to be something in the American psyche that makes competition really appealing,” he says. “I’d love to see that spirit of competition grow in green building.”

Parker Sims Interiors – design duo Ivie Parker and Adrian Sims – is a perfect addition to the creative family making a buzz at 10 Storehouse Row on the old Naval Base just outside of Park Circle. Their reception hosted many clients, local businesses and interested neighbors. We munched on fabulous finger food, enjoyed jazz from the 3 piece band, and awed over their design vignettes (condensed, evocative examples of interior desings) transforming the open warehouse space into cozy inviting rooms. It was a great event that I was grateful to be a part of. We look forward to many more amazing works from these lovely and talented women.

Their office was also open during the reception, granting us a glimpse into the desing process as well as the beautiful space they create in.

It was a really great crowd having a fantastic time!

My favorite design vingette: a beautiful natural wood bed with soft colorful linens, great lighting, perfect accents…

For more information on Parker Sims Interiors visit their website right here

Best new addition to The Old Navy Yard & the Park Circle Neighborhood! Jamie Tenny & David Merrit thew a huge Beer, Bluegrass, BBQ Bash last weekend at an old warehouse just off Noisette Blvd. now revitalized into an organic brewery! 3 delicious flavors were up for sample: India Pale Ale, Klosch & (my personal favorite) Coffee Rye Brown-yum!

The fun, food, friends and brew made it a perfect Saturday afternoon!

We welcome COAST Brewing Co. and wish them all the luck and success any new business can handle. Look for them at EVO Pizzaria, Daily Dose, Mellow Mushroom, Charleston Beer Works and Red Drum.

“Cheers!”

To check out COAST Brewing Co.’s website click here

Park Circle Coffee n’ Cream is now serving Sunday Brunch from 9am-2pm! Join me and the rest of your hungry neighbors for shrimp & grits, biscuits & gravy, french toast, omelets & bloody marys! Featured special will include eggs benedict, chocolate chip pancakes and whatever the regulars suggest!

Also, mark your calendars every 3rd Thursday of the month for Open Mic Night, hosted by Cecilia of the B.Y.O.D Band. Mics and Amps will be provided and every courageous soul that performs will recieve a FREE drink! See you there!