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Feature Story
Sustainable Seafood: On The Bubble
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Efforts to make sustainable food more visible and available are increasing.
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get outta town
Kendall Lukas Visits Wilmington, N.C.
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Kendall Lukas has stars in her eyes and history under her feet as she explores the neighboring port city of Wilmington, N.C.
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A Lowcountry Life
From Ballet Shoes To Bikinis
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Poland native Maria Dobrzanska Reeves uses her dance discipline to achieve success in Charleston.
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essay
Splashing Through Childhood
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Author Ron Daise looks for joy and finds it in remembering his children in their youth.
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homestyle
Cooking in the Great Outdoors
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Customized patio kitchens are made for entertaining.
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delectable delights
Doin' The Charleston Bump
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Local chefs re-group with sustainable wreckfish.
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feature story: Online Extra
Swimming Rock Fish Farm
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

More on Megan Westmeyer and Jennifer Smith’s visit to Swimming Rock Fish Farm
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from the editor
Water World
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

I love being in water. I love that clear, cool swishing feeling around my ears. In fact, on a warm, sunny day, I like to go outside and get as hot as possible and then dive into a cool pool. For me, it’s refreshment at its finest.
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distinctively charleston
Beach Music
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

The sounds, swells and shagging at Folly beach pier keep fans coming back for more.
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Feature story: Shrimp Story
A Shrimp Story
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

You can see the shrimp boats from your restaurant table, so that shrimp pasta on the menu has to be fresh and local. Right?
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just dogs
Water Babies
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Water lovers dog paddle to the beach, parks and pools.
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feature story
Farm Fresh Fish
Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.

Swimming Rock Fish Farm raises native species and supports the environment.
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Our Favorite Things

Saturday, May 31, 02 56 p.m.

We celebrate what we treasure in the Lowcountry and beyond that gives us an interior smile.
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from the editor
Maxximum Style
Thursday, May 1, 03 49 p.m.

My 14-year-old niece visited Charleston with her parents in March. She’s from Moscow, Russia, and I had not seen her in more than 10 years. There’s a big difference between 4 and 14!
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feature story
Holy City Style
Thursday, May 1, 03 49 p.m.

When Nancye Starnes decided to move out of Memphis, she drew up a list of “must haves” for her new hometown: it had to be a walkable city, located on the water, and sizeable enough to support a vibrant performing arts community.
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just dogs
Citadel Charmers
Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.

Move aside – bulldog coming through. In January, the American Kennel Club announced that the Bulldog, one of the most recognizable and iconic purebred dogs, has muscled its way into the 10th spot on the organization’s annual list of the most popular breeds in America.
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delectable delights
Beyond Cookie Cutter
Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.

Prime ingredients, Nostalgic tastes and creative bakers transform Lowcountry cookies into high-style confections.
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A Lowcountry Life
Working for Peanuts
Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.

Anthony Wright, the man known throughout the Lowcountry and across the nation as Tony the Peanut Man, never intended to make his living selling boiled goobers.
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get outta town
Kendall Lukas Visits Charlotte, NC
Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.

I had never been to Charlotte … not really. Well, I’ve gotten my kicks at Carowinds because that was part of being a kid in the Carolinas, and I’ve been to concerts at the open-air Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre because it’s a large complex for big-time acts. I’ve visited my sister at UNC Charlotte and have flown through the city’s major transit airport many times. But as for the metropolis of Charlotte, I’d only ever viewed its high-rises from afar. This time I took an up-close look at the interior and found a lot of reasons to relish in North Carolina’s top travel destination.
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distinctively charleston
Turning Heads
Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.

Bessie is almost 50 and looks as good today as she did in her youth – maybe even better. After all, back then she was hanging from a pole. Now she runs circles around the rest of us, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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homestyle
Café Comfort
Thursday, May 1, 03 46 p.m.

Banquettes are big. Heidi Walker, Allied ASID, of Walker Design Group, is currently working on three different kitchens that have banquettes. For this kitchen in a young couple’s home on Sullivan’s Island, Walker created a café atmosphere by building on the existing element of the laminated floor. “This promotes a casual impromptu gathering space,” she says.
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ESSAY
Lowcountry Style
Thursday, May 1, 12 00 a.m.

If you want to experience real Lowcountry style, you need to come to the Hebron Saint Francis Senior Center. Its members are long time Johns Island residents, a hardscrabble group of African-American women who meet every Wednesday for devotion and quilt making.
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homestyle
Jewel Box
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

Although one of the smallest rooms in a house, a powder room is nonetheless important since most of your guests will pay it a visit. Jennifer Rhodes, ASID, principal designer of J. Rhodes Design, took the popular concept of making this room a “jewel box” and ran with it, creating a luxurious surprise in this 3-foot by 7-foot Daniel Island room.
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distinctively charleston
Treasure Hunt
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

For some it’s a hobby; for some it’s an obsession; and for some it is all about the experience. Under a table, out of a box of old papers or tucked in a dark corner, you see it. It might have been neglected, someone no longer valuing it, but you know its true worth. Your heart speeds up and suddenly you realize … you found a something you must have.
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feature Story
Let’s Go!
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

It is official – spring has sprung! As winter wanes, so does our brief tolerance for being cooped indoors. We have a bridge to walk, nature paths to bike, bass to catch, and azaleas that need planting. So dangle off the dock, put the top down, grab the gear out of the garage, or get the dogs ready for a ride. It is time for Lowcountry residents to play outside!
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get outta town
Kendall Lukas Visits Aiken, SC
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

Today Aiken is somewhat old-fashioned, but it is cosmopolitan in its direction.
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feature Story
Exceptional Educators
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

Three Lowcountry teachers go beyond the call of duty to make a difference. We see it splashed across the headlines every day. South Carolina schools are struggling. In fact, it’s even become an issue in the upcoming presidential election. And with good reason. Our schools are struggling, dropout rates are hovering in some districts around 50 percent, and the heated debate about the emphasis on testing continues.
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essay
The Art of Walking
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

The word “art” usually brings to mind pictures of such objects as paint brushes, canvases, pigments, and marble statuary. It does not call up, necessarily, the image of the walker or the bliss and freedom of the path – beaten or unbeaten – that unfurls ahead. But to walk, to enter truly the experience of locomotion merged with one’s surroundings, alert to air and leaf and salamander, is to practice a high and much-forgotten art.
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letter from the editor
Go-Go Girl
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

"Go” has practically become my middle name. I’ve always been a fast mover, even when my body isn’t really up to it. A quick climb up three flights of stairs will remind me of this every time. Lately I feel like I’m constantly on-the-go: work; household chores; child rearing; trips to the grocery; trips to Target; trips to the vet to care for Bugsy, my dear aging Westie. It seems that ”going” has become an American pastime; if you’re not crazy-out-of-your-mind busy then you’re not doing something right. I disagree.
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delectable delights
Spring Fling
Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.

Mother Nature delivers the first flush of spring in asparagus, onions and peas. Spring enters life so beautifully, With love within her tears of rain; She whispers softly in my ear Her presence in the world again.
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Recipe box
Prime ingredients, nostalgic tastes and creative bakers transform these cookies into high-style confections.
Videos
Check out the smart car, a match from last year's Family Circle Cup, and a classroom project from an exceptional educator.
Photo Galleries
More is better when it comes to photos. Check out these bonus images from our photo shoots.
Watermarks
What’s happening in the Lowcountry and seasonal spotlight tidbits about local traditions, trends and events.
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FAVORITES
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Comment: Click here to share one of your favorite cookie recipes!
 
 
delectable delights

Doin' The Charleston Bump

Written by Holly Herrick

Tuesday, July 1, 2008


Photo by Terry Kuzniar

Local chefs re-group with sustainable wreckfish.

Click here to download wreckfish recipes

Though it sure sounds like one, the Charleston Bump (unlike the Charleston and the Charleston Chew candy bar named after it) is not a famous dance. It is the exclusive spawning and U.S.-based hunting grounds for grouper’s taste and texture cousin, wreckfish, a wholly sustainable fish that is monitored by the state and federal government.

The Charleston Bump, where wreckfish thrive, rises off the surrounding Blake Plateau and is located roughly 100 miles offshore of South Carolina and Georgia. Depths here range from an astonishing 1,300 to 3,000 feet of tumultuous water swirling with eddies and rapid, mean currents. It makes for an unusual combination of tough fishing and a happy habitat for wreckfish that embrace its spooky universe of deep-water corals and caves.

“The location is the greatest obstacle because it’s on the east side of the Gulf Stream,” explains Sam Ray, a 37-year fishing veteran who’s been fishing wreckfish on the bump since the fishery was discovered in the late 1980s. “It’s just a lot of tremendous topography relief with ledges that are 500 feet from top to bottom. They create up-wellings and tide riffs when the Gulf Stream hits it. It’s ridiculous.” Ray’s boat, The Lien Machine, is just one of three boats that cruise these waters for wreckfish, so-named for their fondness for wreckage and debris.

The Charleston Bump rises up from a deep plateau, more than 2,000 feet deep, to a depth of about 1,200 feet. Because of its vertical profile, it acts like a very deep reef and attracts many marine organisms. In U.S. waters, it is abundant only on the Charleston Bump, which is also the only known wreckfish spawning ground in the western North Atlantic.

satellite image produced by Norman Kuring, SeaWiFS Project, NASA GSFC. courtesy of noaa.

The Charleston Bump rises up from a deep plateau, more than 2,000 feet deep, to a depth of about 1,200 feet. Because of its vertical profile, it acts like a very deep reef and attracts many marine organisms. In U.S. waters, it is abundant only on the Charleston Bump, which is also the only known wreckfish spawning ground in the western North Atlantic.

Wreckfish may have a funny name, but its flavor and sustainability are taken seriously by Lowcountry chefs who find wreckfish similar to grouper or snapper in taste and like the fact that it doesn’t share grouper’s ugly overfishing truth.

“Most (species of) grouper are overfished, and they’re not very resilient to fishing pressure,” says Megan Westmeyer, the Sustainable Seafood Initiative coordinator at the S.C. Aquarium in Charleston. “It’s going to take a long time for them to come back.” Conversely, wreckfish are protected (their “bump-based” spawning grounds are closed Jan. 16 through April 14) and are as local as it gets.

“Buying and serving local, sustainable fish like wreckfish is just a good thing to do,” explains FISH Restaurant Executive Chef Nico Romo. “You want them to have different kinds of fish to eat and the same diversified diet we have. And wreckfish is just a really light fish that goes well with so many things.”

Read more about Sustainable Seafood:

Wild American Shrimp

Swimming Rock Fish Farm

HOME AT THE RANGE WITH HOLLY

In the summer and when cooking with fish, I like to keep things very simple and use what’s readily and locally available. It doesn’t get any more local than wreckfish and my back-stoop herb pots, which are brimming with basil (the backbone of pesto) and other fresh herbs this time of year. While the fish sears, whip up the pesto and you’ve got a smashing, fresh dinner in literally five minutes. I add a bit of orange zest to the pesto to complement the round flavor of wreckfish, but you can omit that altogether.

WHERE TO BUY WRECKFISH

retailers that regularly stock wreckfish during season:

Crosby’s Fish & Shrimp

2223 Folly Road, Folly Beach | (843) 795-4049

Earth Fare

74 Folly Road, West Ashley | (843) 769-0794

Whole Foods

923 Houston Northcutt Blvd., Mt. Pleasant | (843) 971-7240

Click here to download wreckfish recipes



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Lowcountry Living is a bi-monthly magazine of The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, S.C. 29403-4800. Copyright 2007 by The Post and Courier.
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