Discover the culinary heritage of South Carolina’s famous port city with this guide to historic restaurants that have come and gone. Once a sleepy city of taverns and coffeehouses, Charleston evolved into a culinary powerhouse of innovative chefs and restaurateurs. Jessica Surface, founder of Chow Down Charleston Food Tours, celebrates the city’s rich cultural history in Lost Restaurants of Charleston. The origins of she-crab soup trace back through Everett’s Restaurant. The fine dining of Henry’s evolved from a Prohibition-era speakeasy. Desserts were flambéed from the pulpit of a deconsecrated church at Chapel Market Place, and Robert’s hosted Charleston’s famous singing chef. From blind tigers to James Beard Awards, Surface explores the stories and sites that give Charleston its unique flavor.

In recent years, food writers and historians have begun to retell the story of southern food. Heirloom ingredients and traditional recipes have been rediscovered, the foundational role that African Americans played in the evolution of southern cuisine is coming to be recognized, and writers are finally clearing away the cobwebs of romantic myth that have long distorted the picture. The story of southern dining, however, remains incomplete. The Lost Southern Chefs begins to fill that niche by charting the evolution of commercial dining in the nineteenth-century South. Robert F. Moss punctures long-accepted notions that dining outside the home was universally poor, arguing that what we would today call “fine dining” flourished throughout the region as its towns and cities grew. Moss describes the economic forces and technological advances that revolutionized public dining, reshaped commercial pantries, and gave southerners who loved to eat a wealth of restaurants, hotel dining rooms, oyster houses, confectionery stores, and saloons. Most important, Moss tells the forgotten stories of the people who drove this culinary revolution. These men and women fully embodied the title “chef,” as they were the chiefs of their kitchens, directing large staffs, staging elaborate events for hundreds of guests, and establishing supply chains for the very best ingredients from across the expanding nation. Many were African Americans or recent immigrants from Europe, and they achieved culinary success despite great barriers and social challenges. These chefs and entrepreneurs became embroiled in the pitched political battles of Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and then their names were all but erased from history.

Today, visitors and locals in Greenville enjoy a vibrant, diverse and acclaimed culinary scene. Some will remember recent favorites like the American Grocery Restaurant that helped pioneer the farm-to-table movement. Others will remember longtime favorites like Carpenter Bros. Drug Store, Charlie's Steak House and Gene's Restaurant that were around for three or four generations. Few in the second half of the twentieth century would not have dined at one of Vince Perone's restaurants for some occasion. Author and tour guide John Nolan recalls the fond memories of the owners and their cuisines, with recipes included.

Today, visitors and locals in Greenville enjoy a vibrant, diverse and acclaimed culinary scene. Some will remember recent favorites like the American Grocery Restaurant that helped pioneer the farm-to-table movement. Others will remember longtime favorites like Carpenter Bros. Drug Store, Charlie's Steak House and Gene's Restaurant that were around for three or four generations. Few in the second half of the twentieth century would not have dined at one of Vince Perone's restaurants for some occasion. Author and tour guide John Nolan recalls the fond memories of the owners and their cuisines, with recipes included.

For each of twenty-six restaurants in the Charleston area, the author provides a description of the setting and the menu, the hours, the specialties, and representative recipes.

From western roadhouses Tucson boasts an extraordinary lineup of diverse restaurants. Though some of its greatest no longer exist, their stories conjure the sights, smells and sounds of the city's history. Longtime locals still buzz about Gordo's famous chimichangas, an accidental dish originating in Tucson. The legendary Tack Room was a beacon of fine dining. Places like Café Terra Cotta and Fuego pioneered a new southwestern cuisine, serving regional dishes like prickly pear pork and stuffed poblanos. University of Arizona alumni miss old spots like the Varsity, while long-gone haunts like Gus & Andy's attracted a unique crowd of businessmen, movie stars and the occasional mobster. Join local food writer Rita Connelly as she serves up savory stories of good food and good company from the gone but never forgotten favorites of the Old Pueblo. Book jacket.

Despite a thriving culinary scene, Fort Worth lost some of its most iconic restaurants decades ago. Locals still buzz about the legendary chili dished out at historic Richelieu Grill and the potato soup Sammy's served all night. Fort Worth could accommodate every palate, from the Bakon Burger at Carlson's Drive-Inn to the escargot and chateaubriand laid out at the Carriage House. Even movie stars like Bob Hope and Gene Autry frequented the city for steaks from the Seibold Café, and President Lyndon B. Johnson loved Cowtown for the barbecue from famed chuckwagon cook Walter Jetton. Join food writer Celestina Blok as she journeys through her hometown's dining past.