Bring friends to this Charleston-area restaurant, where large-format Greek entrées star (2024)

MOUNT PLEASANT —A strip mall east of the Cooper River comes to life at 5 p.m. The hair salon and tennis shop have closed for the day, but two restaurants are seating their first wave of customers.

One — La Pizzeria — has been around for nearly two decades; the other, Taverna Philosophia, clocks in at under a year.

We slide into a shoulder-high booth inside the new Mediterranean restaurant and escape the monotony of this suburban setting. Animated conversation fills the room as we eye the décor, updated but rustic with accents like alternating beige and caramel clay pots hanging from high ceilings.

A brick archway frames the bar, surrounded by pairs and singles settling into cushioned chairs. They're sipping co*cktails like the Ripened Grapes ($13), a Sazerac rye and Greek red wine drink that gets its frothiness from aquafaba.

The bar guests are visible from our seat in the dining room, where we’re handed sturdy menus that require two hands and our full attention, for there are around 50 options to sort through. The best ones push the starring ingredient — whole fish, lamb and beef — to the forefront.

Childhood friends Justin Hunt and Dimitri Hatgidimitriou opened Taverna Philosophia in January, taking over the former Bacco space. The Greek restaurant is their second, joining Philosophia, which is housed in the Whole Foods-anchored strip centerbetween Johnnie Dodds and Coleman boulevards.

Hunt, who previously held an executive chef role at celebrity chef Bobby Flay's Bar Americain in New York City, had a stint working at Thomas Keller’s famed California restaurant, The French Laundry. But it was another of Keller’s restaurants, Bouchon Bistro, that served as inspiration for Taverna Philosophia, which delves into Mediterranean fare through the lens of an American brasserie.

The 90-seat spot is the place to go for a “feast,” Hunt told me in February. The lavish spread comes with a side of theatrics.

A skillet of blazing cheese is ushered across the dining room, its blue-hued flames stretching beyond a cast-iron skillet. Lit by brandy, the caramelized kefalograviera($14) isn’t just for show — the bubbly crust is imbued with smoky, salty goodness.

Cheese enlists the help of fire to form another appetizer: spanakopita-stuffed, oven-roasted oysters ($16). Saturated in a rich lemony essence, the bivalves are part of a supporting cast that sends French bread pizza vibes across my palate. They’re best when piping hot, so prioritize these six bites over other plates that fill the table.

I should pause to discuss how one navigates a menu this large. Start your evening with a smattering of cooked and raw plates like the lobster co*cktail ($17), a mashed mixture of avocado, frisée and sweet peppers. The seafood fades into the background of the green-shaded salad, but we don’t mind. It’s a pleasant, refreshing start to the meal.

The same can be said for the karpathian salad ($11) with marinated feta. It’s emboldened by lamb belly lardons that could be eaten by the spoonful. But don’t overlook the more straightforward village salad ($11), Taverna’s take on classic Greek greens. Dressed in a light vinaigrette and freckled with fresh vegetables, the colorful bowl is a welcome prelude to the heartier items to come.

As pleased as we are with the salads, the escargot ($14) escapes our expectations. When I see the French word on a menu, my mind turns to snails steeping in copious amounts of garlicky butter. I think about clutching the shell with a silver tong and scraping the dark meat out with a tiny fork, its drippings falling onto a crusty baguette.

At Taverna, the slugs are removed from their shells and served bobbing in beurre rouge, a red wine butter sauce that’s spiked with capers. We scoop bites out with a spoon and place the saucy jumble on a triangle of plain pita. Each bite leaves me yearning for a pop of garlic that never comes.

Other small plates need no revisions. The foie gras ($25) is superbly seasoned with a richness that contrasts the accompanying port-glazed figs. A platter of merguez sausage ($17) shines, too, the house-made tubes jolted by grainy mustard and smoky harissa aioli. The pita it comes with is grilled this time, adding depth to the otherwise vapid flatbread.

Nightly specials like the sausage are explained with enthusiasm by a member of the waitstaff, who guides us through beverage and food selections, pacing the meal accordingly. The Greek-centric wine list is easy to navigate thanks to handy descriptors on the menu, taking the guesswork out of ordering from a wine region few have experienced.

We try the Santo Wines Assyrtiko from Santorini on one hot summer day. The white wine could easily pass for a fancy bottle from France, with crisp minerality and citrus undertones.

The chilled liquid befriends the restaurant’s many seafood selections. Octopus and lobsters are splayed across a bed of ice outside the open kitchen, hinting at one of the kitchen's themes. There’s branzino, too, a flaky European fish that’s often sourced from the Mediterranean Sea.

“Ugh, that sounds like a lot of work,” says a dining companion when I deliver news that the branzino is served whole. It’s likely a common reaction.

Dine with someone proficient in fileting fish and you’ll get a clean piece surrounded by blackened skin, which sparks the white meat inside. Otherwise, you might find yourself haphazardly flicking off shards with a fork and knife, bringing with them a few bones and delightful charred bits that deliver a smoky punch.

The locally reeled red snapper, in contrast to the flounder, is soft and buttery with firm flesh that benefits from a spritz of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Add to that a squirt of heated lemon, and the fish reaches another level of juiciness.

Taverna boasts an assembly of land-based proteins for those who aren't in the mood for seafood.

I sampled six types of meat over three visits to Taverna, marveling in Hunt’s ability to prepare large-format cuts with the bone intact. We’re blown away by the char on the Colorado lamb porterhouse ($34), fanned out over mint gremolata. Underneath a crisp crust, the meat is cooked to a model medium rare. Rack of lamb ($40) arrives with the sought-after rosy pink center, too, the meat clinging to long, slender bones.

A braised pork shank is one-half of the restaurant’s pastit*ada ($29), a traditionally Greek compilation of braised meat and pasta. The chefs at Taverna make the latter in-house, each delicate strand of pappardelle folding under the weight of the heavy hunk of meat. The tomato-braised pork is fall-apart tender, but it clashes with the airy noodles, which form clumps at the base of the plate.

While the pastit*ada pairs protein and sides on one plate, most meat and seafood entrees arrive with a simple salad of crisp romaine lettuce, herbs and a touch of lemon to counteract the rich proteins. Larger companions ($8) include Greek frites, creamy greens, roasted mushrooms and goat cheese potatoes.

The french fries are a touch bland, evenwith a sprinkle of feta cheese. Goat cheese potatoes are undersalted on two occasions while the roasted mushrooms deliver a bracing punch of vinegar. Fear not — sides are an unnecessary addition here, for they only distract from the slate of stunning entrees.

Consider the guinea hen ($26), whose feta brine imparts a natural salinity that seasons the skin. Steam billows out when we slice through to the center of the 24-ounce bird; juicy white meat is the reward for our carving efforts.

Small flourishes draw on nostalgia. The sauce set atop the dry-aged Kansas City strip ($44), for instance, hints at Hunt’s visits to Hatgidimitriou’s family home in Karpathos, Greece. The compilation of ground capers, shallots, garlic, lemon juice and imported Greek olive oil harks back to a condiment Hatgidimitriou’s father whipped up at his own restaurant back in the day.

It’s a throwback hit with a modern twist, just like many of the selections at Taverna Philosophia. Few bites bettered the short rib ($34), attached to a large flat bone and braised in red wine. The beef is cooked until it achieves a supple texture that shreds under the weight of a fork, leaving a deep meaty flavor while holding its form. Even as our table fills with pleasant bites, I keep coming back to another taste of this one.

It’s preparations like this that make Taverna Philosophia a place worth visiting, whether you reside in Mount Pleasant or drive over the Ravenel Bridge from downtown. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into, so I suggest bringing a few friends.