A magical multifaceted unicorn on the dining scene, custard at Persimmon Café [226 Calhoun St, Charleston, SC 29401] was life altering.
Let me slow my roll, we can start from the beginning. We came for lunch and the little lot on the side of the restaurant was full, but we easily found metered parking across the street. We were greeted cheerfully and ordered up at the counter, food is brought out to you. If you need to do any laundry, bring it with you because the café is located within a laundromat.
Pro tip, you can exchange your dollars for quarters to park around the city inside. There were lots of students inside (along with people from all walks of life), the restaurant is located near a few different colleges. It’s right outside of city center so it’s a little quieter, which is refreshing. I loved looking at the photographs and paintings on the wall of this funky little joint.
It didn’t take too long before our food came out, you can pick from an array of gourmet sandwiches and paninis. We decided to split the roasted chicken with smoked gouda, garlic mayo, and caramelized onions on a torta.
It was so melty, crunchy, and the chicken tasted fresh off the bird. There are plenty of homemade soups and sides, we went for a tart cucumber salad which hit the spot. If you’re in a rush you can call ahead your order! There were a lot of great drinks available to pair with a meal ranging from beer and wine to tasty sounding concoctions like Basil Limeade, Vanilla Lemonade, Rosemary Lemon Iced Tea, and Fig Agave Iced Tea. I was saving all my sugar up for that hand spun custard though, this amazing dessert was one of the highlights of the entire trip! It was seriously that good. We put our order in for the nutella and toasted marshmallow custard and were completely surprised when the waitress brought it out along with a blowtorch.
She torched those marshmallows to toasty perfection table side, and the world disappeared as we dug in. A charred crust gave away to hot and gooey marshmallow goodness. We broke through the marshmallow layer and the cold custard was bursting with globs of nutella, it was seriously out of control. I’m simultaneously pleased (so I don’t have to eat it everyday) and devastated (because I can’t eat it everyday) that this café is all the way in Charleston, it evokes a whole range of emotions. For locals or those who are visiting at the right time, they café has a cute little date night set up where you get two sandwiches, two drinks, and one custard to share for $20. You’ll definitely be falling in love on date night…with the custard.