Jestine's+Kitchen

Flat Stanley Eats at Jestine's Kitchen On your day in Charleston, you ate lunch at Jestine's kitchen. It's a small restaurant famous for its Southern cooking. Dr. Grace, Theresa's colleague from Maine, had never had Southern food before. Ms. Jacque was born and raised in South Carolina (even though she lives in Nevada now) so she told us a lot of good things to order on the menu. There were not very many tables in the restaurant so it was easy to see all the other patrons. The biggest table in the back had an unusual looking group of people sitting at it. There was one man in a suit and 6 other people all wearing chef jackets. It looked like it might be one of the judges from The Iron Chef and some of the contestants from that reality TV show. We couldn't figure it out. So we asked our waitress who explained that it was Bobby Flay and his executive chefs. Bobby Flay is a critically acclaimed chef, restaurateur, award-winning cookbook author and television personality on The Food Network. Charleston hosts a really big event every year called "The Charleston Food & Wine Festival" which, according to their Web site, "offers a taste of the very best of Charleston's Lowcountry cuisine and highlights the nation's best chefs and wine pros." (Lowcountry is the nickname for the Charleston area because it is so close to zero feet above sea level that its elevation is low.) Bobby Flay was one of this year's celebrity chefs. He and his executive chefs (the chefs that run his different restaurants) were enjoying a good meal that they didn't have to prepare themselves. We had obviously picked a very good restaurant! Here you are enjoying dessert at Jestine's. And here's a picture of you with Bobby Flay!