Charleston's defining restaurant — Mike Lata's James Beard Award–winning kitchen on Meeting Street has set the standard for Southern ingredient-driven cooking since 2003. Whole-animal cookery, exceptional pastas, and a wine list that reflects genuine curiosity. Book weeks ahead.
Why It Belongs on the List
FIG (Food Is Good) is the restaurant that serious food travelers come to Charleston for. Mike Lata won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2009, and the kitchen has only sharpened since. The menu changes daily based on what arrives from local farms and fishermen — housemade pastas, whole roasted fish, and Lowcountry produce treated with genuine sophistication rather than nostalgia. The room is unfussy; the cooking is not. Reserve well in advance.
What Stands Out
- James Beard Award–winning | Daily-changing menu
- Whole-animal cookery | Local farm sourcing
- Best wine list in Charleston | Book 2–3 weeks ahead