Southwest traditions mingle with a Lowcountry on New Year's

Charleston Magazine shares the New Year's Day traditions of the folks behind one of Charleston's best Southwest restaurants, namely The Red Drum.

An excerpt:
Although Marianna is originally from Atlanta, her college years in Austin kindled a love for the Lone Star State. After graduation, she joined the Robert Del Grande team, soon becoming manager and wine buyer at his now-famous Café Annie in Houston. There she met Ben, who had come to the restaurant’s kitchen from the Culinary Institute of America by way of a stint in the Rocky Mountains.

After 11 years with Café Annie, Ben and Marianna were ready to open their own restaurant. “We wanted to live in a small city where we could raise a baby,” explains Marianna. “I had spent my summers on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, so the Lowcountry was familiar. It was hard to get Ben, a fifth-generation Texan, to leave the state, but he fell in love with the beauty of the area. He thinks South Carolinians are like Texans in their friendliness.”

Go check out their story (along with recipes) and this photo gallery.

But hurry over to read it, they usually take down their stories after a month.

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