Charleston Living Magazine May-June 2023

FOOD | DINING OUT
By WENDY SWAT SNYDER
Photos by JAMES STEFIUK
Charleston Grill
The Charleston Place Hotel’s award winning restaurant raises the city’s culinary bar
T
The Charleston Place—
one of South Carolina’s top luxury
hotels—began 2023 with the closure
of its Forbes 4-Star dining room, Charleston
Grill, for a “refresh.” A few weeks later, the
restaurant was back on the Holy City culinary
scene—its fine dining concept completely
reimagined—with a new look, chef and
menu. A new direction for the Lowcountry
landmark that’s promoted lauded executive
chef Michelle Weaver to culinary ambassador,
and her mentee of seven years, Suzy Castelloe,
to chef de cuisine. Helping to celebrate the
renewal were such notables as former maître
d’ Mickey Bakst and James Beard Award
winning chef Michael Anthony of New York
City’s Gramercy Tavern.
Driving change at the iconic property is
Beemock Hospitality Collection founder Ben
Navarro, a businessman and philanthropist
whose acquisition of The Charleston Place
brought it under local ownership for the first
time in its 30-year history.
“It’s been phenomenal,” said Weaver,
whose culinary leadership at Charleston Grill
spans 14 years. “All our goals are going in a very
positive direction. As a chef, I want to stay fresh
and new. For so many years I was focused on
the Grill alone. Now, to be able to reach out
and help others build their team, to research
new cuisines. It’s a new way to use your brain.”
“I’m really excited about what we’ve accomplished
and the changes coming for the
hotel,” says Castelloe, who worked under acclaimed
executive chef Craig Deihl at Cypress
and chef/ owner Ken Vedrinski at Coda del
Pesce after attending Johnson & Wales in
Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s great to see the
evolution of the team. They’ve really embraced
what we’re doing in a short time.”
“It is a great progression for the hotel, our
team, and for our local community as well,”
says master chef Olivier Gaupin, who joined
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the hotel’s team as director of culinary in 2022.
“The Charleston Place is a local institution, it
has a connection to the community. Part of its
evolution mirrors the evolution of Charleston.
It’s such a great project to be part of.”
As culinary ambassador for The Charleston
Place, Weaver will focus her attention
on curating and cultivating talent within the
organization, using her years of experience to
mentor its young leadership.
“Everyone’s struggling for staff since the
pandemic,” notes Weaver. “We’re going to approach
this in a different way—be our own
little culinary school. I’m excited about it.”
Weaver says she looks forward to expanding
her role in both the local and culinary
communities.
“We have plans to start up multiple new
programs,” she says. “I’m hoping to create
whole weekends of culinary adventures with
guest chefs from around the country. “We’re
going to build a demo kitchen where I’ll do
cooking classes and demonstrations.”
A major component of back of house
innovations is the Charleston Grill dinner
menu. Long gone is the longstanding quadrant
format, but the influences remain French and
Southern.
“It was time for something different,”
notes Weaver. “We’ve always used product from
local farmers and artisans and we wanted to
highlight them more with our offerings. Plus,
we are going for 5 (Forbes) stars—to do that,
you have to look at how to elevate the menu.”
The day of our visit, my guest and I were
wowed, first, by an eye-popping installation
of flowers framing the hotel’s King Street entrance.
Designed by Charleston-based luxury
event design firm The Drifter, the large-scale
sculpture was handcrafted by Hana Form.