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FOR: Carolina’s Restaurant
10 Exchange Street
Downtown Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 724-3800 phone
(843) 722-9493 facsimile
www.crewcarolina.com
CONTACT: WAGSTAFF WORLDWIDE, INC.
Melany Mullens
(540) 314-8089
FROM PLANTATION TO PLATE:
RESTAURATEUR BRINGS FRESH PRODUCE
FROM FAMILY “GARDEN TO PLATE”
AT HISTORIC CHARLESTON RESTAURANT
Charleston, SC – What is old is new again. Prior to the advent of modern refrigeration,
most food was picked fresh from the garden and either served immediately or canned fresh
for future consumption. This is how it was on Charleston restaurateur Richard Stoney’s
family farm, Kensington Plantation, in 1740 – and this is how it is once again.
Stoney and master gardener Clay Howard have undertaken significant efforts to revive a
series of working vegetable and spice gardens on the 680-acre property. The gardens at
Kensington are the most productive they have been in years and are free of any herbicides
or pesticides. The organic produce and spices include herbs, peppers, seasonal vegetables,
onions, chives and garlic.
Freshly picked, the produce is delivered directly to Stoney’s renowned Carolina’s
restaurant, an historic Charleston culinary institution that meshes the history of local
cuisine, the preparations and ingredients, with "European love." The Garden-to-Plate
initiative’s principal purpose is to “literally offer fresh local flavors” and to maintain the
integrity of South Carolina soil, farming and culinary traditions.
“We use all that can be plucked, pinched, pulled, caught in a net, on a line or raked up from
the pluff mud,” Stoney says.
More…
Garden to Plate/ADD ONE
Carolina’s Executive Chef Gavin Mills, a native of England with 14 years restaurant
experience, is equally devoted to Charleston preparations and fresh-from-the-vine produce,
in part due to the time he spent living and working at Sage and Onion Restaurant in the
farming-rich area of Santa Barbara, California. Mills puts the vine-ripe, seasonal produce
from Kensington Plantation to use in several specialty dishes: Smoked Tomato Bisque,
Lobster and Crab Corn Fritters Napolean and Crispy Fried Whole Flounder served with
Homemade Local Peach Jam and a Butternut Squash, Corn, Bacon and Leek Succotash.
Other dishes infused with fresh garden spices include Carolina’s Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
with Lemon Herb Butter Sauce and Carolina Fruit Chutney and Feuillete of Roasted
Sweetbreads, Spring Vegetables and Rosemary Jus.
Kensington Plantation is located northeast of Charleston on a narrow stretch of the Cooper
River with a high ratio of fresh water, nurturing plant life with a potent nutrient cocktail
that maintains healthy, fresh produce growth. Stoney is currently farming 4 acres for
Carolina’s “garden to plate” program and plans to expand further in the spring of 2007.
“Our approach is very authentic – it’s Charleston flavor from Charleston soil,” he says.
Kensington Plantation
A 670-acre estate off the Cooper River, Kensington Plantation is a privately owned
working estate featuring several gardens and 175 acres of rice fields – which supply
specialty herbs and baby vegetables to Carolina’s restaurant. The estate was first settled by
Elias O. Ball, Jr., as a rice plantation in 1740. In the mid-19 th century, the land was acquired
by Dr. John B. Irving, author of A Day on the Cooper River and The South Carolina Jockey
Club. Thomas Porcher Stoney, grandfather to the siblings who own the site today,
purchased the plantation – alongside several others– during his lifetime. But his favorite
was always Kensington. Today, an archaeology site, the 1745 oak allee, and the overseer’s
house built in 1830 are all noted on the National Register of Historic Places – and an
easement for 224 acres has been granted to the Lowcountry Open Land Trust.
###
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
WAGSTAFF WORLDWIDE, INC., (540) 314­8089