I’m not going to beat around the bush with this post intro. This fried green tomato BLT from Hominy Grill is the BEST thing I ate in Charleston. It’s also easily in the top five things I’ve ever eaten in my life. I’m not being dramatic when I say I a.) heard a heavenly choir when I took the first bite and b.) I’m not the same girl I was before this sandwich.
When I booked my trip to Charleston to celebrate two of my friends getting married (their wedding was beautiful and I cried no fewer than 4 times), I was excited to indulge in some serious comfort food. I crowd-sourced restaurants and Hominy Grill was a universal pick. I was told to make sure I ordered their tomato pudding and buttermilk pie and aside from that and the address, I did zero research on the place. Normally, I’m the first person to look up the menu ahead of time and figure out exactly what my order will be. But I decided to throw caution to the wind! Well, partially. It was also an incredibly busy time at work before I left for Charleston and I didn’t have time to research menus.
I walked to Hominy Grill and immediately put my name down for a table. There was a bit of a wait but thankfully, they had a little counter where you could order a cocktail to help the time go by. Hominy Grill knows what the people want.
Bloody Mary in hand, I staked out a spot and quickly realized there was a solid chance I’d melt into a puddle before my name was called. I’m used to DC’s heat and humidity but wowza, Charleston is on a whole new level. Thank goodness for the cold Bloody Mary (it was delicious though I could’ve used a little more zip).
When I sat down at a table about 30 minutes later, my Bloody Mary was long gone and I was hungry. My waitress was incredibly friendly and happily offered recommendations, which was awesome because I wanted to order about one of everything on the menu. Each item sounded more tasty than the last!
I finally settled on the life-changing (though I didn’t yet know it) fried green tomato BLT and, at Annaka’s suggestion, I got a smothered biscuit as well. Sadly, they only serve tomato pudding on weekdays.
For my next cocktail, I decided to go with Hominy Grill’s signature Blackberry Collins. I’m normally not much of a vodka drinker but this drink hit the spot. Blackberry Collins is made with Cathead Honeysuckle vodka, fresh blackberries, and lemonade and I immediately Googled where I could get my paws on Cathead Honeysuckle once I was back in DC. After the first sip, I knew why so many Hominy Grill patrons were clutching this drink: it’s both sweet and tart and refreshing after a wait in the Charleston heat.
And then heaven on a plate arrived.
I’m going to preface this by saying I grew up in New York. The only gravy I was familiar with was brown and went on your mashed potatoes. The first time I saw gravy that wasn’t brown was when my family was driving back to New York from Florida and we got caught in a storm in West Virginia so we had to stay in a hotel for the night. I remember going to the breakfast bar and seeing biscuits with a gray-colored gravy. I was a much pickier eater as a kid so I steered clear of this.
Back to Hominy Grill. The warm, soft, flaky biscuit came smothered in a creamy, spicy sausage gravy with diced peppers. I took my sweet time eating this smothered biscuit because I didn’t want it to end and I shamelessly and unapologetically used my spoon to scoop up every bit of the gravy I could.
Pure bliss.
And then, I dug into the fried green tomato BLT and I forever changed as a person.
If you go to Hominy Grill, and you 10000% should, I cannot recommend the fried green tomato BLT enough. Fresh green tomatoes that have been fried to crispy perfection, a healthy spoonful of pimento cheese and bacon and honestly I don’t think it gets much better than this. If I had room in my stomach, I would have ordered two. I’m kinda kicking myself I didn’t also take one for the road.
Everything about Hominy Grill is classic Southern comfort food and while I didn’t take any photos of the interior (I was a bit busy having my world rocked by the BLT and biscuit), the restaurant reminded me of a casual dining table. Like you were plunked down at the kitchen table.
And for those wondering, I did take a slice of buttermilk pie to go because I couldn’t eat another bite if I tried at that point. The buttermilk pie came with fresh, homemade whipped cream and the pie was tangy and sweet and just heavenly.
It’s been a week and I’m ready to go back. Anybody game for a road trip?
