Jestine's Kitchen

The other night we ate supper at "Jestine's Kitchen". Its a really neat little place here in Charleston.

The windowsills have lots of neat salt/pepper shakers on display. 

The restaurant was named after Jestine Matthews, born in South Carolina in 1885. Her father was the son of a freed slave who farmed on a plantation on Wadmalaw Island. Jestine worked here in downtown Charleston as a houskeeper and laundress. In 1928 she went to work for the Ellisons. The owner of Jestines Kitchen is the daughter of the Ellises only child. 
She opened the restaurant to honor the old fashioned Southern cooking that Jestine cooked all those years. Jestine lived to be 112 years old!

I had the fried green tomatoes ("maters") for appetizer. They were yummy! They also had crab cakes, corn fritters and pimento cheese on crackers.

Ice cold water greets you at the front door on hot days:

Lots of good food to choose from: meat loaf, fish, shrimp, oysters, sandwiches, Po Boys, pork chops, fried chicken, collards, ham, mac and cheese, okra and you can order corn bread by the piece or the basket.
Glass bottles of Coke, Nehi, Cheerwine, RC and root beer were on many tables. I do love a good old fashioned BOTTLE OF COKE, but that night I opted for the sweet tea. 
If you are local or travelling through, Jestines Kitchen is at 251 Meeting Street, easy to find!...and the phone number is (843) 722-7224.