The very best place on Earth...

Day 5: EVO, part one

About three years ago, JH and I were enjoying an evening bike ride through our North Charleston neighborhood, Park Circle. (Visit the neighborhood 'zine here.) We have lived in PC for a little over three years now and have come to truly adore this area. It holds a "small-town" vibe, complete with elders and young families and tree-huggers and artists and activists and innovators all dwelling together in this garden-city-inspired community. It's a hidden gem, burrowed between ghetto and interstate...we believe that the seedy streets entwined with new sustainable and green developments only enhance the charm of this little suburb. We've led a happy, humble life here...we know our neighbors...we support area businesses...it's an easy place to live, work and play, (Interested in disc-golf? Park Circle is the spot!)

So, we were pedalling through the quaint "Olde North Charleston" main drag and were excited to see a sign that lets us know we'd soon have a new place to dine. We made foggy circles with our noses pressed up firmly against the glass, just dying to get a peek inside to see what this new place would be. The warm and very modern natural interior was intriguing enough to keep us awake at night, imagining our sticky little housemade marinara-dipped fingers. A few short months later, EVO Pizzeria opened it's doors at 1075 East Montague Ave and we've been a fixture ever since. The concept is simple: "wood-fired oven, hand-made dough, only the freshest local ingredients, an honest and wholesome taste ".


Proprietors Ricky Hacker and Matt McIntosh are inspiring, laid-back dudes with a passion for real food, slow food, local farmers, and great taste. Their wood-fired oven does miraculous things to food and the beer selection is something they can be proud of. Wait staff are always quirky and fit the dining room aesthetics. This the real deal, people. This restaurant is the biproduct of a great idea that started on a pizza cart, found each Saturday morning at the area farmer's market...they quickly gained a loyal fanbase and when they built (mostly by hand) this little corner space in Park Circle, we all came running...

JH and I became so infatuated with EVO that we begged Rick and Matt to let us host our wedding reception there on a Sunday in early September, 2007. They agreed and it was, by far, the best meal we've ever feasted upon. (Let this go down as "LK's Final Meal Request".) We offered no opinions about what we'd like to offer our guests, we asked not for a special tasting to make sure the chefs were clear on our expectations, we simply said, "Do what you do best." And they did...the menu was substantial and graciously gobbled up by our less-than-50 crowd...a specially-crafted menu of Lasagna and Tuna and Beef Tenderloin and Roasted Veggies and charcuturie and delicious cheeses and lots of wine and freshly baked bread...of course, the food was immensely satisfying, although the part that remains so vivid in our memory is that we got to celebrate such a magnificent moment in our life within this superb place.

It's amazing what these guys are doing. Bet it's not so hard for you to understand why this is such a high priority on the Charleston Bucket List. I encourage you to follow the EVO way: enjoy food, enjoy how it got to your table, enjoy the people around you, spread it around. And, we can all enjoy EVO any time Tuesday - Saturday (closed Saturday morning, Sunday-Monday). With just a short bike ride from our Little Blue House and in we go, to a dining room filled with scrumptuous aromas, friendly and famliar faces, and (my favorite part) shelves of well-used cookbooks right there next to our table.





Yours truly and JH, celebrating one year of matrimonial bliss at the place where it all began.


September, 2008

Oh, it is a divine establishment and it's really so much more than that - it's a movement. EVO is the kind of place that you'll always be loyal to, it's the kind of place where you want to meet up with your best of friends, where you want to celebrate life's milestones, where you just feel so damn good pulling up to the bar and having a locally brewed Coast IPA.

I'm a devoted disciple. This will be the hardest place to leave behind. This will be the first place we sit down when we return to visit the Holy City. This will always be one of our favorite memories. This is amazing. This is EVO.

(First EVO dinner date recorded on Bucket List - August 27, 2009 - consisted of tasting from special menu: green bean and blue cheese salad with pickled red onions and toasted walnuts, carrot soup (to just call it soup is borderline blasphemy), wood-roasted beef and brie pizza, and homemade goat's milk peanut butter fudge...one for each of us. Red wine for me, something off the tap for JH, little morsels of heaven for sweet GH.)