First Bite: Kitchen 208

Say you are an acclaimed Executive Chef at one of Charleston's most prestigious fine-dining institutions. What do you do with your spare time? Well, if you are Chef Marc Collins of Circa 1886 you help your parent company Charming Inns open a new breakfast and lunch joint, Kitchen 208.

If you are a Charlestonian of a certain age, you will remember Lower King St as having an abundance of breakfast and lunch counters (Woolworth's being my personal...um, I mean older people's favorite). Sadly they have largely disappeared with the skyrocketing rents and Charleston's desperate need for just one more high-end national clothing "boutique" with hundreds of locations. Kitchen 208 reaches back to the historic counters, such as Kress, and applies Chef Marc's distinctive modern whimsy.

For now, at least until the kinks are worked out, breakfast will not be served all day, but fear not - SOON. What the limited menu lacks in items, it more than makes up for in creative interpretations of classic dishes. The two items that really call my name are the Plantation waffle ( $7- Honeysuckle butter, berry compote, and applewood smoked bacon) and the Cobblestone ($8 egg, Brown's Court Bakery benne seed bun, tomato, arugula, gruyere cheese, candied bacon, lemon mayo fruit). I recommend grabbing a cinnamon roll as a side.

The lunch side has a few more exciting items. The Bat Outta Hell ($10) is a meatloaf sandwich with tomato marmalade, gruyere, and collards. There is a Triple Decker ($6) with house ground peanut butter and jam, and The Pickleback ($9) gives you a pork loin with pickled green tomatoes and a bourbon fig jam.

I had the Belle-gem ($9). This sandwich is a buttermilk fried chicken breast on a bacon waffle (bacon in the waffle) with lettuce, tomato, Swiss, and a whole grain mustard aioli. The waffle is delightfully light yet firm, with just a touch of pleasant saltiness from the bacon. The chicken is perfectly cooked, though for my personal tastes I would have preferred a sweeter condiment. The house pickled okra was a nice touch, and overall a very nice plate of food.

I'll be interested to return with The Girl after they have been open a little longer, found their stride, and see what tasty treats Chef Marc has in store. As for now, I have to say it is worth a drop in, if only to people watch the movers-and-shakers of Charleston roll up their sleeves and dig in.