What's Happening: Charleston, South Carolina Food News In December 2015

EVENTS
Accent on Wine Food & Wine Tasting
Accent on Wine in Summerville offers a full calendar of great tastings and events but their most popular one of the year is the Food & Wine Tasting with four Summerville local chefs paired with wines. The event takes place December 15 and is the perfect time to experience the historic square in full holiday cheer.

Breakfast with Santa Cruise
What better way to celebrate the holidays than by boat with Santa Claus? SpiritLine Cruises will host a special Santa Cruise on December 5 that will include a delicious breakfast buffet, a personal visit with Santa, a keepsake photos, and special holiday gift.

Dine at SOL Kitchen for Families in Need
For six weeks during the holiday season, SOL Kitchen will donate a $1 from the sale of every featured cocktail and dish to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston. It is part of their Kitchen Karma program that raises money for local charities. The money will go towards helping families whose children are being treated for a serious illness.

Jubilee Returns for Another Year
Garden & Gun once again hosts their annual shopping extravaganza — Jubilee — at Charles Towne Landing December 3 through 6. The event features a lot of great food including Jodie's Hot Tamales, Rappahannock Oyster Company, Goat.Sheep.Cow, and Buxton Hall. There is also a Southern seafood barbecue with Chefs Donald Link, Bryan Caswell, and Mike Lata.

Santa Bar Crawl
Get in the Santa gear and get ready to drink at the eighth annual Santa Bar Crawl on December 12. 200 lucky crawlers get to bar hop as they dress in their favorite Christmas costume. Crawlers visit places like AC's, Republic, Prohibition, and King St. Public House.

Scratch & Sniff Whiskey at Husk Bar
What better way to drink some whiskey, than to scratch and sniff while learning from an expert. National beverage expert and author Richard Betts comes back to Charleston to show case his new book at a tasting at The Bar at Husk on December 16 at 5:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. For $60 per person, enjoy a signature cocktail, whiskey tastings, and a copy of Richard Bett's new book The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-it-All.

Tiny Tastemakers at Farmer's Market
Slow Food Charleston is kicking off their first Tiny Tastemakers event at the Charleston Farmers Market on December 12. This event is created for kids to learn more about local growers and makers. During the first event, kids can learn more about local apples as they make candy apples.

Wine Under the Oaks
Get your fill of delicious wines at the annual Wine Under the Oaks event at Boone Hall Plantation on December 6. The event features a variety of wineries to sample, complimentary bubbles from Biltmore Estate, oysters by Crosby Seafood, desserts by Cypress restaurant, cooking demonstrations, live music and more.

NOW OPEN
5Church
It might look like a church inside, but 5Church Charleston is one of the hottest new spots to open downtown. The dinner menu features a plethora of seafood entrees, along with steaks and chops. They are touting lunch and brunch which will begin in the coming week.

Anson Restaurant
The popular Lowcountry favorite, Anson Restaurant, has reopened after undergoing extensive renovations after a fire December 2013.

Gnome Cafe
A completely vegan café, Gnome Café has opened in downtown Charleston and serves breakfast and lunch. Highlights include a Southern grit bowl, tempeh Reuben, a bulgogi Korean bowl, and a chickpea tuna salad.

The Oyster Shed at Leon's Oyster Shop
Leon's Oyster Shop just got better with a private event space — The Oyster Shed — in the outside back patio. The renovated single house includes a long table that sits 24 and a patio for roughly a group of 60. Leon's can organize casual gatherings featuring fried chicken, oysters, and Lowcountry boil.

Verde West Ashley
Salad lovers rejoice. Another Verde has opened in West Ashley in the Avondale neighborhood. The build-your-own-salad concept provides a myriad of options for those looking for a healthy meal. A green restaurant, inside and out, they serve all the food on compostable bowls and recycle as much as they can.

Have an event, product, opening or something cool to share for January? Please be sure to send it in for consideration.