Hominy Grill

[1] Chef Robert Stehling has been honored by the James Beard Foundation Award as the best chef in the Southeastern United States in 2008[2] and the restaurant has been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Chocolate Souffle), No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, Amazing Eats (shrimp & grits and the "Big Nasty" (a fried chicken breast between two buttery biscuits smothered in sausage gravy) and Man v. Food (season 2) (shrimp & grits and the "Big Nasty").

In 1996, Chef Stehling and his wife, Nunally, opened the restaurant with the idea that they could attract a lunch crowd from the nearby Medical University of South Carolina.

[peacock prose] [5] This balance of nuance and fresh perspective, as well as respect for tradition, brought Southern cuisine to the forefront of the epicurean eye and made Charleston the up-and-coming, popular tourist destination that it is today.

Some dishes the restaurant is famous for include such South Carolina staples as shrimp & grits and she-crab soup, along with some classic fried green tomatoes.

"[7] Originally intended to be a temporary menu special, Chef Stehling hesitated to serve it because the dish centers around fried chicken, a Southern staple so cliché that he felt it was a recipe for comparison and criticism.

[10] Although there was speculation about trouble due to rent costs and employee scarcity, in subsequent interviews Stehling has commented that he is simply "ready for a break" and would like to be "open to new experiences.

"[11] On April 28, 2019, the last day of service for Hominy Grill, the long lines of mourning fans gathered to wait over an hour to have one last meal from Chef Stehling's kitchen.

[11] Local fans who dined on that day, as well as tourists who have fond memories of their meals at the restaurant, paid tribute by posting photos with heartfelt captions on social media, mourning the loss on both Twitter[6] and Instagram.