The grilled mahi fillet sandwich was lightly blackened and finished with an herb garlic butter sauce and served on a toasted potato bun with Cajun remoulade and some of the best seasoned fries I've ever sampled. Chase says its one of their best-selling non-seafood items. Cooked perfectly and crispy thanks to a house breading created in conjunction with Columbia-based Adluh Flour Mills, they were flavorful and super tender. The Southern fried center cut pork chops are brined for 48 hours and it shows. Shrimp and crab carried the comforting casserole instead of the ubiquitous lobster. The kitchen puts its own spin on seafood mac and cheese, adding to the fluffy, cheesy pasta a Cajun bechamel sauce. The new-to-the-menu pan seared scallop dish turned down the summer heat with a cool Thai chile topping. The accompanying collards were smoky with a hint of heat, bits of pork and cooked until just tender it was a great foil to the sweetness of the seafood, which is sourced locally as much as possible. The seafood platter was piled high with perfectly fried jumbo shrimp, a pan seared lump and sweet blue crab cake and a crispy fried flounder fillet. The grits were molded into a moist cake that held its shape thanks to cream and cheddar cheese added to the mix. Plump, perfectly cooked shrimp were bathed in a Cajun cream sauce with smoked andouille sausage and a hint of heat. The star of the table? Ashleigh's Shrimp & Grits-a signature dish she prepared for a Travel Channel episode. We started with several excellent dishes. Marcie Euland, the front of house and kitchen manager walked us through the menu's specialties with trademark Page's hospitality. Heat, salty, savory and sour, all in one frosty sip. We opted for Page's Famous Bloody Mary, with jalapeno-infused vodka and served with a garnish of bacon and pickled okra. We were greeted by general manager Tammy Hinson, who spoke expertly about the beverage menu and recommended choosing from the “favorites” list. My guest and I arrived for an early dinner and the restaurant was already buzzing-inside and out. “We extended the roofline so people could wait comfortably to be seated and installed a playground so children could be entertained.” “To accommodate the customers' numbers, we expanded the patio,” explains Courtney. With the ever-increasing popularity of the Page's style of Southern food and hospitality, a new, larger site for the restaurant was identified with plenty of room to grow on Coleman Boulevard. “We encourage them to become part of the family-you feel it when you're in here.” “Several of our servers have been with us since day one,” says Chase. To this day, the Page family ethos inspires the staff. Chase was charged with the front of house, ensuring that operations were running smoothly. Courtney worked the line with Diane Clement, who's been with the restaurant from the beginning and is now head chef at Page's Okra Grill. People-locals and tourists-were coming back for that, and the classic Southern food.”Īshleigh worked her magic in the kitchen seven days a week. “He talked to every person who came in-a real conversation-and it made you feel like you're eating in your own dining room. “We took our cues from dad,” says Courtney. The close-knit Mount Pleasant family-Tony, Courtney, Chase and Ashleigh-worked together as a team to create a neighborhood gathering place where diners could count on a warm welcome, attentive service, and great food at a reasonable price point. Page's Okra Grill opened in Mount Pleasant in 2006, its name a nod to the gumbo dish-okra is the Gullah word for gumbo-for which Ashleigh is known. “Ashleigh had been in food and bev since she was 15, but (Boone Hall) is where she discovered her love for cooking.”Īshleigh and her dad had done their homework, researching the history of Southern cooking and the proof was in the pot. “My father, Tony Page, was general manager of Boone Hall at that time,” says Courtney Page, co-owner of Page’s Okra Grill with Ashleigh and Chase Page. Siblings Courtney and Chase were enlisted, and Page's Okra Grill was born. The episode prompted Ashleigh's dad to encourage her and the family to set up a restaurant of her own. That's how events unfolded for Ashleigh Page when, in 2004 working at Serena's Kitchen, a casual eatery at Boone Hall Plantation, she cooked up a plate of Southern soul food on camera for Al Roker, the host of Roker on the Road. You know you're doing something very right when your cooking catches the eye of a vacationing television producer, and he does more than leave a generous tip.įast forward to a film crew converging on Charleston to capture your culinary talents for a national audience on the Food Network.
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