An unspecified “software issue” was being blamed for the unusual move of suspending all cargo operations at the Port of Charleston as well as South Carolina inland ports on Monday, May 20. The South Carolina State Ports Authority said that it is working with an outside vendor to restore operations as quickly as possible.

Media reports said the port authority identified the issue on Saturday. Initially, the port said on Sunday evening that it would be delaying the start of operations on Monday morning warning that no cargo would be picked up or dropped off until it was able to restore operations.

“Initial findings show that a software issue impacted a server,” the port said in an alert sent out Sunday evening. “This does not appear to be a cybersecurity issue.”

Port cybersecurity has become a hotly debated issue in the United States with the Biden administration reporting this spring that it directed the U.S. Coast Guard to increase its efforts and take steps with the ports on planning and increased security. It came in response to a contention that surfaced a year ago that highlighted China’s dominance in cargo cranes and related logistic software. There has been a move in the U.S. Congress to ban China’s logistics software and investigate the cargo cranes for potentially tracking cargo operations at the ports. As part of the administration’s initiative, ports were required to undertake a survey and report to the Coast Guard.

South Carolina ports initially said it expected to resume operations by 10:00 a.m. this morning but issued an update at 8:00 a.m. delaying the opening of the gates and cargo operations till noon. Two hours later they again delayed the opening pushing it back to 2:00 p.m.

“We do not anticipate systems being fully functional for the remainder of the day at all SC Ports marine terminals and inland ports,” the authority said in its latest update. “We are reintroducing systems as they become available.”

The Port and Courier newspaper in Charleston reports that three containerships were already docked at the main terminal in Charleston and that the port authority told it they could continue working those ships. The reports said however that no cargo was being loaded to trucks and that the gates were closed.

Other containerships were holding off at anchor or not scheduled to arrive at the port until tomorrow. Similarly, the terminal for RoRos was not expecting its next arrival until late tomorrow. The port’s one cruise ship, Carnival Sunshine, was able to depart as scheduled on its cruise on Sunday evening.

The Port of Charleston reports at 52 feet, it is the deepest harbor on the U.S. East Coast. It handles approximately 215,000 TEU per month and last month saw a 40 percent increase in monthly vehicle volume to over 18,000 cars and trucks.

It is the eighth-largest container port in the United States. In addition to the two marine cargo terminals and one vehicle terminal, the state has two rail-served inland ports.

There's a wealth of opportunities for imbibing in Charleston, but where to find the latest and greatest? The newest and hottest? Here's an updated Cocktail Heatmap of places to visit as soon as happy hour hits. While this map focuses on restaurants and bars that have opened within the past year, we've also included some older establishments undergoing a new heatwave thanks to recent changes to their cocktail menus or bar program.

We've also included some newer wine and beer bars for those not in need of a super stiff drink. Go out and try somewhere new this week — perhaps you'll find a new favorite libation or bartender in town.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

The owners of downtown bar Dalila’s have a new spot in Park Circle. Sissy Bar, named after owner Michael Whiteley’s twin daughters, specializes in tequila, mezcal, and Southern California cuisine. Look for breakfast burritos during Sunday brunch and tacos during dinner.

To match the playful spirit at Chinese barbecue spot King BBQ, bar manager Amy Kallicragas created a rainbow’s worth of cocktails to sip with the smoked meats. For dirty martini lovers, there’s the Shimmy Shimmy Ya with a kick from a pickled pepper. Margarita fans will like the Eye of the Tiger made with tequila, Thai tea, and mandarin.

The crew behind Daps recently opened a sports bar focused on community and good food. The drinks are super fun. There are cocktails with names like Nothing But (fer)NET, a mix of Fernet, rum, and Thai tea, and frozen spiked Gatorade, in addition to wines on draft and tons of beers.

While the main draw to XO Brasserie is the Sichuan and Cantonese fare, don’t skip the Asian-influenced cocktails. For example, there’s a refreshing On the Baijiu with tequila, baijiu, yuzu, and gochujang.

The former Market Street shop City Lights Coffee has been resurrected on the East Side. The new store looks and feels very similar to its original space, with aged wood, tin ceilings, a marble counter, and eclectic art on the walls. Co-owner Candace Patterson and husband Will Kiser did a lot of sourcing and construction of furniture and finishing touches that make the space feel lived in. City Lights offers coffee drinks, beer, wine, and a substantial morning and lunch menu with breakfast burritos to cheese toasties.

Tucked away in the Cannonborough/Elliotborough neighborhood, Philosophers & Fools is a cozy, contemporary bookshop that also serves beer, wine, and snacks. Customers can pick up a new title and take a seat at the bar to order a glass of albariño.

The Co-Op expansion continues into downtown Charleston. The shop sells tons of frosé, coffee drinks, breakfast sandwiches, stacked turkey sandwiches, and smash burgers. You can even order your frosé to go because South Carolina has some weird law that frozen alcohol isn’t really alcohol — it’s food (for persons 21+).

The Quinte Oyster Bar is back, and it’s been stripped of some of its preciousness, but it’s still a pretty sexy spot to grab a martini and try the lobster bao or kimchi butter oysters.

Bearcat, a fine dining restaurant without the fuss, recently opened its bar in the Avondale neighborhood. Drinks range from a fancy frozen strawberry daiquiri with chartreuse to Coors beer. The big draw is the snacks, like wood-fired oysters with wagyu fat or the tartare with Carolina Gold rice.

The team at tropical bar Little Palm has expanded its space with the opening of the Backyard. The new bar is located in a lush open-air courtyard within the Ryder Hotel. It feels like a hidden oasis in the middle of downtown Charleston. The Backyard serves the same menu as Little Palm.

The group behind the Emeline Hotel and Italian restaurant Frannie & the Fox recently opened the intimate (and slightly hidden) bar the Den. The space seats 30 and focuses on martinis, caviar, and Italian snacks. Seasonal flavors like a tomato martini share the menu with a classic martini service featuring various liquor and vermouth choices.

The gilded bar at Costa faces the floor-to-ceiling windows and makes for a stunning backdrop to end the day with a spritz or an Italian wine. Order ceviche or a plate of oysters if you’re feeling peckish — or go big with a giant plate of eggplant Parmesan from chef Vinson Petrillo.

Food and beverage vets Danielle and Brent Sweatman recently opened Sweatman’s Garden in the South Windermere Shopping Center with fancy sodas, a full bar, and fondue. All of the sodas are nonalcoholic, but for an extra $5, the bartenders can add the customer’s choice of house liquor or a cannabis-based infusion.

Johns Island restaurant Lost Isle comes from the proprietors of Folly Beach bar Lowlife, so you know they paid careful attention to the bar menu. Lost Isle has several beers, cocktails, and wines all on tap, from the outdoor bar. “We wanted the drinks to be tasty, fun, and accessible — not too pretentious or complex,” says co-owner T.J. Lynch, “We hope you’ll have a good time and not have to worry so much about what’s in the glass.”

Always-packed downtown brewery Revelry set up a second location at Folly Beach, so now beer lovers can enjoy a fresh pint of Poke the Bear (a popular pale ale) and order food from nearby Bounty Bar.

The owners of downtown bar Dalila’s have a new spot in Park Circle. Sissy Bar, named after owner Michael Whiteley’s twin daughters, specializes in tequila, mezcal, and Southern California cuisine. Look for breakfast burritos during Sunday brunch and tacos during dinner.

To match the playful spirit at Chinese barbecue spot King BBQ, bar manager Amy Kallicragas created a rainbow’s worth of cocktails to sip with the smoked meats. For dirty martini lovers, there’s the Shimmy Shimmy Ya with a kick from a pickled pepper. Margarita fans will like the Eye of the Tiger made with tequila, Thai tea, and mandarin.

The crew behind Daps recently opened a sports bar focused on community and good food. The drinks are super fun. There are cocktails with names like Nothing But (fer)NET, a mix of Fernet, rum, and Thai tea, and frozen spiked Gatorade, in addition to wines on draft and tons of beers.

While the main draw to XO Brasserie is the Sichuan and Cantonese fare, don’t skip the Asian-influenced cocktails. For example, there’s a refreshing On the Baijiu with tequila, baijiu, yuzu, and gochujang.

The former Market Street shop City Lights Coffee has been resurrected on the East Side. The new store looks and feels very similar to its original space, with aged wood, tin ceilings, a marble counter, and eclectic art on the walls. Co-owner Candace Patterson and husband Will Kiser did a lot of sourcing and construction of furniture and finishing touches that make the space feel lived in. City Lights offers coffee drinks, beer, wine, and a substantial morning and lunch menu with breakfast burritos to cheese toasties.

Tucked away in the Cannonborough/Elliotborough neighborhood, Philosophers & Fools is a cozy, contemporary bookshop that also serves beer, wine, and snacks. Customers can pick up a new title and take a seat at the bar to order a glass of albariño.

The Co-Op expansion continues into downtown Charleston. The shop sells tons of frosé, coffee drinks, breakfast sandwiches, stacked turkey sandwiches, and smash burgers. You can even order your frosé to go because South Carolina has some weird law that frozen alcohol isn’t really alcohol — it’s food (for persons 21+).

The Quinte Oyster Bar is back, and it’s been stripped of some of its preciousness, but it’s still a pretty sexy spot to grab a martini and try the lobster bao or kimchi butter oysters.

Bearcat, a fine dining restaurant without the fuss, recently opened its bar in the Avondale neighborhood. Drinks range from a fancy frozen strawberry daiquiri with chartreuse to Coors beer. The big draw is the snacks, like wood-fired oysters with wagyu fat or the tartare with Carolina Gold rice.

The team at tropical bar Little Palm has expanded its space with the opening of the Backyard. The new bar is located in a lush open-air courtyard within the Ryder Hotel. It feels like a hidden oasis in the middle of downtown Charleston. The Backyard serves the same menu as Little Palm.

The group behind the Emeline Hotel and Italian restaurant Frannie & the Fox recently opened the intimate (and slightly hidden) bar the Den. The space seats 30 and focuses on martinis, caviar, and Italian snacks. Seasonal flavors like a tomato martini share the menu with a classic martini service featuring various liquor and vermouth choices.

The gilded bar at Costa faces the floor-to-ceiling windows and makes for a stunning backdrop to end the day with a spritz or an Italian wine. Order ceviche or a plate of oysters if you’re feeling peckish — or go big with a giant plate of eggplant Parmesan from chef Vinson Petrillo.

Food and beverage vets Danielle and Brent Sweatman recently opened Sweatman’s Garden in the South Windermere Shopping Center with fancy sodas, a full bar, and fondue. All of the sodas are nonalcoholic, but for an extra $5, the bartenders can add the customer’s choice of house liquor or a cannabis-based infusion.

Johns Island restaurant Lost Isle comes from the proprietors of Folly Beach bar Lowlife, so you know they paid careful attention to the bar menu. Lost Isle has several beers, cocktails, and wines all on tap, from the outdoor bar. “We wanted the drinks to be tasty, fun, and accessible — not too pretentious or complex,” says co-owner T.J. Lynch, “We hope you’ll have a good time and not have to worry so much about what’s in the glass.”

Always-packed downtown brewery Revelry set up a second location at Folly Beach, so now beer lovers can enjoy a fresh pint of Poke the Bear (a popular pale ale) and order food from nearby Bounty Bar.

I was particularly impressed by owner/pitmaster Hector Garate’s tender, smoke-infused beef cheeks and chopped whole hog barbecue, which proved with one juicy bite to be the real deal.

Since the food was so good, I didn’t harp much on the obvious limitations of the setting. Ordering from a flat-screen display at a food court-like counter didn’t offer much of a craft barbecue experience. Neither did eating it at a spartan cafeteria-style table inside nor out on the big patio while packs of tourists ambled by on Market Street. On top of all that, Palmira’s pits were way up in Dorchester County, so the meats had to be trucked downtown each day.

Restaurant Reviews

Still, it bemused me to think that a herd of Ohioans seeking fried green tomatoes might stumble into the Port of Call courtyard and wind up eating genuine whole hog barbecue with hash and rice on the side. “That’s the kind of barbecue future I can heartily endorse,” I wrote, “and I’m excited to see what lies ahead for Palmira.”

What lay ahead, it turns out, was Garate’s departure from Port of Call in November 2022 and a period of wandering in the wilderness, popping up in local beer gardens and at collaborations in far-off lands like Brooklyn and Houston. He quickly found a site for the next iteration of Palmira Barbecue — the low-slung brick building on Ashley River Road that once housed the Sunflower Café — but the buildout took more than a year.

The new restaurant opened at the beginning of February, and it’s even better than I expected.

The first Palmira review delved into Garate’s backstory, his close working relationship with Marvin Ross of Peculiar Pig Farm and his handcrafting his own pits. I won’t retread that ground here. What’s different now is that that those handmade pits are installed in a new cookhouse just a few feet from the back door to Palmira’s kitchen.

From start to finish, the dining experience is much improved, too. You enter through double glass doors and order at a long serving counter. The meats are sliced to order, and the cutters cheerfully guide you as you choose between beef cheeks and ribs (my advice: get both) and calculate how much is a reasonable portion. (Err on the side of way too much. Barbecue freezes well.)

There are plenty of two- and four-top tables with comfortable padded chairs in the long dining area. It’s a proper barbecue dining room, too, with dark-stained wooden floors, wainscoting fashioned from reclaimed plate steel and lots of framed pictures of Garate cooking alongside eminent pitmasters at various events.

Perhaps it's the proximity of the pits or because the meats are sliced right in front of you, but as impressive as Palmira’s barbecue was two years ago, it really knocks my socks off now.

The barbacoa, for instance, is totally dialed in ($15 per half pound). It’s still served atop a fried tortilla and dusted with cotija like in the food hall days, but now the smoky shards of chopped beef are compressed into a neat ball, drizzled with thick orange sauce and finished with pink pickled onions and fragrant bits of cilantro. The first bite delivers a crunch from the tostada followed by a surge of juicy, tallow-rich beef, then the fruity tang of the sauce and the onions. It’s one heck of a barbecue bite.

That and other standing meat options include beef cheeks, whole hog, house sausage and pork ribs. They’re joined by rotating daily specials, which recently have included pork steaks, guava-glazed burnt ends, lechón porchetta and Puerto Rican rib tips served over rice in a fragrant orange gravy.

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Beneath their shiny glaze, the rosy pork ribs ($12 per half pound) have a firm, smoky chew. Beef cheeks ($15 per half pound) are still a fairly uncommon barbecue cut, but I expect that to change as more aficionados try Palmira’s. Beneath a dark crust of smoke and black pepper, the collagen-rich beef is transformed by slow heat into silky, tender morsels that almost melt on the tongue.

For me, though, the measure of a great barbecue restaurant is not that it has one or two admirable specialties but that everything on the tray — the meats, the sides, whatever bread or pickles are tossed in for free — is consistently top-notch. Palmira easily checks that box.

The regular lineup of sides is a veritable Murderers’ Row (each $5 small, $10 medium and $16 large). These include bright yellow mustard slaw and gooey mac and cheese topped with golden-brown bread crumbs. The Puerto Rican beans have a bright orange hue and rich mellowness from their long, slow simmering with sofrito and smoked meat. They’re among the best beans I’ve had in a barbecue joint.

Palmira’s collards are perfectly tender, and the dark green shards are accented with a few cubes of pork and just enough red pepper flakes to add a mild layer of heat. What makes the greens truly remarkable is their pot liquor, which has a sharp vinegar tang balanced by a beguiling sweetness that makes each bite sparkle. They’re among the best collards I’ve had in a barbecue joint.

And then there’s the hash and rice. The thick, brown gravy is all umami, savory and a tad spicy on the finish. In true nose-to-tail spirit, Garate’s version starts with the heads of the hogs that he butchers for his pits. He gives those heads a good smoking before shredding the tasty bits and putting them in the hash pot. It’s among the best hash I’ve had in a barbecue joint.

Palmira’s sausage game is strong, too, and the flavorings go far beyond the usual suspects of cayenne and paprika or jalapeño and cheddar. The house sausage ($14 per half pound), sliced and finished with onions and pickled mustard seeds, has a fine snap to the casing and a subtle accent of floral spices. It’s joined by a rotating cast of Texas-meet-Puerto Rico mashups like the pionono, which grinds beef cheek trimmings with sweet plantains and gouda.

Though everything on my fully loaded tray was text-a-friend good, one item kept drawing my fork back again and again. The beef cheeks and the barbacoa hit big upfront with their bold beefy punches, but the subtle perfection of Palmira’s extraordinary chopped whole hog wins out in the end.

Garate’s not a flipper. He cooks his pigs skin-side down the entire time, like Marvin Ross taught him. He seasons them with salt and, in a Puerto Rican touch, an aromatic sofrito mop, then lets them simmer 12 full hours on the pit. Once pulled and chopped, the long, tender strands brim with smoky juice and get a little extra kiss from Pee Dee-style vinegar and red pepper sauce. It’s world-class whole hog.

Food

When I interviewed Garate last summer about his plans for his new brick-and-mortar location, he noted another drawback to his old food hall spot that I hadn’t considered. Being in heart of the City Market downtown drew a lot of walk-in customers, but he couldn’t convert them to regulars. “You’re a tourist,” Garate told me, “You try it, and you’re like, ‘This is the best barbecue I ever had.’ But then you leave, and you maybe come next year.”

For his new location, he told me, “I wanted something that had a neighborhood feel,” and he felt the communities along Highway 61 would prove a fertile source of regular guests. At the same time, he invoked legendary barbecue destinations like Snow’s in Lexington, Texas, and said he hoped to create “a tourist kind of attraction … a real barbecue place that’s down to earth, not super fancy and just speaks barbecue to you.”

It’s a tricky balancing act, but I think he might just have pulled it off. I knew Palmira had promise the moment I tasted that whole hog and those beef cheeks two years ago, and I declared it then to be one of the best new barbecue joints in the South.

Now that Garate has found a fitting venue for his expansive vision, I can drop the “new” qualifier and declare it to be one of the very best barbecue restaurants in the country.

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The Zucker family has gifted the College a generous $2.5 million to attract talented engineering students and foster a culture of philanthropy.

The College of Charleston has received a generous $2.5 million gift from the Zucker family.

To attract talented engineering students, $2 million will go to scholarships for the newly created School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics; and to foster a culture of philanthropy, $500,000 will go to the Zucker Family Challenge on CofC Day over the next five years.

The Zuckers’ scholarship commitment supports the College’s vision for a vibrant School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics. The scholarships, with a preference to female and underrepresented minority candidates, will help recruit, inspire and prepare diverse talent from across the country who wish to combine a rigorous engineering education with a broad-based liberal arts curriculum, giving them a unique value proposition in the workforce.

“We are very interested in this area,” says Anita Zucker, who received an honorary degree from the College in 2010. “My late husband, Jerry Zucker, was gifted at math and science. These skills made him the incredible person he was and built our businesses. Couple that with liberal arts, including the importance of communication and writing proficiency, and it completes the person.”

In addition to engineering scholarships, Zucker partnered with the university to create a $500,000 Zucker Family Challenge for the annual CofC Day events. Over the next five years this challenge will both motivate the College’s existing donor base and encourage new donors. During the 2024 CofC Day event, which took place on March 13 and 14, the Zucker Family Challenge awarded $100,000 to match the gifts of 2,000 donors.

Along with financial contributions, Zucker plays an active role at the College. She serves on the President’s Strategic Initiatives Committee, the School of Business Board of Governors and the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program Advisory Board.

“We have been so fortunate to have the Zucker family as part of our campus community over the past 30 years,” says College of Charleston President Andrew T. Hsu. “The Zuckers’ latest gift for engineering scholarships will help the College provide a pipeline of talent to our region’s growing high-tech, manufacturing and life sciences industries. We would not be where we are today without loyal donors like the Zuckers.”