Great eats: Poogan's Porch

Tonight was my family's last night in Charleston (they've been staying with us for the past week; many more blog posts to come about that) so we decided to eat some famous lowcountry fare at Poogan's Porch for their last dinner.

Poogan's Porch opened in Charleston in 1976 but is located inside an old Victorian-style house that was built downtown in 1888. The restaurant is named after a dog, "Poogan", who used to love lounging out on the porch and begging for table scraps. Poogan died many years ago, but in front of the restaurant there is still a small memorial to him.

Poogan's Porch is also famous around these parts for its great food. Inside the front hallway are many autographs of celebrities that have dined at the restaurant. Larry was excited to see a menu signed by Brett Farve. Jim Carey also had a funny message on his signed menu. But really, the most important people dined there tonight.

Here we are on the famous front porch.

Sarah ordered the crab cakes and said they were delicious...I'll take her word for it.

Really? Who would order Mac 'N Cheese as their entree? Me of course! Calm down, I had a side salad, too. But the Mac 'N Cheese, made with smoked gouda, was to die for.

The lack of people in this famous restaurant is because we could only get a 5:30 reservation. Note for future: call more than three hours ahead for reservation.

Poogan's Porch also has another interesting reputations as one of the most haunted places in Charleston (we learned that on our Charleston ghost tour, blog post to come). The Travel Channel even voted it the third most haunted place in America in 2003.

Some say Poogan haunts the front porch, but the most famous ghost is an elderly lady who was a former resident in the late 1800s. The lady was known to appear in the upstairs window, which the restaurant eventually boarded up because people would so often call the police when they saw her banging the windows to get out.

She also makes appearances in the dining room, most often to the restaurant staff. But she's also known to haunt the upstairs women's restroom, either banging on the door when guests go in or appearing behind them in the mirror. Of course, Sarah and Mom had to try this out.

Mom trying to capture the (lack of) ghost.