Merci

Merci reads like a European neighborhood cafe that wandered onto Montague Street and picked up the energy of a big-city opening along the way. The focaccia sets the tone: stracciatella, hot honey, smoked Benton's ham, all folded into something fluffy enough to make a case for bread as an entree. The crudos rotate with the season and land clean — watermelon and tuna tasting like summer reduced to a single bite is not a small trick to pull off.

The beef wellington is the real argument, though. Built tableside, finished with a sauce perigourdine, set beside whipped duchess potatoes — it's the kind of dish that could easily be a gimmick and instead earns every bit of its main-event billing. That's the pattern here: French technique treated seriously but served without stiffness, in a room that feels social rather than formal.

The city noticed immediately. Merci has already picked up a James Beard Award nod for Best New Restaurant, both as finalist and semifinalist, and landed on a national list of restaurants worth traveling for in its opening year. Seats are hard to come by, and the cooking is the reason why.

This is the rare new opening that plays like it's been doing this for a decade. Charleston will be eating here for a long time.