This farm-driven Charleston restaurant from chef Mike Lata and business partner business partner Adam Nemirow consistently delivers culinary satisfaction. FIG is situated on Meeting Street, on the perimeter of Charleston’s historic core. Inside, colorful chalk-drawn fruits and vines bracket market vegetable and dessert offerings. The decor is fairly simple, but features a staggering series of stylized photographs, colorful blurs that are recognizable as images of local marshland and other Lowcountry scenes. The restaurant’s name is an acronym – Food Is Good – and it sure is.

This downtown standby from Maverick Southern Kitchens delivered one of the only meals to elicit a rave review from my father. The duck purloo that he loved so much wasn’t on the menu during my visit, but just about every other dish was excellent at dinner. “Farmers & Sources” factor prominently into the Southern-influenced menu, now overseen by Joseph Palma, and his High Cotton kitchen seems to have a particular (and welcome) fondness for rabbit.

Even though this seasonal Southern restaurant resides outside Charleston’s historic core, chef Robert Stehling and wife Nunnaly Kersh have still cultivated national acclaim on the strength of his refined food and the charming setting. They’ve also cleared the way for other establishments to open in the neighborhood. Hominy Grill occupies the ground floor of a three-story edifice that dates to 1897, in a space that used to be a barbershop. A huge mural features a waitress named Rosie, a steaming bowl of grits and a noble motto: “Grits are good for you,” which greets diners in the parking lot. The couple upgraded the space in 2011, adding more seats, and shielding diners from sticky Southern weather. Blackboards list the day’s specials, vegetables, and desserts, and regardless of your order, no visit to Hominy Grill would be complete without a taste of their namesake ingredient, which is available at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock, who has tended to the stoves at McCrady’s since 2006, received plenty of attention when adding Husk to his repertoire in 2010. A revamped two-story Southern manor in Charleston’s historic core, the historic Josephine Pinckney Building, features wood flooring, Lowcountry paintings, and an upstairs porch with floral drapes. Brock changes his Southern menu daily, depending on what’s in season, and what’s available from local producers, who are listed in chalk on a massive spotlit blackboard near the hostess station. An adjacent two-story building, which hadn’t been occupied in 50 years, houses a bar with stone walls and an upstairs lounge with exposed wood beams and dried vines. The cocktail menu touts “Historic” drinks, aka “classic cocktails from original bartender guides,” and “Modern cocktails, aka “Husk’s creations for serious revelers.” Their commitment to local ingredients clearly extends to the cocktails.

Martha Lou Gadsden has run her pink soul food shack for over three decades near where the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge now empties into Charleston. Expect worn booths with gold tablecloths. Colorful wall murals depict classic Lowcountry images, and compartmentalized Styrofoam platters tout soul food classics, many deep-fried, others stewed or baked, and all combining remarkable value with bold flavor.

Chef Mike Lata and business partner Adam Nemirow already made an impact with the aforementioned FIG. They debuted this seafood-centric restaurant in an old bank on Upper King to end 2012 and met a mountain of hype. The space features a high ceiling, long bar and booths, mezzanine, and vault that doubles as the pass from the kitchen. They’ve got a raw bar with local oysters, which might include long, briny Caper Blades from an inlet north of Charleston; or meatier Otter Island Wilds, from nearby Beaufort. Beyond that, they’ve got flavor-forward preparations both hot and cold, terrific stews and chowders, and a crafty bar. It’s funny and ironic that the partners chose the name The Ordinary, since their new restaurant is anything but that.