Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Tattooed Moose

137 Morrison Drive
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 277-2990
Website

The Moose came highly recommended from a number of people as a dive-y beer bar with great duck. That was good enough for me and so after I got my rental car, checked in to my super saweet AirBnB cottage, I wasted no time and was on my way.


A variety of taxidermy animals surround the inside, which was quite cool. However, I didn't see any tats on the moose, but honestly, I didn't really look too hard.


The duck club was a "must try" per the instructions I'd received so my choice was already made before I'd sat down. From the menu: A triple decker filled with duck confit, applewood smoked bacon, & hickory smoked cheddar topped with garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato, & red onion on sweet Hawaiian bread.


There was certainly a LOT going on with this sandwich. The duck confit was delicious, rich and rendered to water fowl perfection. However there was just too much other shit in the sandwich to truly appreciate the duck as served. You can see the bread and ingredient ratio is a bit overwhelming below. Now, I understand that duck is not the kind of protein you heap on, but I just felt like this could have been better served not as a club. It was still a great sandwich full of fresh, quality ingredients, but it was just not a perfect cohesive package.


The house pickled sweet and spicy green tomatoes were amazing, and the garlic dills were another favorite. Also, those fries.


The duck fat fries with duck gravy were amazing. Shatteringly crisp, with a salt punch, the gravy was not even necessary. When I saw the size of the order, I said aloud "wow, I will never finish those". I am betting you can guess how this ended. Clean plate club indeed.


And although I did like that side of duck gravy, it was too roux-y and was missing that deep, dark, rich and fatty meat flavor that I expect out of poutine-impersonators – but as it goes, I ate it anyway.


Definitely a great stop in Charleston for some great beer and good food. A cool bar all around.

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