The Mansion
Marlow’s Coastal Empire

The Mansion at Forsyth Park

W and her Marlow decided to spend their seventh consecutive Friday date night at a neighborhood restaurant. They had walked to the Mansion since it fronted the central eastern border of Forsyth Park and was only five short blocks from their Park Avenue home.

The house had been a funeral home that had closed in the late 90s. The current owners poured a small fortune into the property to turn it into a first class boutique hotel resort which opened in 2005. The former funeral home housed the resort’s restaurant and second floor lounge. The challenges of making the brand new hotel look like it had been there since 1888 like the house had been met with equally spectacular results.

Still, in a city full of pretty women, the Mansion at Forsyth Park is arguably one of the prettiest. Sitting off to the side, she minds her own business, waiting for people to come and say hello. You won’t find her standing up at the front of the room or on the porch waving. She stays inside in the back of the parlor.

Without reservations, Marlow and W were warmly welcomed and seated next the fireplace in the largest of the former enterprise’s viewing rooms. They had this room to themselves with its stunning chandelier and its blazing fireplace for the first hour of their dinner.

Mansion dining parlor (our seats were at the back right next to the fireplace)

The restaurant’s modern twists on classic low country favorites were fabulous. Their Old Fashion cocktails using Pig Whistle rye and chicken and waffles appetizer were mind blowingly good.

Chicken and Waffle

While sipping their drinks and noshing the appetizers, they noticed that the current resort operator leasee, Marriott Corporation, had cleverly edited and redacted the restaurant building’s history to omit the funeral parlor portion of its past.

So, Marlow asked their South Carolinian accented waiter Stephen for the low down on the place. Since other guests were now present, Stephen came over to the side of the fireplace and knelt down to whisper his answers. Yes, indeed they were sitting in one of the parlor’s viewing rooms. He had laid to rest his momma and poppa there in the 90s. He had worked at the restaurant since it opened in 2005.

W’s dinner was a wild boar shank braised in IPA and served with cheddar grits. As much as we’d like to think wild boar is just a pig that hasn’t been housebroken it is actually pretty different in terms of the taste but a lot of it depends on preparation. This Chef knew what he was doing here. It was practically falling off the bone, deliciously tender, and a little fatty on the edges but in a good way.

Marlow’s filet was superb but the mashed white sweet potatoes were magnificent (praise that this lifelong carnivore has rarely given to vegetables).

Wild boar shank (l); filet mignon atop mashed white sweet potatoes with pomegranate seeds (r)

As the evening wound down, Stephen dropped to his knees once again to offer whispered advice to his new customers and neighbors.

To be continued.

Copyright © 2016 From My Isle Seat