The Best Restaurant in South of Broad and the French Quarter, Charleston

Michael Mina made a splash in Charleston with this lavish ristorante, marking the moment when serial fine-dining restauranteurs once focused on Las Vegas and resort destinations finally arrived in one of the nation's most celebrated—yet still primarily independent—restaurant scenes. The difficulty securing a reservation underscores how warmly Sorelle has been welcomed, thanks to flavor memories implanted by the piccata-style swordfish and a zeppole bedecked with caviar, stracciatella, and prosciutto. At $50, that savory Italian doughnut is a frontrunner for the most magnificently decadent mouthful in Charleston. Spread across two floors of a historic building, the Sorelle experience varies from a chef's table outside the wood-fired oven to cozy corner booths in the always-ebullient dining room.