High Cotton Restaurant Review
This was originally posted on Check, Please (which is now Melea Talks Food) the day after I had Marcella, March 23, 2009.
Saturday night my husband and I decided to squeeze in one last date night before our baby girl arrives (due date, this Sunday!) so we thought we would check out High Cotton. It was a rainy night so we opted for the complimentary valet parking and checked our coats and then we were off to our table. We had to go downstairs for our table (although I was offered the elevator because of my “condition” which I declined). Our table had a wonderful view of the Reedy River and also a view of the kitchen.
The staff was superb. Our server was very knowledgeable and professional. We were served warm rolls with butter which were okay, not anything special but not bad either. Josh decided to go with a cup of that nights Chef’s Selection soup which was Maine Lobster Bisque ($5) described simply as “buttery lobster meat, scallions”. It smelled delicious but was bland unfortunately.
For my entrée I ordered the Bourbon Glazed Eden Farms Pork Chop ($25) which was served with jalapeño cheddar grits, fried green tomatoes and country ham scallion jus. The grits were very creamy and delicious! I wouldn’t have known they had jalapeno in them if I hadn’t been told, though so, for me, they could have had more of a kick. The fried green tomatoes were excellent! The pork was quite good. They cook it medium unless you specific otherwise and it was as tender as a steak. It was a little too salty for me so I didn’t finish it, but Josh, who loves salt, gobbled up what I didn’t finish.
My husband ordered one of the Chef’s Selections of the night for his entrée, the Skillet Seared Striped Bass ($25). This was served with blacked eyed pea ragout, cornmeal fried oysters and sweet pepper relish. He said the oysters were wonderful and were worth ordering the dish just based on them alone. He isn’t a big fan of black eyed peas so didn’t eat all of those but he finished off the bass which he said was quite good. He said if he had to choose, he preferred the pork but both were very good.
We couldn’t leave without trying out their desserts. They all priced at $7.50 except for the Domestic Cheese Selection which is $11. My husband ordered the Double Chocolate Mousse Pie (white & dark chocolate mousse, Oreo cookie crust, milk chocolate anglaise) which was delightful. I ordered the Domestic Cheese Selection (yes, this was on the dessert menu, not an appetizer) which consisted of 1 piece each of Humbolt Fog, Thomasville Tomme, Marisa and Smokey Blue and was served with 4 toast points, fig jam and 3 slivers of pear and candied walnuts. The fig jam was the perfect complement to the bitterness of the cheeses. I was asked if I would like additional toast points when I had finished all of them and still had cheese left which I declined but thought was nice all the same.
All in all, we would rate it a 3 out of 5, only because the soup was bland, the bread was just okay and the prices were a bit high for the amount of food. We enjoyed our experience, all in all and would recommend it for a nice night out.