My husband and I visited our friend in North Charleston this past Memorial Day weekend. One of the top priorities in our friend group is finding the best local food. Our friend steered us in the right direction, as always, and we all enjoyed incredible meals during our visit.

We had dinner in her neighborhood at Jackrabbit Filly. The restaurant serves Chinese-American food with a Southern spin. Family-style ordering is encouraged, and our group of four ordered almost everything on the menu. Dishes arrived promptly and were mostly spaced out with enough time for us to finish before the next arrived. My favorite dishes of the night were garlicky summer squash, gnocchi in garlic sauce, and a special of crispy roasted chicken with curry sauce. The restaurant offers a unique spin on Chinese cuisine, and it’s one of my favorite spots to dine when visiting Charleston.

One morning we had breakfast at WildFlour Pastry. With its unassuming location in a strip mall, it’s easy to miss the charming bakery. Thankfully, our friend recommended we stop there. There were so many delectable treats to choose from including muffins, cookies, scones, sweet breads, pastries and cakes. I decided to start with spring vegetable quiche and also ordered a coconut buttercream and passionfruit curd vanilla cupcake — I love a breakfast dessert! Both were delicious, and I’m looking forward to going back on our next visit.

Our friend suggested going outside of the city to Mount Pleasant’s Shem Creek neighborhood for dinner at NICO. The restaurant specializes in seafood, with plenty of raw dishes, small plates, wood-roasted dishes and large plates. Our group of four decided to share a bunch of small plates and each choose our own entrée. For the table we ordered raw oysters, fried calamari, baked shrimp and cheese puffs. For my entrée, I opted for the sea scallops with rice pilaf, mushrooms and parsley cream. The scallops were buttery and perfectly cooked. The sides accompanied the seafood well. Overall, it was another excellent meal.

Dining is one of my favorite parts of a vacation, and the places we visited during this trip did not disappoint!

— Katie Skrzek, vice president/digital director