Personal Injury Attorneyin Charleston, SC.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — Tami Bourne has lived on folly beach for over three decades.

However, because of a recent development plan on Folly's beachfront lots, she is concerned.

Folly Beach resident fears overbuilding amid ongoing legal battle over beachfront development. (WCIV)

"When you have these disasters, these hurricanes, houses blow into houses," Bourne said. "So the more you put out there, the more it's gonna' get blown into the water. So it's just a problem that way. And also with the hurting the beach as far as making it erode more."

The super beachfront lots are along East Ashley Avenue, just north of the washout down to the lighthouse.

Read more: South Carolina workers face job loss due to stalled worker's compensation claims.

"These lots were platted back in at least the 1950s," Leslie Lenhardt said, "and they are the most seaward of any lots that were platted on Folly Beach."

The plots are currently held in trust by the state for the public to enjoy. Some property owners attempted to claim ownership after the 2018 Folly Beach Renourishment Project.

"So for a very short period of time after that Renourishment, these lots became high ground," Lenhardt said. "These property owners, what they are trying to do during this window of time is to develop those lots."

Read more: Dorchester District 2 board to review long-awaited salary study in bid to stay competitive.

This is a legal battle that goes back to 2020. A judge hear motions on whether developers could build on those lots. The legal maneuvering is ongoing, with the issue expected to go before another court in the coming months.

"The Court of Appeals has remanded the case," Lenhardt said. "Because it's a novel issue, the court said we really want a judge to determine whether or not this is a recognizable theory under the law."

Multiple preservation groups and the city say they want to figure out the boundary between private and public property while preserving the beach.

"I'd like to keep folly as it is," Bourne said. "It's unique. It's funky. And I hate to see it get overbuilt and our beaches overbuilt."

The interior at Pink Bellies is all oblique angles, wavy lines, and glowing pastel colors. White walls are hung with vertically-mounted planks spaced a few inches apart, the light-stained wood planed into gently undulating waves.

Short sound-muffling panels are suspended from the ceiling in three-tiered groups, accented by glowing lights that shift from blue during daylight to pastel pink, orange, and yellow as darkness falls outside. A half dozen angular wood stools line a low, curving white counter where diners can peer through an array of potted plants at the cooks working in the open kitchen beyond.

The menu at Pink Bellies doesn’t play it straight, either. The cocktails (18) outnumber the food dishes (14). Some of those cocktails are quite tasty. The gin-based and brilliantly-named Miss Leading Lady ($16) has a surge of citrus and elderflower beneath a layer of sweet egg-white foam. The Suntory Kiss ($12) balances Japanese malt whiskey with bright fruit and herbs — passionfruit, kalamansi, lemongrass. The menu describes it as “reminiscent of youth,” though whose youth I have no idea.

I do wish they would double strain the shaken cocktails, though. A sleet storm clouds the bright orange Pho Cocktail ($13), which is billed as “unlike any other.” I can’t argue with that. A single star anise atop a tiny disc of lime rides upon the surface. Shaken in with the gin is pho syrup, lime juice, Sriracha and fish sauce. As an experiment in umami flavors it’s quite intriguing, though I didn’t find myself wanting a second one.

The food follows a similar pattern, with daring stretches and unexpected twists that delight when they land but occasionally tumble off the mat.

In the delightful category are the dumplings. All three varieties swim in bowls of chili oil and pho-spiced smoked dumpling sauce, a combination that’s shimmeringly bright and brimming with red chili, sesame and scallions. Beneath a fluffy green blanket of cilantro leaves, the spicy lamb pierogis ($11) are, as promised, very spicy. A few kernels of corn tucked in with the savory minced lamb seem a bit odd, but as a whole it’s a flavorful bowl.

I particularly enjoyed the triangular sui cao dumplings ($10), which are hand-rolled and filled with a pleasing blend of ground pork and shrimp. Crisp curves of chili bamboo shoots down in the sauce add a wonderfully sharp crunch.

After he graduated from the MBA program at the College of Charleston, chef/owner Thai Phi launched Pink Bellies as food truck, posting up regularly at the corner of Calhoun and St. Philip streets. In 2017, he advanced to a stall in the Workshop incubator food hall and two years later secured a permanent King Street location on the ground floor of Hoffler Place, a privately-owned student apartment building that casts itself as “sophisticated, hip, and aspirational.”

Pink Bellies eased into the King Street scene thanks to the pandemic, opening for takeout only in March 2021 and for in-person dining six months later. Now two years in, the restaurant still does a brisk takeout business and has rather limited hours — dinner from 5 to 9 p.m., Thursday through Sunday — though that seems perfectly keeping with our times.

The restaurant seems very contemporary in other ways, too. For both food and décor, Phi drew inspiration from far away — his grandmother’s and aunt’s kitchens in Vietnam, noodle shops and bakeries in San Francisco, ramen bars in Tokyo and Kyoto — and rolled them together with American pop dining culture. (Witness the In-and-Out-inspired Animal Style Burger, $16, and the Nashville Hot Chicken Karaage, $14.)

The OG Garlic Noodles ($17) have been on the menu since the food truck days. Cooked in butter and garlic, the tangles of thick, umami-rich egg noodles by themselves are splendid, and the long strands of pulled pork and pickled red onions mounded on top add tender softness and a sweet crunch. A smear of bright orange Sriracha rings the inside of the large bowl, though oddly it seems to add more color and sweetness than it does heat, even if you dredge the noodles through it. Add the extra umami of a poached egg ($1.50) and you can see why it’s now the OG.

Much of the fare still exhibits the late night munchie aesthetic of a campus-side food truck. Purple-hued Amarosa fingerlings ($10) are prepared in the style of Da Lat banh trang nuong, a sort of Vietnamese pizza. Instead of grilled rice paper, tender potatoes serve as the base, and they’re perfectly soft, steamy and earthy inside. But the tubers are buried beneath a mound of crumbled pork, wispy shrimp powder and diced scallions, which in turn are obscured by long squiggles of creamy kewpie mayo and orange Sriracha, and in the end it’s just a lot of flavors clashing in a bowl.

If you upgrade the pho mai burger ($16) by adding a fried egg ($5), the dish is finished tableside. It arrives open-faced, with the fried egg and the top bun on one small plate and everything else on another. The server pierces the egg with a steak knife then drizzles the sunny yolk over the rest of the burger and flips the bun on top. Then comes the coup de grâce: stabbing the knife straight through the center to spear all the layers together.

That structural support is needed, for the burger is twice as tall as it is wide. Between two domes of soft milk bun, a pair of cheese-capped beef patties are interspersed with slick pools of aioli and onion jam. Thick-sliced pickles act as shims and tilt the whole tower at a rather precarious angle. It’s a sloppy mess of a burger, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, jalapeño rings make an unbilled cameo, adding an unwelcome blast of heat that should really be warned of on the menu.

The Garlic KFC Wings ($16), though, are true works of late-night genius. I think that’s KFC as in Korean Fried Chicken, not Kentucky, but who knows these days. What matters is that they’re delicious in a smack-every-taste-receptor-on-your tongue kind of way. The wings have a crisp starchy crust that’s painted with salty, honey-sweet soy glaze and dappled with minced scallions and chives. Alongside is a small bowl of blue cheese dressing for dunking.

It’s not just run-of-the-mill blue cheese dressing, either. Our server informed us when we ordered the wings that they didn’t ordinarily like blue cheese dressing but that this blue cheese dressing was different. The runner who delivered the wings told us essentially the same thing. Last year, The Post and Courier’s Food Editor Parker Milner commented in the Charleston Menu newsletter that he was “never a fan of blue cheese dressing” but that he “can’t argue with the river of cream-colored sauce flowing down the mountain of wings.”

I had no idea so many people were adverse to blue cheese dressing, and it seems curious that among the riot of flavors in Pink Bellies’ various bowls, that’s the one that so many people single out. Maybe it’s too 20th century. I agree with them, though, that Pink Bellies’ version is exceptional — not at all gloppy, with just a few chunks of cheese enrobed in a thin white dressing. It’s the perfect pungently cream accompaniment for those sticky-sweet-salty wings — or for your finger, for that matter.

Yes, a bowl of blue cheese dressing is a small detail, but small details add up, and there are plenty of little things to like about Pink Bellies: the squatty pink stoneware cups in which the water is served. The stylized pig logo — round nose, ears akimbo, a noodle bowl inverted on its head — that appear on everything from the menu to the take-out boxes. The little extra bits on the plates, like the chili bamboo inside the dumpling sauce and the chunks of crisp, tart pickled daikon that add a nice zip to the KFC wings.

It’s not all upside, though. The colorful lights and all the angles and curves make for a sleek, alluring setting, but as the dining room fills, it can seem a bit loud and cramped. As the evening rolls on, the air grows thick with oily steam rolling over the low divider from the open kitchen, and the temperature begins to creep up and up. Some may find that vibe to be high-energy and exciting, but for others it may seem a bit much.

But dessert seals the deal. If a restaurant is only going to have a single option on the menu, it better be good. Pink Bellies comes through with its blackberry cheesecake ($12), a tall wedge of dense, lemon-tinged sweetness. Instead of a prim scoop of berries, it’s finished with a torrent of condensed milk foam and fruity blackberry compote that cascades down the sides and pools around the plate. Beyond the delightful disheveled-ness of the presentation, there seems no thematic linkage between that dessert and the rest of the menu, but I don’t suppose we really need one.

I feel many things at Pink Bellies go a little over my head, like internet memes that never made it into my feeds. Still, it’s an exciting place to grab a casual dinner, big on flavor and long on style, especially as the sun goes down and the pastel lights shift to energetic oranges, yellows and magentas.

The status of a proposed bike lane on King Street is in limbo after cycling advocates and business owners clashed over its necessity.

Cyclists led a campaign on social media and by flooding recent meetings asking City Council to support a protected bike lane along the popular dining and shopping destination proposed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

But private conversations between business owners and city leaders compelled them to request that the state agency come up with an alternative design for the street without the bike lane. Some of those business owners attended the City Council meeting on Aug. 15.

“We see almost car accidents happening daily already,” said Gary Flynn, owner of M. Dumas & Sons, a men’s specialty retailer at 294 King St. “If you add bikes to that, that really concerns me as well. I don’t feel like King Street is the right place for it.”

Council voted 8-4 to defer any decision on the proposal until a compromise could be reached. Council members Boyd Gregg, Stephen Bowden, Robert Mitchell and Mayor John Tecklenburg voted against the deferral.

Last year, the state DOT proposed $6.3 million worth of safety improvements for three downtown streets.

King, Meeting and Calhoun streets were all identified as among the top five most-crash-prone roadways in South Carolina from 2013 to 2018. Using federal funding, DOT developed a series of small projects for all three streets. They proposed improving crosswalks and traffic signals and adding pedestrian crossing signals, among other improvements. The plan also included reducing King Street from two lanes to one, from Calhoun to Broad, and adding a protected bike lane.

Because City Council deferred signing off on an agreement with DOT, safety improvements on all three streets is held up, not just King Street’s lane reduction and bike lane. Tecklenburg briefly proposed that the city lead its own project on King Street to widen sidewalks and work on other streetscape improvements while DOT got to work on the rest of the areas in need. His proposal did not make it into council’s final vote.

DOT’s original plan started with squeezing King Street from two, one-way lanes between Calhoun and Broad to one 12-foot-wide lane along with a one-way, protected bike lane. Existing street parking would be preserved. New parking spaces and loading zones would be added.

DOT’s new plans call for one 14-foot-wide traffic lane that would share bike and vehicular traffic. That’s when it drew opposition from the cycling community.

“I am having trouble understanding why a 14-foot-wide street is safer than a 12-foot-wide street with a protected bike lane,” resident Caroline Fady said.

Also included in DOT’s proposal is a two-way bike lane parallel to King on St. Philip Street, which business owners have pointed to as a preferred route for cyclists.

“Take a look at the street. It doesn’t take 5 minutes to watch the chaos,” said Chip Ervin, owner of Grady Ervin & Co., another men’s clothier at 313 King St. “I am not in opposition of a bike lane somewhere better-suited.”

The state agency proposed funding the St. Philip lane from Calhoun to George Street. The city offered to use reserve hospitality funding to continue the bike lane from George to Beaufain Street.

The total length of the two-way St. Philip Street bike lane would amount to about less than a quarter-mile compared to about 0.6 miles of bike lane in the original proposal for a one-way bike lane on King Street.

Those in favor of the original plan said the preferred option is to have a lane on both King and St. Philip streets, as originally proposed.

“People are going to ride bikes there no matter what you do,” said Meghan Lord, a College of Charleston student. “So you can choose to keep it dangerous or take this incredible opportunity.”

State transportation officials told The Post and Courier that although the agency will continue to update the public on the project after the agreement is signed, it is not likely the King Street bike lane could be added back into the plan if it is not included in writing in the original agreement.

Aside from the nightly thunderstorms lulling us to sleep, it looks like smooth sailing into the weekend for the Charleston area. Although hot days and stormy nights tend make us yearn for an early night in at home, this weekend in the Lowcountry has some unique treats that might just lure you out and about.

Harry Potter enthusiasts can don their wizarding robes for the first annual Wizard Bar Crawl and Costume Contest downtown this Friday night. Go stomp some grapes on Wadmalaw Island at the annual Grape Stomp Festival or network with local artists at the Hidden Spaces event downtown. Or enjoy a raucous Tony-award-winning play “P.O.T.U.S.” about keeping our leader in line.

Wizard Bar Crawl and Costume Contest

Calling all wizards, witches and muggles in the Charleston area to join hundreds of other Potterheads at the first annual Wizard Bar Crawl. Apparate at 3 p.m. on Aug. 19 at Uptown Social, 587 King St., for check-in to pick up your scorecards, swag and wand. Then begin your crawl to the other participating bars on your map.

All wizard swag is on a first-come, first-served basis and while supplies last. Drinking is not required to participate in the crawl events. Don’t forget to enter the costume contest to win a big prize. Tickets are $23-$33, with a portion supporting Going Places Nonprofit. This event is 21 and over, and therefore valid IDs are required. For tickets and more information, zoom on over to bit.ly/3s9uDdj.

Grape Stomping Festival

If you’ve ever wanted to be a part of the wine-making process or, perhaps, you’ve got something to stomp about, check out the Grape Stomping Festival from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 19 at Deep Water Vineyard, 6775 Bears Bluff Road. Strip off your socks — you’ll have a chance to mash muscadine grapes the old-fashioned way. There’ll be plenty for the whole family to do, including food trucks, a vendor market, children’s activities and several chances for the adults to try Deep Water Vineyard’s new wines and meads. A portion of proceeds from the festival will benefit local North Charleston nonprofit The Formation Project. Tickets are $21.80 per car and available via theformationproject.org/event-details.

Hidden Spaces

Local creatives and multimedia artists are invited to connect with peers in the community from 8 to 11 p.m. on Aug. 19 at 192 E. Bay St. Local creative production agency Youngflylords Studios presents Hidden Spaces, a gathering of like-minded artists looking to share experiences and inspire future pieces. Over 10 local artists and three DJs will be present to showcase their work — expect anything from traditional paintings to complex digital VFX and design. Guests must be 18 or older. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at bit.ly/3QELXkz.

P.O.T.U.S.

One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Find out which one at Queen Street Playhouse, 20 Queen St., Charleston, this weekend. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and 19 and 3:30 p.m. on Aug 20. When the president unwittingly spins a P.R. nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander in chief out of trouble. Nominated for three Tony Awards, this outrageous political comedy is a direct from Broadway to Charleston regional premiere event. This show is not suitable for children. Tickets are $40-$54. For more information, call 843-722-4487, email boxoffice@footlightplayers.net or visit footlightplayers.net/potus.

Three restaurants will open in the fall in two new multiunit retail buildings under construction in an expanding North Charleston shopping center.

In part of a 15,000-square-foot building southeast of PetSmart in Cedar Grove Commons on Dorchester Road, Buffalo Wild Wings plans to open by late September, according to city Councilman Ron Brinson. Several other units remain available in the structure.

Across the parking lot in an 8,050-square-foot building under construction, Chicken Salad Chick should open by early to mid-October while First Watch plans to open by Thanksgiving, Brinson said in an email to his constituents.

European Wax Center also plans to have a shop in the smaller retail building, according to site plans.

Another outparcel in the shopping center will house a branch of Fifth Third Bank. Construction has not begun on the site, but it’s expected to be in operation by next spring, Brinson said.

He noted the developer informed him that tenant interest remains strong and a new phase of retail development is planned near discount grocery store Lidl, which is at the northwest end of the shopping center.

Cedar Grove also includes Ross Dress for Less, Ulta, Five Below, HomeGoods and Firehouse Subs.

Cup of java

A new place to get a caffeine boost is opening in the Lowcountry.

Scooter’s Coffee will host its grand opening Aug. 18 at 5641 N. Rhett Ave. in North Charleston where a Hardee’s restaurant once operated.

The cafe, owned and operated by Caroline Sbarra, Chandler Bigelow and Rebecca Bigelow, offers drive-thru service, specialty coffee and baked-from-scratch pastries. It’s open 6 a.m.-8 p.m.

Nebraska-based Scooter’s has other locations in South Carolina in Columbia, Greenville, Lugoff and Orangeburg. Others are in the works for Anderson, Sumter and Duncan near Spartanburg, according the company’s website.

On the way

A new restaurant is on the way to a major shopping destination in North Charleston.

Mario’s Peruvian Chicken plans to open at 4948 Centre Pointe Drive, next to Japanese restaurant Seasons of Tokyo.

It’s expected to welcome diners in the fall across from Tanger Outlets. Mario’s has one other Charleston-area location in East Cooper, next to Mount Pleasant Towne Centre.

Gassing up

A new convenience store and gas station is nearing completion in West Ashley.

Construction on a Greenville-based Spinx at 4000 W. Wildcat Blvd. is expected to be completed by September with an opening in the fall.

Under construction

A new discount store is being built between two massive housing developments in Berkeley County.

A project commencement notice recently was filed to begin construction on a new Dollar General store at 1851 State Road, also known as U.S. Highway 176.

The site is near Nexton and Cane Bay, where thousands of homes are on the ground or on the way in unincorporated parts of the county.

The C. Leon Dennis Trust of Summerville bought the 1.42-acre tract in May for $2.4 million from SC Summerville 176 II LLC, according to county land records.

Lights out

A fast-food restaurant in West Ashley recently went dark.

Hardee’s at 2563 Ashley River Road closed near the end of July. A sign on the door directs customers to another location on Savannah Highway.

Pet project

The proprietors of three breakfast restaurants in the Charleston area are branching out into pet care.

Jackie and Marc Cotone, who own the Eggs Up Grill locations in Cane Bay, Knightsville and Ladson, will hold a grand opening celebration for the Lowcountry’s first Dogtopia franchise noon-4 p.m. Aug. 19 at 619 Myers Road in Summerville.

The business offers day care, boarding and spa services and is offering 25 percent off select enrollment plans for the first 100 dogs that are enrolled.

The 6,400-square-foot shop is part of a multitenant building. Arizona-based Dogtopia has about 200 locations nationwide, with two in South Carolina in Greenville and Fort Mill.

Opening soon

An Alabama-based breakfast restaurant chain will open its second location in the Charleston area later this month in a space that once served morning meals.

Big Bad Breakfast is taking over the spot vacated in January by Cabana Burgers & Shakes at 2664 U.S. Highway 17, near the recently opened Bohemian Bull restaurant. A soft opening is set for Aug. 26, with the grand opening on Aug. 29.

Before Cabana Burgers & Shakes’ eight-month run at the site, the property housed an Eggs Up Grill location that closed in 2021.

The restaurant will be open 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily, serving a full breakfast menu along with lunch items such as sandwiches, burgers and salads as well as alcoholic beverages, including mimosas, beer and wine.

The other Lowcountry location, at 456 Meeting St. in downtown Charleston, opened in 2019.

Big Bad Breakfast has 17 other locations across eight states in the Southeast, with three more in the works. They stretch as far west as Little Rock, Ark., where another one is planned, to as far north as Louisville, Ky. Others are planned for Huntsville, Ala., and Durham, N.C., according to the company’s website.

Wellness at Walmart

The nation’s largest retailer is once again hosting a Wellness Day this weekend to get people on the path of healthiness ahead of a new school year.

More than 4,600 Walmart pharmacies across the U.S. will participate from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 19.

The promotion includes free screenings for glucose, cholesterol, body mass index, vision and blood pressure at select locations, as well as immunizations for a fee for the flu, mumps, measles, tetanus, HPV, rubella, chicken pox/shingles, whooping cough, hepatitis A & B and other maladies. COVID-19 vaccines are free. Go to walmart.com/wellnesshub to find a free event.