kitchen countertopsin Charleston, SC

As a frequent visitor to Charleston, I have marveled at the beauty of the state. During a recent visit, I also took a side trip to Boston, traveling by air. I am a physician as well as a patient and worker-safety advocate. So when my driver in Boston asked me how he would identify me, I responded that I would probably be the only one wearing a mask.

I also carry a portable carbon dioxide monitor to screen for unhealthy air environments. The carbon dioxide concentration in outside air is about 420 parts per million (up from about 325 ppm in the 1970s). CO2 measurements are used as a surrogate for fresh air.

Charleston International Airport appeared to have some of the unhealthiest air I have encountered in an indoor building. During the two hours I waited to board my plane, the airport’s CO2 levels increased from 1,183 to 1,479 ppm as the waiting area filled. I could not identify any air cleaning units, such as upper-room UVC; nor could I feel air flow, so it was doubtful that central HEPA filters would have been effective. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, central heating and air systems should have a MERV 15 HEPA filter in order to remove 85% of airborne pathogens. Prior to the pandemic, the society recommended an indoor CO2 level of 870 ppm or below.

By comparison, the CO2 level of the crowded waiting area at Boston Logan International Airport was between 549 and 690 parts per million when I returned. The level in a Mount Pleasant grocery store was measured at 750 ppm during my last visit there.

Good ventilation is one of the keys to preventing respiratory disease. A recent article in Nature magazine found a 9% increase in the detection of airborne pathogens for every 100 ppm increase in carbon dioxide.

Besides the concern about the spread of infectious disease — and not just COVID; I do not wish to spend thousands of dollars on a trip and be down for several days with even a cold — there is also the concern regarding cognition and worker performance. For example, a study by Harvard professor Joseph G. Allen and others found that compared to a CO2 level of 550 ppm, cognitive performance decreased by 15% at 945 ppm and by 50% at 1,400 ppm. In an industry as crucial as the airline industry, cognitive performance should be optimized. It should be noted that HEPA filters and UVC upper-room lighting do not lower carbon dioxide levels.

Few people, if any, are wearing masks these days. One-way masking is inefficient and will not stop viral spread via the eyes.

N95 masks will provide some protection, but they themselves will not provide the desired protection. Thus we need either source control with mandatory masking, which is currently impossible to implement, or improvements in ventilation. Logan Airport chose the latter and implemented it very effectively.

Charleston International Airport needs to upgrade its indoor ventilation and heating and air conditioning systems. This requires more than just an upgrade of filters, because the increase in resistance to produce adequate airflow often requires new HVAC units, which may also require electrical upgrades. In addition, lowering the CO2 level by increasing the mix of outside air is imperative for both worker and traveler safety.

Dr. Kevin Kavanagh is a retired physician and the board chairman of Health Watch USA.

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Bearcat was supposed to open last spring, but owner George Kovach isn’t lamenting the past. Rather, the former Chicago fine dining chef is looking forward to the future when the new restaurant’s dining room opens Nov. 14 at 25 Magnolia Road in West Ashley.

Avondale diners can already get a taste of what Kovach and head chef John Coleman are cooking at Bearcat’s bar, now open at the same address with smoked chicken yakitori, grilled Steamboat Creek oysters with creamed leeks and more. It’s hours of operation are 5 p.m.-midnight Tuesday through Saturday.

“Now’s where the work begins,” Kovach said. “It’s all about getting everything refined and making sure that the guest experience is the best we can provide.”

An alumnus of Michelin-starred Chicago restaurants Elizabeth Restaurant, Ever, Acadia and Band of Bohemia, Kovach moved from Chicago to Charleston at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of turning an elevated pop-up he hosted in a friend’s apartment and local dining establishments into a full-service restaurant.

After months of delays, that goal finally became a reality Oct. 27, when the 30-seat bar area next to Bearcat’s dining room held a soft opening. Similar to the lounges inside high-end tasting menu restaurants — like three-Michelin star restaurant Jean Georges’ adjoining Nougatine bar in New York City — Bearcat’s bar is serving its own small menu of shareable plates and cocktails, including a boozy Vietnamese iced coffee and frozen strawberry daiquiri with white rum and green chartreuse.

Coleman, Bearcat’s head chef, has worked in multiple well known local kitchens, including Chubby Fish and Parcel 32, where he served as executive chef before the restaurant announced it would not return to service after the state’s dine-in ban was lifted amid the pandemic. Coleman, who met Kovach through a mutual friend, has lived in the Avondale neighborhood for five years.

KINGSTREE — Cradling a watermelon just plucked from the ground, Tank Jackson yells “SOOIE!” A host of hogs rushes over.

A charismatic farmer sporting a long beard and brown hair held back by a Bowens Island ball cap, Jackson smashes the melon on the ground for the pigs to devour.

The diversity of Jackson’s hog herd is evident as they descend upon the sweet fruit. Some are brown with floppy ears and big, hanging bellies. Others have light brown hair with dark black spots. Small pigs shadow the sows, as they wean from their mother’s milk. The adult pigs are some of the most active we’ve ever seen, whether they’re digging in the dirt with their noses, called rooting, or trotting through the tall grassy area near the rear of Jackson’s 42-acre farm.

Joined on the farm by sheep, chickens and a guard donkey named Nacho, the pigs surround Jackson when he comes around, possibly because he is often bearing edible gifts like that almost-ripe watermelon. The chef customers Jackson is constantly interacting with are drawn to the Southwest Georgia native, too.

Jackson’s favorite spot on the farm is a large dirt mound created by the McGill family, who owns this 176-acre plot of land. Here, Jackson can look out at Double Stuf, Pricilla, Houdini and the rest of the pigs that roam these grassland pastures.

A man with a seemingly endless supply of stories, Jackson has us laughing out loud one moment and listening intently the next, as he shares the difficulties of staying relevant in a business dominated by large corporations. Jackson, who calls his venture Holy City Hogs, has a simple business model: he sells pigs, often whole, to restaurant chefs in Charleston, Nashville, New York City and Miami.

Lowcountry chefs like Ben Berryhill, Jeremiah Schenzel, Shuai Wang and Michael Toscano have been working with Jackson for years. He also sells pigs to celebrity chefs like Sean Brock — of Husk and McCrady’s fame — and Francis Mallman, whose 1884 Restaurante in Mendoza, Argentina, earned acclaim for its masterful display of live-fire cookery.

At the start of each business relationship, the chefs were surely charmed by Jackson’s good nature and sense of humor, but that is not why they have continued to purchase pork. As Jackson likes to put it: “I get us in the door. Our hogs keep us there.”

Nurtured by nature

Driving a bright yellow 38-year-old GMC Sierra 1500 stamped with the McDonald’s Golden Arches, Jackson greets us at the entrance to his farm in Kingstree, once a main artery to the state’s railway system.

Jackson’s old-school pickup is well suited for this sprawling open field. There are no pig pens, barriers or buildings. Pigs trot through fields shaded by more than a dozen towering oak trees. The only man-made hindrance on the entire farm is solar-powered partitions, which help promote selective breeding and so-called regenerative farming. Put simply, they keep the pigs from roaming too far, allowing Jackson to rotate groups around the farm.

As they’re moved, Jackson scatters turnip top, watermelon, okra, radish and peanut seeds for the pigs to stomp into the ground. In between rolls in the mud to cool themselves off, the pigs graze on the crops and acorns falling from the oak trees. In addition to supplementing the pigs’ food supply, this rotational grazing method rejuvenates the soil while sequestering carbon.

“They constantly have natural forage, and that’s the key to our pork,” Jackson said. “It’s flavored by the terroir of the land.”

When he was just getting started over a decade ago, Jackson came across restaurant chefs who wanted specific breeds of hogs. Years later, a herd that started with one American Mulefoot — which Jackson named Kevin Bacon — has grown to include pigs of all shapes, sizes and colors. He has selectively grown his herd to include older heritage breeds like the Duroc, Ossabaw and Chinese Meishan to grow quickly and breed abundantly.

With black and white spots and long snouts, Jackson’s Ossabaw hogs are hand-delivered to Brock in Nashville, while Meishans will be on the menu at new North Charleston restaurant King BBQ before the end of the year. Red Drum, Daps Breakfast & Imbibe and Le Farfalle are just a few of the Charleston-area restaurants where diners can currently find Holy City Hogs pork on the menu.

In mid-October, Jackson and Le Farfalle chef and co-owner Michael Toscano drove to Southwest Georgia near the Alabama border to pick up eight Iberian pigs. A rare Spanish breed with dark skin, a sparse coat, pointed snout and long, slender legs, these pigs are used to create the thinly sliced jamón Ibérico served at top Spanish restaurants.

With the addition of the Iberian pigs to Jackson’s herd, Holy City Hogs will gain the pigs’ top attributes through selective breeding. Toscano says everything the first generation farmer does will be elevated.

Toscano met Jackson shortly after Le Farfalle’s 2016 opening. Almost immediately, he was struck by Jackson’s willingness to work closely with chefs.

Toscano was looking for a transparent operation with a farmer he could trust, not easy to find in an industry driven by efficiency. Having found one in Jackson, Toscano started ordering whole hogs to make house-made sausage and loin chops. Enamored with the pork and its origin story, he tweaked his meatball and Bolognese recipes — normally made using a combination of pork and beef — to call for pork as the lone meat source.

A central marketplace vendor for the past eight years at Charleston International Airport is being shown the door.

Caviar & Bananas was given 90-days’ notice Oct. 27 by Delaware North, the firm that operates food concessions at the state’s busiest terminal, that its long-term lease through 2029 is being terminated, according to Joe Caradonna, CEO of the locally based restaurant’s three locations.

“It was a bit of a shock and very disappointing. I could understand if they were breaking even and not making any money, but to kick us out for no reason is very unfortunate,” Caradonna said. “It was doing extremely well. It was a multimillion-dollar unit.”

Under the lease terms, Delaware North did not have to give a reason for terminating the lease, Caradonna said.

The restaurant must leave by late January.

Airport spokesman Spencer Pryor referred questions about the lease decision to Delaware North. A representative of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company did not immediately respond for comment.

Caviar & Bananas’ future at the airport came into question last spring when Delaware North unveiled a makeover of the terminal’s food vendors, including the addition of Starbucks cafe to replace Caviar & Bananas.

At the time, Caradonna said he had not been notified of a plan to bring in a new vendor to the C&B location and was assured “there are no plans to make changes with our unit currently.”

A Starbucks representative did not immediately respond for comment.

Caradonna noted he asked a Delaware North official if the reason for the lease termination was something his company did wrong and was told, “We are just looking to put a fresh face in the airport.”

Caradonna said he enjoyed working with Delaware North, but believes it is wrong to replace a local vendor with a corporate giant. He called the move “a step down.”

He also said the decision to terminate the lease won’t affect plans by Caviar & Bananas to add a new location in the Charleston region. He hopes to announce details by the end of the year.

Caviar & Bananas has two locations on the Charleston peninsula — on George Street and Ashley Avenue.

Business

At the airport, Delaware North hasn’t announced all of its planned changes, but last spring the company said, in addition to adding the coffee shop, it would transform an idle kiosk once operated by Caviar & Bananas into a grab-and-go cafe called Flight Ready and replace the Harvest & Grounds restaurant with a bar that symbolizes the Holy City. The grab-and-go cafe is already in operation.

Another restaurant, to be operated by an unnamed Charleston chef, is slated to take over the space where the Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear Grill operates in the central marketplace. On Concourse B, work is underway to replace the Samuel Adams Brewhouse with a satellite operation for North Charleston brewery Commonhouse Aleworks.

Food-and-beverage offerings unaffected by the changes include Burger King, Cinnabon, DeSano Pizza Bakery, Dunkin’ Donuts and a Harvest & Grounds cafe on the pre-security side of the terminal.

A new Chick-fil-A is on the way in a space once leased to the Eddie Bauer clothing chain, but it is coming through Hudson News, a New Jersey-based company that provides retail services at airports. The official launch date is set for Nov. 20, though the new restaurant could make its debut a few days earlier under a soft opening, Pryor said.

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Superior Construction, an American family-owned infrastructure contractor, was selected by the city of Charleston, S.C., to construct a bicycle and pedestrian bridge connecting West Ashley and downtown Charleston.

The Ashley River Pedestrian Bridge will be the first cable-stayed movable structure in the country. Its hydraulic swing span components will allow the bridge to open horizontally rather than vertically, improving marine clearance.

Funded by the city of Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, this design-build project will be divided into five segments spanning from West Ashley to the east end of the project limits at Lockwood Drive. A key feature of the proposed design is an iconic steel V-shaped pylon (see attached renderings), providing a bold architectural statement. Meanwhile, its outward-leaning stay cable plane will significantly reduce the risk of ice on the cables falling onto the pedestrian path.

Currently, commuters traveling on U.S. Highway 17 between West Ashley and Downtown Charleston must cross the Ashley River on two parallel bridges with narrow sidewalks. More than 63,000 cars cross these shared-use bridges daily. The high traffic volume resulted in more than 100 bike- and pedestrian-related crashes between 2014 and 2019 — necessitating comprehensive multi-modal transportation options.

To enhance the connectivity between Downtown Charleston and West Ashley, Superior and its design partner, Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson Inc. (JMT), developed a preliminary design for the pedestrian bridge that will mirror the functionality of the existing adjacent highway bridge. Their decision to construct the west and east approaches as boardwalk structures will enable the team to avoid delays from relocating existing Dominion Energy power lines and accommodate future planned greenway beneath the pedestrian bridge.

"This project presents some unique challenges, including performing work near high-voltage underground power cables and meeting environmental requirements specific to native marshlands," said Superior Construction's Carolinas Division Manager, Richard Kirkman. "We've devised innovative technical concepts alongside our design partners to resolve each issue and fulfill the city's need for safe, pedestrian-friendly transportation options."

The team will construct the swing span bridge in the open position to minimize marine traffic impacts. The scope of work also includes new movable bridge operations with CCTV monitors, a touchscreen display and discrete pushbuttons for the gates. Additionally, they will provide a trailhead with benches, water stations and bike repair stations.

Construction is estimated to begin in April 2024, with expected completion in early 2027.

For more information, visit superiorconstruction.com.