Pastries, Grit, and a Stroll Down Memory Lane

Today we officially declared a ceasefire on all future-related brain activity. The million-dollar questions—Will Chris focus on flat glass window tinting or will the perfect shop location magically appear and he will go back to tinting cars? Should we stay in this town we don’t really like or roll our RV wheels somewhere new? Will we close on the property soon, and if so, do we build or just flip it?—all got shoved onto the back burner.

Instead, we decided to go on an adventure in Charleston, SC. It was about an hour’s drive, and wow, it was much busier and more congested than we remembered. Still beautiful, just different.

Our mission for the day was simple: no business talk, just good coffee and good food. First stop: a bakery we’d heard was the place to be. Apparently, everyone else had heard the same thing because the line wrapped around the block. We took one look and said, “Nope, not today.” Luckily, a newer bakery called Grit was nearby. No line, adorable space, and pastries that looked like they belonged in a glossy magazine. We grabbed croissants and a baguette (perfect for the soup I was planning for dinner). Chris declared their cold brew the best of the day, which is saying something because he sampled more than one.

Next, we tried a coffee shop in North Charleston that looked cool but… nope. The coffee was a letdown, and the ordering was all touch screen. No human interaction at all. For us, that’s basically coffee shop blasphemy. Coffee shops are supposed to be about conversation, community, and, you know, actually good coffee. I ordered an Orange Mocha that sounded like it was made for me, but I didn’t even finish it. Silver lining: future latte flavor idea for the blog.

For lunch, we went to Grace and Grit, which lived up to its reputation for Southern food and hospitality. We wanted to try their famous Grit Flight, but one of the flavors was pimento cheese, and that’s a hard pass for us. Instead, I had the Cheddar-Basil Quiche, and Chris went for the “Non-Traditional” Eggs Benedict with smoked ham, fried Brussels sprouts, poached eggs, a grit muffin, and mustard hollandaise. Everything was amazing—exactly the kind of Southern comfort food we’ve been missing since Maine.

We did try one more coffee shop later, but it was another miss. At this point, we’re just going to own it: we’re coffee snobs. No shame.

On the way back, we stopped at Daniel Island to snap a picture of our old coffee shop, Fired Urth. That was our second location, opened after selling our cupcake and coffee shop in North Carolina. Let’s just say… it was not our finest decision. The island wanted Starbucks-style speed and consistency, and we were over there lovingly handcrafting pour-overs that took five minutes. People literally drove past us to get their Starbucks fix. It was a tough time, and neither of us is particularly good at failing. But looking back, that experience taught us so much about ourselves and about customer service. Without it, we probably wouldn’t have been able to create what we did later with Whittle Bird Coffee + Kitchen.

Below is a photo I snapped of our old location.. not sure exactly what it is now something digital but definitely not food related!

Something good today: being able to go back to a place that was once a reminder of such hard times and see it in a different light. To realize that without those struggles, we wouldn’t have had all the great times that followed. Failure is only failure if you don’t learn from it. It took us a long time to come back from that terrible business decision, but I wouldn’t change the experience if I could. We are better for it today.

So today wasn’t about solving the future. It was about pastries, grit (in more ways than one), and remembering where we’ve been. And honestly, that feels like progress too.

P.S. The soup recipe I made to go with that amazing baguette can be found right here. And if you haven’t signed up for our weekly newsletter yet, the form is just below. All the recipes will be delivered straight to your inbox—no missing out!