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This is the second time in as many years that I’ve reviewed Palmira Barbecue . Two summers ago when I visited its original home inside the Port of Call food hall, I declared that “a significant new player” had “arrived on the local scene, and in a most unlikely location.” I was particularly impressed by owner/pitmaster Hector Garate’s tender, smoke-infused beef cheeks and chopped whole hog barbecue, which proved with one juicy bite to be the real deal.

Since the food was so good, I didn’t harp much on the obvious limitations of the setting. Ordering from a flat-screen display at a food court-like counter didn’t offer much of a craft barbecue experience. Neither did eating it at a spartan cafeteria-style table inside nor out on the big patio while packs of tourists ambled by on Market Street.



On top of all that, Palmira’s pits were way up in Dorchester County, so the meats had to be trucked downtown each day. Palmira Barbecue’s sign hangs off the side of Ashley River Road on Feb. 29, 2024, in Charleston.

Still, it bemused me to think that a herd of Ohioans seeking fried green tomatoes might stumble into the Port of Call courtyard and wind up eating genuine whole hog barbecue with hash and rice on the side. “That’s the kind of barbecue future I can heartily endorse,” I wrote, “and I’m excited to see what lies ahead for Palmira.” What lay ahead, it turns out, was Garate’s departure from Port of Call in November 2022 and a period of wandering in .

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