December Events at Charleston Restaurant Circa 1886 Add History to Holiday Fun

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Charlestonians and visitors alike can put a historic twist on their holiday celebrations with several events offered by AAA Four Diamond award-winning Charleston restaurant Circa 1886. The restaurant, located on the grounds of the Wentworth Mansion®, will be hosting their annual Progressive Dinner, Dickens Dinner and New Year’s Eve dinner throughout December.

The restaurant’s Progressive Dinner is an annual tradition that takes visitors by horse-drawn carriage to several historic inns and restaurants for different dinner courses. Available on select dates Nov. 30 to Dec. 22 at 5:30 p.m., this popular event is already booked for four nights. This year’s dinner, themed “A Charleston Holiday,” begins at the Kings Courtyard Inn for hor d’oeuvres followed by dinner at Circa 1886 and dessert and coffee at the John Rutledge House Inn. Highlights of the meal include petite beef Wellington with chive cream, wild mushroom and Gouda quiche, Navan Cognac-infused eggnog and cinnamon-spiced apple cider, a candied garlic-glazed salmon with goat cheese potato mousseline, broccolini and citrus butter and a chocolate yule log. Cost for the dinner is $90 per person, including tax and gratuity but excluding beverages. Reservations and payment must be made seven days prior to the dinner.

At the Dickens Dinner on Dec. 19, guests will hear a lively retelling of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” while dining on a four-course meal themed around Dickens’ Victorian England. The dinner is $65 per person, not including tax, gratuity or beverages.

Guests can count down the New Year at Circa 1886 during two different seatings at its New Year’s Eve dinner. On Dec. 31, at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m., the restaurant will serve a five-course meal with a glass of champagne for $100 excluding tax, gratuity and additional beverages. Dinner highlights include cold, poached Maine lobster tail followed by a winter truffle soup and then house-cured duck breast prosciutto. Buttermilk blue cheese-crusted buffalo tenderloin with chestnut-infused grits, maple-glazed root vegetables and cabernet verjus demi glace is one of three choices of entrees, and a finale trio of desserts, including a hazelnut torte with Frangelico crème Anglaise, concludes the meal. Wentworth Mansion is also offering a special package, starting at $975 (room tax not included), to coincide with the dinner for visitors who want to continue the celebration into the night. It includes the New Year’s dinner for two, two commemorative etched champagne glasses and a bottle of champagne.

Set inside a historic carriage house on the grounds of the award-winning Wentworth Mansion® hotel at 149 Wentworth St. in Charleston, S.C., Circa 1886 is a AAA Four-Diamond award-winning restaurant offering southern cuisine with a twist. Executive Chef Marc Collins combines the French, English, Caribbean and African influences popular during 1886, the year the Wentworth Mansion and its two-story red brick carriage house were built, to invoke the culinary traditions of that era. Circa 1886 has also received numerous accolades, including the DiRoNA award for fine dining in North America, as well as the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. The restaurant is open for dinner Monday through Saturday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., and prices range from $7 to $10 for first courses, $18 to $33 for featured courses, and desserts start at $8.

For more information about booking any of the dinners, please visit www.circa1886.com or call (843) 853-7828. For information on booking stays at the Wentworth Mansion, please call (843) 853-1886 or visit www.wentworthmansion.com.

For Immediate Release
Oct. 18, 2007

For more information contact:
Laura Thompson, (843) 406-6261,
lthompson@mettlerpr.com
AIM: LEThompson23

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