A Day with Grandparents: Square Onion and the Aquarium

On Saturday, my Grandparents drove down from Flat Rock, NC to spend some time with my youngest brother and me. It was a rather dreary day, but that didn’t stop us from good eats and fun. Our first item on the agenda was lunch. After several recommendations from random Charlestonians on twitter, I decided we needed to try the Square Onion, a gourmet lunch spot in I’on. Upon entering, we were greeted with a large chalkboard display of favorite menu items and daily specials. They specialize in soups, sandwiches, salads, desserts, and take-and-bake dinner items. Both their everyday menu and catering menu feature fresh and healthy elements and use local ingredients whenever possible.The tiny, but cozy building has a few tables with mismatched chairs in which you can easily sit back and enjoy your lunch or a cup of coffee with dessert. After chatting with the very friendly owner, Cary Zapatka, I learned that he and his wife opened their restaurant in 2003 after many years of working and managing other well-known Charleston restaurants. Cary previously worked at the Boathouse Restaurant, and his wife, Mary, managed Cypress and Magnolia’s.After taking much more time to decide than everyone else (as their menu has so many interesting items), I finally chose the Turkey Parm Sandwich – turkey with pepper Havarti, parmesan mayo, lettuce and tomato on rosemary focaccia. For my side I chose an orzo salad with tomatoes, feta, and onions. The little brother chose a Pastrami Sandwich with a side of chips. Both sandwiches were delicious and very fresh. My only complaint is that both the sandwich and side were pretty small for $8-9. Still, I will definitely return to the Square Onion! It’s such a cute place to have a quiet lunch with family or friends.


Next, we were off to the South Carolina Aquarium. Our aquarium isn’t the greatest, but I did lug around my camera like a tourist to snap some fun pictures.

Fish:Coral:Turtles:Stingrays and starfish (that you can touch!):Skunks. Don’t worry – they can’t spray. I thought they were so cute! Before grabbing some dinner, we stopped by Barnes & Noble for some books. Grandma says she will always buy us books if we promise to actually read them. Grandpa says, “to a certain age.” I’m 26 – I hope I have a few more years. I picked up a giant cookbook:
Do you know hard it was for me to put this book down and actually socialize with my friends? Very hard, but I did. Later that evening, my friend Rob participated in a spicy tuna roll challenge at Bushido that was featured on Man Vs. Food. Did Rob end up eating all 10 levels of habanero filled tuna rolls? To be continued…