In 2018, Southern Living magazine named Aiken the South's best small town. Fighting Whiskey Road traffic or wading through Thursday-night throngs in The Alley, it can feel more like a teeming city.
But for many who live here, it retains the personality of a small town. Lunching in some of Aiken's long-standing restaurants confirms that view. Especially on and around Laurens Street, you run into many of the same people eating in the same places, having "the usual" and chatting with neighbors. Among friendly destinations where locals congregate to socialize as well as to eat is What's Cookin' Downtown.
A casual cafe, a source of take-home dishes and a popular caterer since 1991, the hospitable gathering place serves breakfast and lunch, from early-morning coffee to hot and cold sandwiches through mid-afternoon.
Anybody looking to start their day with colossal morning sustenance should tackle a dish called Pop's Heavenly Hash Browns. The plate holds a web of griddle-crisp potato shreds heaped with sausage, eggs, grilled jalapeño peppers, caramelized onions and melted Velveeta cheese.
Grits are smooth and creamy with pleasant pepper bite. Top them with bacon and cheese and they become a satisfying morning meal.
Biscuits are another breakfast companion that can rise to the role of featured player when they are served by twos, split in half and covered with plush sausage gravy.
While the catering and take-out side of What's Cookin' Downtown is known for such casseroles as shepherd's pie, chicken Florentine, lasagna and splendid in-season tomato pie, the dine-in lunch menu sticks to sandwiches, soups and salads.
Salads can be nothing more than well-dressed greens with or without cold cuts. Or you can have a scoop of chicken or tuna salad surrounded by freshly cut fruits and vegetables.
Sandwich specials written each day on a brown paper scroll above the order counter always merit attention. Among hot ones to look for are a Cuban, a soft-shell crab po boy and peppery pot roast. The meat loaf sandwich is a smart balance of meat, melted Swiss cheese and cranberry relish on grilled marble rye.
Grilled hot dogs come bedded in toasted New England-style buns. Optional garnishes include sauerkraut, grilled mushrooms, slaw, cheese and chili.
When chili is on the scroll as a lunchtime special, I am a happy eater. This is not typical lunch-counter chili that starts with cut-rate hamburger meat. It is made of tenderloin with plush natural texture that is very different from the pebbly feel of ordinary ground beef. It is quietly spiced, onion-sweet and contains a few beans for starchy balance. If chili alone is too focused, have it spread across a field of Tater Tots and blanketed with cheese.
Many of the lunch crowd come for hand-fashioned hamburgers, which are offered as singles and doubles. A pair of grilled five-ounce patties draped with gobs of buttery house-made pimento cheese on a toasted bun is named the Shealy. That's in honor of Harry and the late Margaret Shealy, well-known citizens fundamental to the temperament that continually earns our town its status among the best.
What's Cookin' Downtown: 123 Laurens St. NW, Aiken, SC. 803-649-1068. https://www.whatscookindowntown.com/.
