North and South Carolina’s 2025 Eater Award Winners | Eater Carolinas

"If you stumbled upon Merci in the Charleston neighborhood of Harleston Village, you might think you accidentally interrupted a chic, intimate dinner party. The dining room only seats 26, and it’s tucked inside a residential part of town, so it’s not a stretch to think the space might be someone’s home. Co-owners Mike and Courtney Zentner created a space as meticulously elegant as the celebrity-studded parties they put on with their catering and event company, the Drifter . The kitchen puts out plates based on the Zentners’ travels through Italy and France, with influences from local products. During the fall, expect to find farfalle stuffed with sweet potato and tossed in a brown butter sauce or beeliner snapper with lion’s mane mushrooms. The star of the menu is the very non-French, non-Italian beef Wellington, which is paraded out to your table before the kitchen slices it up. It’s a cozy dish that feels right at home in the warm, candlelit room." - Erin Perkins