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Start a Top 5 for Cheap EatsEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in The Post and Courier and Charleston City Paper. Updated August 2026.
Brown Dog Deli · Downtown
This Calhoun Street deli serves a chili cheese dog piled with cheddar, yellow mustard and chopped white onions, a combination the Post and Courier flagged in its citywide hot dog roundup. It also placed runner-up for Best Sub Sandwich / Hoagie in the 2026 Best of Charleston readers' poll, a second category where the deli holds its own.
La Tapatía · Hanahan
La Tapatia is acclaimed for its donas, a Mexican doughnut fried and sugared like the American version but made with a yeasted dough and very little sugar. A Post and Courier food critic singled it out in a dedicated doughnut roundup, calling out the yeasted dough as the detail that sets it apart.
Off Track Ice Cream · Harleston Village
This downtown scoop shop partners with local producers and purveyors to make all-natural traditional and vegan ice creams, with waffle cones pulled fresh off the griddle in house. The Post and Courier's food editor named it a top pick in a dedicated ice cream roundup, and it placed runner-up for Best Ice Cream in the 2026 Best of Charleston readers' poll.