MLILY Mattresses in Charleston, SC

From The Bachelor Mansion to a sprawling Southern dream home!

After getting engaged on Thursday’s Golden Bachelor finale, Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist tell PEOPLE they plan to start their lives together in Charleston, South Carolina.

“One of the things that I think fate played a hand in is the possibility of where we might wind up living,” Gerry says. “For the last couple of years, when my family gets together, I've talked about moving to South Carolina, and it's an idea I've toyed with. And then in conversation with Theresa, a private moment, she's saying, ‘Well, yeah, my son lives near Charleston in South Carolina.’”

Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Told Fiancée in the Fantasy Suite He Planned to Propose: ‘I Was Very Confident’ (Exclusive)

Gerry currently lives in Indiana and Theresa hails from New Jersey, but that conversation made it easy for the couple to decide where they should reside.

“And all of a sudden it's like, there's a big problem that is gone,” Gerry says. “The issue of compromising on where to live and how to reconcile families and all of that is, it's no longer an issue.”

The reality stars hope their families will visit often. “We want to have a house that's so inviting that everyone would want to come,” Theresa, 70, says. “Maybe a pool so they all want to come and have fun.”

Lucky for Gerry and Theresa, their kids have already bonded.

“Our daughters, they're like sisters now,” the father of two says.

Theresa agrees. “My daughter says, ‘Thank you for giving me two more sisters,’” the financial services professional says. “She has a sister-in-law already but now, two more sisters.”

After his hometown date with Theresa’s family, Gerry saw her family as his own.

“I looked at Jen and it was like, ‘This could be my own daughter,’” Gerry says of his fiancée’s daughter. “ I literally was having those thoughts because she was so kind and she was so sensitive to the situation, to her mom and to me. The whole dynamic just worked.”

Theresa and Gerry plan to bring their families together to celebrate Hanukkah this month. “We'll have a holiday dinner together with everyone,” Gerry says.

As they’ve continued getting to know each other over phone calls and text messages these last few months, Gerry and Theresa learned they share similar views on one very important — albeit unromantic — facet of combining their lives.

“Financially, we're the same,” Gerry says. “The way we handle money is the same.”

Theresa clarifies that that means the pair consider themselves “somewhat frugal.”

While Gerry and Theresa look forward to moving in together, they don’t have an exact plan for when that will happen.

Golden Bachelor’s Fiancée Says She Started 'Slinking Away' When Gerry Turner Misspoke During Proposal (Exclusive)

“We've had conversations and we've narrowed it down to a time window, but that's always in flux,” the retired restaurateur says. “We have two homes to sell. We have other events that we're going to have to deal with and so forth.”

One major event: their live, televised wedding that will air on ABC in January.

“??When you're in your 20s and you put something off for a year, it's a very small percentage of your life,” Gerry says. “In your 70s, the clock ticks faster. And I'm 100% certain I found the right girl for me. So it's like, why not?”

Gerry can’t wait for his future to unfold, but Theresa keeps him grounded.

“Fortunately, Theresa is the more patient, I think, of the two of us,” he says. “Me, I'm like, ‘Come on, let's go, it's time to go have fun. Life's a wasting. Let's go.’”

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The Golden Wedding will air Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Walking into Lost Isle, an open-air concept located at 3338 Maybank Highway, feels a little like walking onto, well, a lost island. The name is fitting for a spot that’s quirky without trying too hard, featuring chandeliers floating among the Spanish moss of live oak trees.

The outdoor space, which is covered by swaths of sail cloth, fits a niche that owner TJ Lynch said he and partners Thomas Wilson and Josh Taylor have been looking to fill for a while.“We’ve been trying to do this for a long time,” said Lynch, who noted that it can be difficult to find the right zoning for this kind of establishment. “It’s odd how many people don’t want you to cook in a way that we used to cook.”

And while modern zoning requirements may force live-fire establishments through more hoops than usual, the method of live-fire cooking appears to be as popular as ever.

Last year, finedininglovers.com declared that “open flames and heat” were “dominating the narrative” of dining out; earlier this year, Club Oenologique, an online publication for fine dining and wine lovers, stated, “The primal art of live-fire cooking is at the cutting edge of the restaurant world.”

Sure, Bon Appetit magazine deemed live-fire all the rage back in 2015 — which may just go to show that the trend is more than a trend and that the technique is now firmly situated in our modern dining landscape.

“It’s super casual. There are enough people around to answer your questions,” said Lynch of Lost Isle’s bar service model.

Lynch, who, along with Richard Knapp, opened New York City’s Mother’s Ruin, a “dive-meets-cocktail bar,” as described by Punch magazine, in 2011, is a fan of order-at-the-bar establishments. Lynch told the Charleston City Paper that after years of working in fine dining, he appreciated the laidback nature of a bar service model.

And while drinks are integral to all of Lynch’s spots, high quality doesn’t have to mean picky. As he told Punch in 2017, “Everything’s up for interpretation… You might not even get the same drink in the same kind of glass twice.”

After walking into Lost Isle and checking out the menu, guests can order food and drinks and seat themselves. If it’s cold out, Lynch said fire pits and blankets will keep guests toasty. Think of it like attending a best friend’s bonfire, with the added benefit of housemade cocktails, a curated wine list and fresh, made-to-order dishes.

Chef Josh Taylor is joined in the kitchen by sous chef Matt Priede and lead cook Sam Tucker. Formerly of Root Note Food, Taylor has crafted a seasonally focused menu with frequently changing specials and dishes, like whipped ricotta with smoked tomato, wood-fired oysters with chili butter and delmonico steak with chimichurri. Sticking to that laidback, casual vibe, Lynch said Lost Isle isn’t in the business of serving up $60 steaks; he and his team want visitors to have a “quality supper” without breaking the bank.

“Chef Josh and I had so many ideas,” Lynch said. “It was hard to narrow it down into a produce-able menu.” They managed, though, and although the rotating options help keep things interesting — “so we don’t get bored,” joked Lynch — there will be a core selection of grilled options, including a whole fish, tomahawk pork chop and cauliflower steak.

While Lynch hammers home the idea of a casual spot, he is sure to note that Lost Isle will stick to its posted hours. Currently the restaurant is open 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily, but it’s never a bad idea to check out the spot’s Instagram beforehand if the weather is particularly bad.

“We’ve been doing this way too long,” laughed Lynch. “A lot of people are just excited for something different. When options become very similar, it gets boring very fast.”

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In "2022 Dish Winter Dining Guide"

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TheThe team behind Italian favorite Le Farfalle (15 Beaufain Street, Charleston) is almost ready to open their second Lowcountry project Da Toscano Porchetta Shop (109 President Street). Chef Michael Toscano, partner Caitlin Toscano, and managing partner Joe Hochberg have transformed the former Gnome Cafe space into an old-world sandwich shop.

After traveling through Florence, Italy, Michael says he would think back to the porchetta and bollito sandwiches he found in small shops and street carts, and he wanted to create his own. In 2022, he made focaccia sandwiches out of the Le Farfalle kitchen and sold them once a week during lunch hours. He didn’t think his porchetta creations would be anything more than a pop-up, until he and Caitlin saw that the President Street restaurant space was available.

Now, the team is ready to open Da Toscano Porchetta Shop as early as next week. The space is totally different from its previous life as a vegan cafe. The floors are covered in well-worn tiles, a large marble counter frames the bar, meats rotate on several spits behind the dark wood counter, and there’s plenty of Sinatra on the soundtrack. “It should make you feel like you’re in Florence walking off the streets into a cafe,” says Michael.

The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, and a happy hour. Housemade focaccia is at the core of the menu — every sandwich is served on the Italian bread. For breakfast, there’s porchetta with a sunny-side-up egg or smoked salmon with whipped ricotta and everything bagel spices. At lunch, there’s more porchetta, but there’s also prime rib, rotisserie chicken with Parmigiano vinaigrette, and roasted potatoes cooked with the drippings from the beef and pork. The kitchen sources all the pork from local pig farmer Tank Jackson with Holy City Hogs.

There are no seats at Da Toscano Porchetta Shop. Customers walk in, order at the bar, and take their sandwiches (or salads) to one of the counter spaces in the cafe. “There’s a great energy you get by everybody hanging around and standing close to one another,” says Michael, “ It’s fun, and it’s also how it is in Italy. It creates a great environment.”

Once the doors are unlocked, Da Toscano Porchetta Shop will open Monday through Friday (with plans to open on the weekends in 2024), from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Take a tour of the space and the menus here.

Looking for Charleston’s best Chinese food? Sure, there’s plenty of Chinese-American spots to choose from, but where can you get something worth your money? From a restaurant with dishes from all over Asia to spots dedicated to Sichuan, there’s a small range of establishments offering Chinese cuisine, but they pack in a lot of flavors in the Lowcountry.

Look here for our top picks.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

North Charleston restaurant Jackrabbit Filly is like if someone said, “Make Chinese-American comfort food, but make it chef-y.” Owners Shuai and Corrie Wang opened the restaurant after years of running acclaimed food truck Short Grain. The menu has touches of Chinese and Japanese. There’s Sichuan dry pot, Mama Wang’s fried rice with lap cheong, and a highly-sought-after chirashi bowl. The restaurant recently added a dim sum brunch.

Looking for a dim sum dinner or lunch in the Lowcountry? Hit up Dragon Palace on Daniel Island for pork buns, shu mai, dumplings, and sesame balls. The interiors are retro fancy with ornate wood carvings and plenty of red. Dragon Palace also offers classics like chow mein, cashew chicken, and egg drop soup.

King BBQ offers Chinese barbecue with a Carolinas influence. The menu centers on smoked meats — five-spice duck, char siu ribs, ginger scallion kielbasa, and rotisserie chicken — and all the ways to serve those proteins — on a sandwich, rice, or noodles. Don’t miss the crispy shrimp toast sliders.

Downtown restaurant Beautiful South serves American-style takeout Chinese classics like General Tso’s chicken and Mongolian beef, but there’s also Cantonese roasted meats and Hainanese chicken. Try one of the inventive cocktails, such as the Love Your Enemies, which is a tequila and mezcal milk punch with a hint of oolong tea.

Eastside Chinese spot Hot Mustard may not be winning any culinary awards any time soon, but the restaurant’s takeout and delivery game is on point. Compared to other Americanized Chinese restaurants, Hot Mustard seems the most generous with the portions and the meat-to-noodle ratio. The pork lo mein or the sweet and sour chicken are reliable choices. This is eat-out-of-the-box-type of Chinese food — best served while sitting on the couch, watching Netflix, and in your pajamas.

Downtown restaurant Xiao Bao Biscuit (XBB) has been around since 2012. The kitchen draws from different regions across Asia and delivers on some solid Chinese choices. The mapo tofu is some of the best in town, and the dumplings always satisfy. XBB is usually packed with lively customers looking for Asian comfort foods. Starting during the pandemic, the restaurant began offering takeout.

If you haven’t heard of Old Li’s Restaurant on Savannah Highway in West Ashley, it might be because fans of the Chinese establishment would rather keep it a well-guarded secret. The can’t -miss menu item is the crispy Peking duck, but the oyster pancakes, dumplings, and squirrel fish are worth ordering as well. Old Li’s is BYOB, so plan accordingly.

James Island Sichuan restaurant Kwei Fei has enough peppercorns and punk-rock sensibility to keep any dinner interesting. Owners David Schuttenberg and Tina Heath-Schuttenberg moved from New York to Charleston for another restaurant project, but when that didn’t pan out, the culinary community lucked out when they decided to bring Sichuan flavors to town.

The restaurant usually full of locals enjoying lamb dumplings, spicy noodles, and tingly beef to the soundtrack of loud rock and funk music.

North Charleston restaurant Jackrabbit Filly is like if someone said, “Make Chinese-American comfort food, but make it chef-y.” Owners Shuai and Corrie Wang opened the restaurant after years of running acclaimed food truck Short Grain. The menu has touches of Chinese and Japanese. There’s Sichuan dry pot, Mama Wang’s fried rice with lap cheong, and a highly-sought-after chirashi bowl. The restaurant recently added a dim sum brunch.

Looking for a dim sum dinner or lunch in the Lowcountry? Hit up Dragon Palace on Daniel Island for pork buns, shu mai, dumplings, and sesame balls. The interiors are retro fancy with ornate wood carvings and plenty of red. Dragon Palace also offers classics like chow mein, cashew chicken, and egg drop soup.

King BBQ offers Chinese barbecue with a Carolinas influence. The menu centers on smoked meats — five-spice duck, char siu ribs, ginger scallion kielbasa, and rotisserie chicken — and all the ways to serve those proteins — on a sandwich, rice, or noodles. Don’t miss the crispy shrimp toast sliders.

Downtown restaurant Beautiful South serves American-style takeout Chinese classics like General Tso’s chicken and Mongolian beef, but there’s also Cantonese roasted meats and Hainanese chicken. Try one of the inventive cocktails, such as the Love Your Enemies, which is a tequila and mezcal milk punch with a hint of oolong tea.

Eastside Chinese spot Hot Mustard may not be winning any culinary awards any time soon, but the restaurant’s takeout and delivery game is on point. Compared to other Americanized Chinese restaurants, Hot Mustard seems the most generous with the portions and the meat-to-noodle ratio. The pork lo mein or the sweet and sour chicken are reliable choices. This is eat-out-of-the-box-type of Chinese food — best served while sitting on the couch, watching Netflix, and in your pajamas.

Downtown restaurant Xiao Bao Biscuit (XBB) has been around since 2012. The kitchen draws from different regions across Asia and delivers on some solid Chinese choices. The mapo tofu is some of the best in town, and the dumplings always satisfy. XBB is usually packed with lively customers looking for Asian comfort foods. Starting during the pandemic, the restaurant began offering takeout.

If you haven’t heard of Old Li’s Restaurant on Savannah Highway in West Ashley, it might be because fans of the Chinese establishment would rather keep it a well-guarded secret. The can’t -miss menu item is the crispy Peking duck, but the oyster pancakes, dumplings, and squirrel fish are worth ordering as well. Old Li’s is BYOB, so plan accordingly.

James Island Sichuan restaurant Kwei Fei has enough peppercorns and punk-rock sensibility to keep any dinner interesting. Owners David Schuttenberg and Tina Heath-Schuttenberg moved from New York to Charleston for another restaurant project, but when that didn’t pan out, the culinary community lucked out when they decided to bring Sichuan flavors to town.

The restaurant usually full of locals enjoying lamb dumplings, spicy noodles, and tingly beef to the soundtrack of loud rock and funk music.

We don’t know about you, but this holiday season, we are exclusively bellying up to holiday bars. We want it all — the lights, the trees, the ornaments the size of our heads — and based on the packed crowds we’ve seen around town this month, you want it too. The folks at Hotel Emeline, which is currently home to a festive winter courtyard, and at The Ryder, home of Little Pine (the holiday version of its bar and restaurant, Little Palm), have extended the decked-out dates, with both holiday iterations running through mid-January. What is it about festive holiday bars that inspires such cheer? In 2019, Eater Atlanta editor Beth McKibben theorized people just want to escape, if only for a spiked eggnog or two. “I do think these bars spark nostalgia in people and give them a little bit of comfort,” she wrote. So, whether you’re seeking comfort, cheer or just a really good Irish coffee, we’ve got a few holiday bar suggestions for you.

Hotel Emeline’s courtyard features a tree-lined yurt village this season. General manager of food and beverage at Emeline, Adam Jimenez, said: “From our festive decorations to The Den’s cheeky holiday cocktails to the winter courtyard’s tree-lined yurts — these activations were designed to evoke the holiday spirit and encourage conviviality. Our Winter Courtyard was inspired by our desire to transform the space into an entirely new holiday destination for our guests to discover.” You and your pals can rent a yurt through Resy. The “festive fondue experience” is $50 per guest and comes with guaranteed cozy vibes. If you’d rather skip the yurt experience, feel free to sit by the outdoor fire and order shareable plates and festive drinks from the Frannie & The Fox menu. Don’t sleep on “today’s mozzarella,” which is, in fact, made in-house daily.

Head to The Ryder hotel’s Little Palm bar and restaurant for its holiday iteration, Little Pine, which hopes to recreate an “authentic apres ski experience without leaving Charleston.” Guests can rent out gondolas, hang by the pool or just belly up to the bar for seasonal sips. Gondola reservations, which can be made at Resy.com or through the resy app, are available for 90-minute time slots for up to four guests.

Prohibition recreates itself as Christmas bar Sippin’ Santa this season, decked out in self-proclaimed “over-the-top Christmas” decor. The “tropical companion” to Handcraft Kitchen & Bar’s Miracle Bar, Sippin’ Santa is also an international pop-up franchise. Find the full drink menu online. All the festive cocktails are served in special mugs and glassware — here’s lookin’ at you surfin’ Santa — and drinks include tiki classics as well as new cocktails crafted just for this year.

Surround yourself with more ornaments than Santa has at the North Pole at the festively outfitted Blind Tiger bar. Sip on a seasonal cocktail — here’s lookin’ at you gingerbread espresso martini — and stay a while. Snap a few pics. Your Instagram feed will thank you.

If you prefer sipping your holiday drinks exclusively indoors, just pop over to The Den, located in Hotel Emeline’s restaurant, Frannie & The Fox. The martini bar has a special holiday menu, of course, but if you want to stick to its traditional offerings, we don’t blame you. Nothing says celebration like full martini service and a side of caviar, no? If you do choose a drink from bar manager Amanda Phelps’ ’90s-inspired holiday list, might we suggest the Sex on the Slopes, made with Absolut, cardamom and ginger-infused giffard peach, chambord, cranberry, orange juice and lime.

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