Peninsula Grill will be inducted into Nation's Restaurant News' Fine Dining Hall of Fame. The seven-year old Charleston favorite will one of just ten fine dining restaurants nationwide to be inducted this year as a salute to their excellence in food quality, service, ambience, and leadership in training and motivating staff. Executive Chef Robert Carter will accept the honor on Sunday, May 23 during the most important/highest circulation restaurant trade publication's Fine Dining Hall of Fame luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago.

"It is an honor to be associated with such outstanding examples of contemporary restaurants," states Carter. "Although we each represent our own distinct styles, we share a common devotion to presenting great food in superb surroundings with flawless service." Peninsula Grill, which opened in 1997 as one of Esquire's "America's Best New Restaurants," is a recipient of the coveted DiRoNA Award of Excellence and is one of only two restaurants in South Carolina with a Mobil four-star rating.

Executive Chef Robert Carter's robustly, sophisticated Southern cuisine, complemented by a remarkably knowledgeable service staff and perennial Wine Spectator Award of Excellence wine list, has parlayed Peninsula Grill's ranking as one of "America's 50 Best Hotel Restaurants" by Food & Wine for the past two years. In the vanguard of what has become Charleston's very dynamic dining scene, Peninsula Grill has been named Best Restaurant for six years of the seven-year history of a local publication's annual Best of Charleston Readers' Poll. Indeed, the restaurant's fans have insisted that some of Carter's dishes such as his wild mushroom grits with lowcountry oysters stew have been menu staples since Peninsula Grill opened. And his ultimate coconut cake has become de rigueur for Charleston brides, while garnering accolades from the likes of The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and on the Food Network's Food Finds and spawning a successful mail order business. Representing a buffet of culinary expertise, fellow 2004 inductees are: Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco; Washington, DC's Citronelle; The Dining Room at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV; Flagstaff House in Boulder, CO; Boston's Hamersley's Bistro Jean Georges in New York City; Mr. Stox in Anaheim, CA; Chicago's Tru and Vincenzo's in Louisville, KY.

Unabashedly swank, Peninsula Grill is a respectful re-interpretation of the masterful American dining establishments of the first half of the 20th century, which defined "class" for generations. While dignified and decidedly plush, there is a distinguishing conviviality about the food and atmosphere - a reflection of the successful meld of Old Charleston's inviting warmth with the cosmopolitan excitement of New York. A sense of refinement pervades the snazzy ambiance, in which the serious food delivers a playful punch and the service sets new standards.

For more information, please visit www.peninsulagrill.com , and for reservations and information, call (842) 723-0700.

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Media Contact: Chris Nobles +1 843-805-3045 cnobles@charlestoncvb.com