Jack of Cups Saloon is the kind of place that sounds too small to be what it is - a pint-sized kitchen a few blocks from the ocean on Folly Beach, with sidewalk booths and a sunny back courtyard, and a menu that is aggressively global: chana masala, red curry mac and cheese, bibimbap skillets, lamb vindaloo, coco lime noodle bowls, and a corn chowder that more than one reviewer said they wouldn't forget. The menu changes constantly, and it's a genuine haven for vegetarians and vegans as much as omnivores, which is rare enough on a beach that the regulars treat it like a secret. Co-owner and executive chef Lesley Carroll runs the kitchen, and the dishes clank their way out fast and come out fast too.
It's a beach-neighborhood bar first, so the crowd is Folly locals and the people who stay out after the beach closes - casual, friendly, the kind of spot where the live music starts just as you're leaving and you don't mind that you're about to come back for another round. It's cheap, it's small, and it's ranked in the top ten of the island for a reason.