Down South.....or, I Like Grits

Ok, so I mentioned on the Twitter feed that I was down in North Myrtle Beach. When my wife and I wee getting ready to go on our weeks vacation, we packed a bit of food, and went grocery shopping when we got here. I have also discovered that Myrtle Beach is home to most of the chain restaurants that you can find on the East Coast.

Needless to say, I thought we would mostly eat in.

So, we've eaten out for 2 total meals in the 2 days here, which isn't so bad. I tweeted them both, but wanted to provide some more insight here. So, here goes:

The first evening here, we went to a local tradition, a place that my wife has very fond memories of growing up visiting here. It's called Kings Famous Pizza. It's sort of a local treasure. Locals know it well, and (it seems) tourists don't flock there in huge numbers. For those who know Rehoboth (where I mostly vacationed as a kid), It reminds me of Nicola's, off of Rehoboh Avenue.

In any event, the pizza is above average street pizza, and the menu there (at Kings) is full of Italian food and subs. It seems like a nice hang out. I think we'll be back again.........

The second spot we hit was called Captain Jules Hurricane Restaurant. We got lunch/dinner there at the recommendation of a local. There I was able to get hush puppies, she-crab soup, and shrimp and grits. The she crab soup was not my favorite - too little crab, too much sherry (for my taste, anyhow). My wife loves hush puppies, so those were very well received, but really, it was all about the shrimp and grits.

That's right: Shrimp and Grits. Wow!

This was great! I love grits, the creamier the better. And adding shrimp, with a little garlic and roasted pepper made them even better. There was also tasso ham gravy - but the addition of ham didn't hurt anything. It just added a bit of smoky-pork-fat-goodness to the dish. I even ate the damn ham. It was that good.

I could go on for 2-3 more pages about how cool that was for me, to get good shrimp and grits in a backwoods little local hang out. The fact that it was recommended by a local really does the trick for me. When in doubt about where to get good meals, always ask a local.

There will be more updates as I travel, for sure, but I wanted to get this one out. I highly recommend Captain Jules. It was very good.