Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [135]
Ruby Seahorse Grill
108 Jungle Rd.
843–869–0606
Edisto Beach, SC
LD | $
When Philip Bardin, chef at the Old Post Office (South Carolina), recommends a place to eat, we listen. Philip knows good food, and when we asked him where to go on Edisto Island, other than his own restaurant, “The Ruby Seahorse” was his instant answer. And what should we eat? Again, no hesitation: “A pimiento burger.”
We found ourselves on Jungle Road near the ocean at a breezy eatery that looks pretty much like a million hamburger joints in other places. The short menu included a few salads and sandwiches, including an excellent French dip known as the Jacques Chirac and a classic grilled Reuben. Chicken wings are available by the dozen: medium, hot, teriyaki, and calabash.
However, Philip’s recommendation was quite specific, so we directed our attention to the hamburger menu. Here we found bacon-cheese, chili-cheese, and mushroom-Swiss burgers, but it was the “Original Dairy Bar Pimiento Burger” for which we came. This house specialty is a handsome, good-size hamburger mounded with a huge spill of mostly melted pimiento cheese—a good-tasting mess. And if you want to make it even messier, you’ll ask for it “all the way,” which means mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle chips.
Suitable to a hamburger, the dining experience is extremely informal. You wait in line at an order window through which the kitchen is visible. Once you’ve ordered and paid, you wait for the meal to be assembled on throwaway dishware, then carry it to a rickety table on a back porch where the perfume of the ocean provides priceless ambience.
SeeWee Restaurant
4808 US 17 N
843–928–3609
Awendaw, SC
LD | $$
A former grocery north of Charleston along US 17, SeeWee is now a hugely popular restaurant that includes a lovely outdoor area for al fresco dining. It still looks a bit like a roadside store—shelves stocked with supplies, and a higgledy-piggledy décor of nautical bibelots. But Charlestonians now come here for local seafood, down-home vegetables, and magnificent cakes.
Daily specials are chalked up on a board: country-fried steak, whole catfish, Jamaican jerk chicken, Buffalo shrimp or oysters (fried in a spicy Buffalo-wing style), fish stew by the cup or bowl. We are partial to the regular menu and its roster of fried seafood. In this part of the world, frying shrimp, scallops, and oysters is a fine art. You can get a platter or a sandwich with very good extra-large French fries and coleslaw on the side. Our shrimp were snapping firm and veiled in a fine, crisp crust.
One of the great only-in-the-South meals to get here is an all-vegetable plate. Choose four from a list of more than a dozen available, including such local faves as red rice, butter beans, fried squash, fried okra, and rice and gravy. We went for fried green tomatoes (deliciously al dente with a tangy smack), sweet potato casserole (super spicy), macaroni and cheese (dense and thick with cheese), and collard greens (salty, oily, luxurious).
As you walk in the restaurant you will see a shelf of the day’s layer cakes, and desserts are listed on a blackboard. When we saw chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, we knew we had to have a piece. So we ordered it as we ordered lunch. The cake came before the meal. “I cut this for you because I was worried there wouldn’t be any left by the time you were ready,” our waitress kindly explained as she set it down with our sweet teas. We are grateful she was watching out for us, because this cake was superb, as was our caramel layer cake and goober pie.
No bill arrives after the meal. When you’re done eating, the waitress will instruct you to go up to the cash register and tell the man your table number. He’s got your check and will tally it up and get you squared away.
Breakfast is served Saturdays only.
Sgt. White’s Diner
1908 Boundary St.
843–522–2029
Beaufort, SC
LD | $
Immediately