Shane and I had a fabulous trip to SC this weekend to visit my Granny. I guess technically we were slightly North of Low Country, so we’ll call it Medium Country. North of Charleston but well south of Myrtle Beach. We had several really good visits with my grandmother and ATE OUR FACES OFF. If you ever want to take a spin through Medium Country, take the Granny tour:
Rice Paddy - Georgetown, SC – The Rice Paddy is located on Front Street, the bustling main drag of downtown Georgetown. Rice Paddy never disappoints, AND they are easily accessed with a walker. Always an amazing menu. I had Red Snapper stuffed with shrimp and spinach, granny had crab cake with grits, and shane had quail with GRITS and GRAVY. WINNER.
http://www.ricepaddyrestaurant.com/
Litchfield Restaurant - Litchfield, SC – this family favorite has been a breakfast standard for 30 years!! Although it has changed hands several times, the Litchfield Restaurant remains unchanged to my mind, right down to the homemade peanut brittle for sale at the register. This beachy diner consistently delivers BREAKFAST ALL DAY chock full of yummy southern charm every time. And at this joint, Granny is literally a celebrity. As she noted, “Even the cooks come out to see me”. I had the same Western omlet with hash browns and white toast that I have been ordering since 1980. With link sausage for good measure. Granny had the corned beef hash and grits with rye toast. Shane had the Get-Ur-Done, which was his typical pancake scrambled eggs bacon combo, with a very unfortunate and unnecessary reference to Larry the Cable Guy. Can’t win ‘em all. I will let the LTCG reference slide since our tab was on the house. Seriously, when was the last time your tab was on the house? NEVER. Observe, the power of Granny. I’m glad people recognize.
Carlos, I can’t go to the LD without thinking of you trying to pocket the waitress’ tip because “somebody left money on the table” circa 1982. CHA-CHONG!! There was a dollar on a table when we walked in, and I really wanted to swipe it in your honor.
Litchfield Beach Fish House – Litchfield, SC – Another family fave. Last time I ate there was on shane’s and my anniversary when I was helping granny move into her nursing home. I wish they still had their Ms. Pacman machine, but otherwise, the Fish House is still solid. Plus, their Early Bird Specials are a very good deal. $9.95 for a ton of food but you have to be seated by 6pm to get the special. I think we came in about 50 minutes ahead of Early Bird cutoff. I had a cup of Low Country Clam Chowder and like 20 hush puppies. Granny had the Jumbo Shrimp platter and shane had the Creek Shrimp Platter. All tasty…I appreciate that the Fish House states on the menu what sort of base each of their soups has – broth, cream, tomato, etc. This should be a requirement for all menus. Would help me avoid debacles such as the unfortunate pea soup order of March ‘09.
http://www.litchfieldbeachfishhouse.com/
Frank’s Outback – Pawleys Island, SC – Frank’s is my fave restaurant in the Medium Country. Every meal I have ever eaten there has been AMAZING. Plus they serve Lambic. Always big points for Lambic. And they have this amazing indoor-outdoor setup where it seems like you are indoors but you are outside on cushy furniture with trees and drapes and lights and KITTIES RUNNING AROUND and a fireplace when needed. No need for fireplace last night. But it just occurred to me that the indoor-outdoor setup is why there was smoking allowed. GENIUS. We were at Frank’s for a Charity Auction but the food was still damn good. Mahi, filet mignon, shrimp, taters, lemon squares, and OPEN BAR. Granny adhered strictly to her tonic and lime mocktail while her two friends got HOUSED on vodka and red wine. I guess it is never too late to learn a lesson about mixing alcohol, tsk tsk. Granny told me that SOMEDAY she would tell me her bad gin story. I wanted to counter with mine – gin n milk – but thought better of it. I want to take shane back to Frank’s when we can order off the real menu.
http://www.franksandoutback.com/
Honorable mention goes to my Grandmother’s Country Club for their brunch buffet. It was everything you could want in a brunch buffet and more – from curried pork with rice soup to quiche to Thanksgiving style carving station including cranberry sauce – EXCEPT, they had this massive plate of devilled eggs that were filled with MAYO and PAPRIKA. No egg yolk. What happened to the egg yolk? Somebody fucked that shit up. I still had to eat 2 eggs before I was positive they had f-ed them up.
What a fun weekend. I HATED coming back to reality today.
(And the next time you see me and wonder why I look like a human sausage, now you know!!)
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