Holiday weekend in Charleston/Savannah

You can't really tell a good barbecue buffet from the looks of it. 

I ate at the Pink Pig a couple of years ago. My husband and I were driving from the Savannah airport to Hilton Head, and only found the place because we'd done a Mapquest map in advance. We arrived around 2 p.m. on a Saturday, and they were closing up after lunch and "pausing" before reopening later for dinner.  They wouldn't allow us to sit at a table in the restaurant, but did let us buy two sandwiches in a "to-go" bag and eat them sitting on the front porch. 
 
I'd classify the food as "OK."

rumaki-
Thanks so much for the reply.  Such a shame it isn't better, since the place just screams ROADFOOD on the outside.

Is it a bbq parlor?

It's barbecue, fish, "chicken fingers," and a few sides.  The dining room is "cute" -- sort of a porky version of the late-lamented Mrs. Peter's Chicken Dinners in Kansas City, Kansas. 
 
I can't tell you how much I WANTED to love this place.  My father is retired and lives in Hilton Head, and I usually fly into Savannah and drive from there when I visit him.  This place is "on the way," more or less,  and would be ideal if the barbecue was outstanding.  Please note that all I had was the chopped BBQ pork sandwich and the iced tea; I can't speak for anything else.  The person at the order counter was pleasant enough, but she did sort of hustle us out since they were about to close.
 
As I said, the BBQ isn't bad, but I would be unlikely to make a special trip to visit it.
 
That said, based on the testimonials, some people must really like it.
 
Here's the web site:  http://www.the-pink-pig.com/  

rumaki

I can't tell you how much I WANTED to love this place.  

I would feel the exact same way.  But if the food isn't good enough, what can you do.  I will still plan on stopping in, especially now that I know their hours.  Hopefully, the inside is as interesting as the outside!

annpeeples


Beautiful, absolutey beautiful report. And you are cute,too!

Nancypalooza-
I'm curious if you have been to the Duke's in Orangeburg lately.  I noticed that there is a negative readers review, along with Michael Stern's positive one, on this website.  Do they just have the basics or is it a full buffet like the Duke's in Walterboro? 

No, in fact the Orangeburg location was the first one I ever visited and I probably haven't been back since the 90s--but it was pretty sparsely populated then.  I've been to the Walterboro location several times in the last couple years and one in a tiny town in the lowcountry, and those I can vouch for.
 
edited to add: I didn't completely answer your question.  I don't recall them having as many items as the Walterboro buffet did.  I remember the pork, the chicken, beans, slaw and potato salad, and white bread.  Could have been more, but it was a long time ago.

buffetbuster -

Thank you for taking us along.  Everything looks so
good.  The food.  The landscapes and the architecture.

Saturday January 3 cont.

After two plates worth of food at Duke's BBQ, I was quite full.  Still, I wanted to check out one more place before heading back to Charleston.  My destination was Morrison's Burger Hut in Hollywood, which was where I was driving to when I was waylaid by the sign to Walterboro.  Just to make sure, I called Morrison's and asked what time they close.  The woman on the phone told me she didn't know what time she was going to close that day.  Uh, ok.  Do you think you will be open for another hour?  The woman said yes and I was on my way.

And I'm so glad I did.  This eatery is tiny and has a magnificent paint job.



Actually, I'm going to say no to the question in that last photo, but I'm going to order something anyway.  Here is the menu:


Even though burger is in the name, the Sterns didn't care for it.  And after looking at their photo of the burger, I wanted no part of it.  The chili dog was a much more appetizing option.  So, I got one with chili and onion.


The chili here was more of a wet chili hot dog sauce and was sweet rather than hot.  The onions tasted very fresh.  Despite being one messy hot dog, this was definitely a winner!  An order of crunchy crusted onion rings were a good side order.


The one woman operation that is Morrison's Burger Hut is owned by Miriam Morrison Green.  Needless to say, my taking photos of everything sparked a conversation.  She proudly showed me where her little place was recently written up in a Charleston magazine.

I asked if she knew that her place was reviewed on Roadfood.  She said no and I went to fetch it from my car.  It then hit me that this wasn't the typical review and that the Sterns did not like her burger.  Oh well, too late now.  I gave it to her and she still beamed with pride.

As I sat and ate my food at the single picnic table, she came out and asked if I would please sign her guestbook, which I was happy to do.

Since she was already outside, I asked if she would mind posing for a photo.  She said yes and said she knew exactly where to stand.

I remember thinking that was an odd place to pose.  It wasn't until I looked at the photo later that it looks like she is sitting at the picnic table that is painted on the side of her building.  Very clever!

Before I left, a beautiful blue mustang pulled up and a couple in their 50s got out and ordered food.  This wouldn't normally be noteworthy, except the woman had a huge camera and was taking photos.  When she saw me watching her, she just smiled and laughed.  So that is what I look like!

To make her feel better, I told her I had just been photographing everything.  She came over to chat and explained that they have a blog and her photos would end up there.  She wrote down the site, which can be found here:

 http://www.mustangrolling.blogspot.com/
 
As you can see, they already have their post about Morrison's Burger Hut up.  It seems Mrs. Green was getting lots of attention that day!

I did take a photo of the couple and their car.  But they seem to enjoy being anonymous on their blog, so I'm not going to post it.

When Mrs. Green found out I was from Pittsburgh, she asked if I was a Steelers fan.  Of course, I said and asked her why.  She told me her husband was a huge fan, which makes her a fan too, she said.  I got back in my car, drove to Charleston and checked into my hotel, just south of the city.

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1415&RefID=1415

More to come.....

BB -

What's the difference between the burger and the maxi?

CTD-
Looks like 40 cents.  Honestly, I didn't ask or pay any attention to the burgers.  Michael Stern's photo scared me off!
 
If I had it to do over again, I would have tried a milkshake.

Saturday January 3 cont.

With the NFL playoffs on tv that night, having a long drawn out dinner was out of the question.  In fact, something I could take back to the hotel was ideal.  So after relaxing in the room for a while, I headed out to my dinner destination, Fishnet Seafood.  Located just ten miles south of Charleston on Johns Island, it is yet another Roadfood joint in an old gas station.


Since there is no place to sit and eat here, all the orders are to go.  You can pick a fish out and have it fried and they have plenty to choose from.

Instead, I just ordered off of the menu.

#10, 15 shrimp and flounder was my choice and I had a seat and waited.  This allowed me to watch the constant stream of people coming and going.

This is a very popular place!

After fifteen minutes, my order was done and I took it back to my hotel.  Here is what the food looked like.
 
The shrimp were small, but tasted very fresh as did the flounder.  What I love about the way they fry things here is that the breading is oh, so light, instead of overwhelming the seafood.


The red rice was just okay, and I ate very little of it.  The other item you see is the Jesus crab. 

The rest of the world knows them as deviled crab, but at this place owner by devout Christians, it is Jesus crab.  Salty and full of crab mixed with more of that breading, it was outstanding!

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1405&RefID=1405

Thanks to way too much good food over the course of the day, I was unable to stay awake to see the overtime of the late playoff game.

More to come..... 

I am not sure if there is any one area of the country that does fried shrimp so well as Charleston.  I always think that is a tough item to pull off - most places, the end result is something that has the consistency of Mrs. Pauls frozen dinners.  The greater Charleston area seem to have a lot of places that can pull this meal off consistently well prepared.

Any local condiments for the shrimp and flounder?  

They look delicious but in need of dipping.

mar52-
Nothing strange or unusual.  Just the basic tartar and cocktail sauces came with the meal.  Honestly, the breading on these fried items are so good, they could stand on their own, no problem.  And I usually dip fried shrimpo in cocktail.

TTM-
Agreed!  Between the Charleston area and the First Coast of Florida, those are the two great fried shrimp areas.  They make it very hard for me to even think about ordering fried shrimp at home.

BB -

While your #10 looks mighty good, I really liked the looks of Morrison's!  Nice variety!

CTD-
Even though that was a fine chili dog at Morrison's, that is a Roadfood eatery where the atmosphere is the star more than the food.  Maybe it is the beautiful paint job, more than the atmosphere.  It is eye catching!

BB, I saw that you ordered the #10 but I saw that you got a side of Jesus Crab?  It all looked very good to me but I also loved the optical issusion of the lady appearing to set on the bench while actually, she was propped against the wall.  You get the prize for the optical illusion pic of the year so far.  Only 357 days for somebody like the TTM to beat you.
 
See you in five weeks in Memphis.
 
Paul E. Smith 
Sundanger
Knoxville, T N

Paul-
For two bucks, who can turn down a side of Jesus crab?  I should have gotten more than one.  As for the photo, Mrs. Green deserves the credit, since I'm not that clever.  I really had no idea why she wanted to stand there.

Sunday January 4
 
Even though I am typically a planner, I made no set plans for where I was having breakfast, since I was hoping to sleep in.  I should have known better.  Some other places I would have liked to have visited didn't open until later, so I was at Diana's at 6:30AM.

 
Before leaving my hotel, I pondered whether to wear comfortable track pants or do I have to put on jeans.  BTW, I packed so quickly the morning I left, I only brought one pair of jeans and they were a little tight around the waist.  Deciding that Diana's was a nicer place, I wore the jeans.  I get to Diana's and the waitresses are wearing their pajamas!

From now on, I am going to keep a spare pair of pajamas in my car for just such emergencies!
 
Earlier in the thread, The Travelin Man had showed photographic proof of a wonderful breakfast he had eaten at Diana's.  I was all set to go with the Surf & Turf he advised, but at the last second switched away to the Eggs Meeting Street.  Boy, would I like to have that decision back.....

Both the fried green tomato and the crabcake were hard and tasted old.  The biscuit was obviously from the day before.  The one saving grace was the delicious remoulade sauce.  My favorite part of the meal was dipping the potatoes in the sauce.
 
I also ordered a side of sausage patties. 

When I saw them, I instantly thought of what TTM wrote in his year end review that food should not be grey.  But actually, the sausage patties were fine.
 
This is the second time I have eaten at Diana's and both were average or below.  There are just too many other good restaurants in Charleston to come back a third time.
 
 http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1414&RefID=1414
 
More to come..... 

I've had great food at Diana's, and spotty food at Diana's.  It's always a fun place to eat though.  Those shrimp look amazing.

While I appreciate your ability to change on the fly, if you HAD to make a change, you might have gone with the apple-stuffed French toast (IIRC).  Those are the only two "spectacular" things I have had at Diana's.

Sunday January 4 cont.
 
Hoping to have a much better lunch than breakfast, I was outside Seewee Restaurant,

about 25 minutes north of Charleston, just as they opened.  When I went up to the cash register to inquire about a table, I saw this bumper sticker.

They obviously take their shrimp around this area very seriously!
 
Seewee Restaurant looks like an old general store that they stuck a restaurant in the middle of.

As per usual, I was seated at the table closest to the dessert displays.

Before even looking over the menu and the specials, I checked out the board with the desserts listed.

According to the Sterns' review, this is a place where they can run out of certain items.  So, I surprised my waitress by telling her I wanted a piece of caramel cake and some banana pudding first.  When she brought them over, she told me I had gotten the second to last portion of both.  Woo-Hoo!!!!
 
Time to focus on the main meal.  Or as I like to call it, the bridge to dessert!  The specials:

My meal started with a bowl of fine she crab soup.

Not quite as luxurious as what I ate at 82 Queen, but tasty nonetheless.  BTW, with the wooden floors they have here, I could see my soup move around inside the cup when someone walked past my table!  With it came a delicious warm, soft, crumbly biscuit.

 
My meal of 15 fried shrimp, with sides of green beans, mac & cheese and sweet potato casserole arrived:

Most likely, the photo doesn't do it justice, but this was one of the most beautiful plates of food I have ever seen.  It was almost too good looking to eat.  Almost!
 
Lying in a pool of porky juice, the green beans were excellent.

The mac & cheese was soft and ultra-cheesey.

The somewhat spicy sweet potato casserole

was the only thing on the plate I did not finish and even that rated about a seven out of ten.
 
The fried shrimp,

typical of the area, was lightly battered, very fresh tasting and darn near perfect.  I think I preferred these even over the ones from Fishnet Seafood the night before.
 
By the time I got to dessert, I was really full.  The caramel cake

was good, but the icing was just a little too sweet for me.  The nummy banana pudding was better.

 
The service here was excellent.  Once I sat down, four different woman wanted to take my order within just a few minutes.  You don't seem to have one set waitress here as everyone was constantly refilling my sweet tea or checking on me.
 
As usual, all my picture taking got noticed.  One waitress (the one who got my desserts) said, "I'll be the nosy one.  What is with all the pictures?"  I told he I was just a tourist and we don't have restaurants like this back home.  Then she asked about the Roadfood book and I showed her the review.  She took it and showed the owner and soon the book was being passed around to everyone out front and in the kitchen.  Once again, they had no idea they were written up in Roadfood.  Even a couple of the customers wanted to read it.  I counted at least six different people who said they were going to go out and buy the book.  If the Sterns see a spike in book sales in South Carolina, they will know why.
 
The SeeWee comes highly recommended.  I would have a hard time deciding which meal in Charleston I enjoyed more, Seewee Restaurant or 82 Queen.
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1402&RefID=1402
 
I was so full from my meal here, I barely had enough room for one more stop.
 
More to come.....

TTM-
I am curious.  How long ago was the great breakfast you show in that picture?  Was it before they switched from just Diana's to Tropical Toast at Diana's?  BTW, I'm blaming you for my bad breakfast.  The food in that photo looks spectacular. 

It was during my New Year's road trip last year.  I want to say that I visited them nearly one year to the day that you did.  They had gone to the Tropical Toast motif, and I know that Michael Stern has subsequently visited there and been underwhelmed, as well. 

It is certainly possible that they have had some kitchen or management changes, and I surely don't deny that your plates of food look underwhelming, at best.

Fortunately, even if it appears as though it may never be duplicated, I do still have the memory of MY meal there - but, I will be cautious about recommending it to others in the future.

TTM-
The only way we would know for sure is if I had ordered the exact same item and I blew that chance!  At least the waitresses looked cute in their pajamas.

I am so glad you had a good time at the See Wee--Julie took her friend there back in October and had a just-okay meal.  It hurt me to think they were goin down.

Nancy-
Any idea what Julie and her friend had?

Sunday January 4 cont.

My time in Charleston was growing short, but I attempted one more stop.  A bakery called Cupcake is reviewed here on Roadfood.

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=5900&RefID=5831

The downtown location is closed on Sundays, but there is also one in a spiffy, upscale shopping center in Mt. Pleasant.  Pulling into the parking lot, all the businesses were open and busy.  Well, all but Cupcake.

Hey, I want to join Team Cupcake!  Wait, if you have to drive this vehicle,

nevermind!
 
So, I doublebacked up US 17 and stopped at Jack's Cosmic Dogs, a place I first read about on Hollyeats.

The interior is a feast for the eyes.  Lots of cool things to look at, including signs, both neon

and drawn.

This may be my favorite photo from the whole trip,

since it looks like the guy is actually sitting in and driving that little car!  All he needs is a fez and he could be a Shriner!
 
Sorry about the poor photo of the menu, but you can see they have a fairly big selection.

I went with the namesake Cosmic dog, which the young man taking my order called their signature item.


I asked and they use an all beef Boar's Head dog.  The blue cheese taste in the slaw was very subtle and frankly (sorry about the pun), I didn't taste the sweet potato in the mustard at all.  Still, this was a delicious slaw dog.  I would have loved to have tried more than one, but the huge lunch was still with me.
 
They also have hand cut fries, which looked wonderful on someone else's tray.  And my attempt to get a root beer float were thwarted by a broken ice cream machine.  I am looking forward to a future stop at Jack's Cosmic Dogs.
 
http://www.jackscosmicdogs.com/
 
From there, it was straight to the airport, where I had an easy flight home.
 
As always, thank you to everyone for reading my trip report!