North Carolina Seafood Festival

Last weekend my Dad and I went to the North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City. Every October they block off the MHC waterfront and have a party. If you like fairs, festivals and food it’s a good time. All types of food, music all day, rides, games, a flounder fling contest, Ms. North Carolina and Ric Flair signing autographs.
　








　
My dad got right into the seafood spirit with a corndog, fries and corn on the cob.

I started out with some shark bites. They were so unremarkable I forgot to take a picture.
I finished up with some alligator. I like alligator and this may have been the best I’ve ever has. A light crispy batter and good sized tender pieces of gator.

Another good weekend on North Carolina’s beautiful coast.
　

Impressive! It looks like it had to be tons of fun.

Wow..looks like you had a great time...THANX for sharing.

Flamin' Flatulence? Sphincter Shrinker?? Butt-Pucker??? Hey, I love spicy food as much as the next guy, but GEE-WHIZ!!!!  Great report, mikeam. 

No good shrimp?  Or you're not a shrimp fan?

Nancypalooza


No good shrimp?  Or you're not a shrimp fan?

There was plenty of good shrimp but I did not have any.

Mikeam,I th

I was there as well on Saturday but I was not as impressed as you were.  I thought there were too many stands that were put on by fundraising organizations that just had no clue how to cook good seafood.  I had a tuna steak sandwich that was flavorless, served on a cheap enriched hamburger bun with tarter sauce that sat out in the sun too long.  I had a crabcake that was so loaded with filler, I forgot it was a crab cake.  I had some fried fish that were so fishy and greasy, sardines in a can would have been better. Mix that in with all the garbage fair foods such as funnel cakes along with stands like Chick fil a and craft stands, wine stands, I forgot I was even at a seafood festival. 

I did get a great seafood meal after we left though.  In our disappointing quest for good seafood, we decided to stop off at the T and W Oyster house in Swansboro before returning to our Emerald Isle Hotel.  Some incredible shrimp and fresh raw oysters!  All was well.

Okay, but somebody please tell me why food-related festivals in the Southeast tend to go either that way, or the way of one single food vendor that provides universally bad food (the execrable Peach Festival in Lexington SC)?  I do not understand.  You can get possibly the best barbecue and soul food in the Southeast from restaurants or home cooks but the minute we get together to celebrate a kind of food, the hacks come out.

Jealous. I made no good festivals this year.

Nancy,

I am not a hack.  Just a person that went, I have no affiliations with anyone that works there and was just trying to give my honest opinion.  I just moved here to NC from the "city of festivals Milwaukee Wisconsin." I have been to my share of food festivals.  My opinion is the seafood that was served there was not a good representation of what is great about NC/SC seafood.  I have had much better tasting seafood than what was offered there. Was it fun and did I have fun? You bet I did.  But I would hardly call it great seafood in my honest objective opinion.  Now if that makes me a hack, then so be it.

Nancy,

I may have misread your message.  You are right, this area is awesome for great seafood, BBQ and southern cooking.  I love the awesome diversity of food this area has to offer.  My wife and I enjoyed some of the most incredible seafood in the Charleston area about a month ago.  I assumed you were referring to me as a hack.  I didn't see a good representation of some good restaurants at the seafood fest.  Yeah, some of the places that were permanent restaurants in the area on the grounds but you were going to pay at least $20 dollars for a meal. It appeared that most of the people were looking to do was just sample from local vendors.  $20 dollars a plate was a little steep to sample.  

I don't know, but the food sure LOOKED good!!!

NC Cheesehead


Mikeam,I th

I was there as well on Saturday but I was not as impressed as you were.  I thought there were too many stands that were put on by fundraising organizations that just had no clue how to cook good seafood.  I had a tuna steak sandwich that was flavorless, served on a cheap enriched hamburger bun with tarter sauce that sat out in the sun too long.  I had a crabcake that was so loaded with filler, I forgot it was a crab cake.  I had some fried fish that were so fishy and greasy, sardines in a can would have been better. Mix that in with all the garbage fair foods such as funnel cakes along with stands like Chick fil a and craft stands, wine stands, I forgot I was even at a seafood festival. 

I did get a great seafood meal after we left though.  In our disappointing quest for good seafood, we decided to stop off at the T and W Oyster house in Swansboro before returning to our Emerald Isle Hotel.  Some incredible shrimp and fresh raw oysters!  All was well.

I know all the food wasn't good. The shark I had wasn't very good at all.
 
I still had a very good time.

Cheesehead--I'm glad you reposted.  That's certainly not what I meant.  I meant the hacks were the ones cooking the stuff.

methinks a lot of it has to do with the folks who are in the
business of cooking well actually, well, being in business
the day of the festival.  So they stay where they are and
do their jobs.

Vending festivals is hard work, and a large risk.  You can
take a ton of food and equipment out there and not make
a profit, which is not fun after a hard day of work.

Or you can stay where you are and make money doing
less work....pretty easy choice.


Some of the small organizations can do good food, you
just have to find them.

I don't know if it's the best or the worst seafood available, but I'd be there in a splash!

Captain Morgan,

I would agree that it is difficult to keep up with the crowds.  I could easily see why so many of the vendors would have to take short cuts.  I worked at a restaurant for 15 years while I was in high school, then college and finally left when the pressure got to be too much and finally graduated.  I'll never forget the time when the German restaurant I worked for had a booth at German fest in Milwaukee.  We ran out of the "artisan" Kaiser Buns for our Schnitzel sandwiches.  They sent me to the closest 3 grocery stores and we cleaned them out just to keep things going. It was frustrating to me because I felt they were compromising their reputation.

I have tons of respect for people that work these fests.  I can completely see why a good restaurant would not want to participate as well.  There is way too high of a chance to kill the reputation of a quality establishment when you are cooking with portable gear on a folding table.

I used to go to the Seafood Festival all the time and its great time to bring the Family but the Food kept getting worse every year,The last straw was when I saw some Surimi being served as A stir fry.You have to pick your'e poison carefully,stick with the Chowder and a Shrimpburger or a Crabcake Sandwich.I passed thru there Sunday on My way to Hatteras and kept on Truckin.