Last night, after a 10 year absence, I returned to Calabash. For the uninitiated, Calabash is a little fishing town about 30 minutes north of North Myrtle Beach that is comprised of a few shops and a LOT of seafood restaurants. They specialize in fried seafood. A trip to Calabash has been a part of my beach routine for has long as I can remember, and last night was long awaited and often dreamed about. Marilyn, her mom, her 2 sisters and one brother-in-law joined me at Captain John's, my personal favorite since it opened in 1976. My expectations were unreasonable. And every one of them were met or surpassed!
First came the hushpuppies. If you don't know what a hushpuppy is I can't really explain it- except to say they are a delicious gift from the heavens! You can see Marilyn preparing to devour one in the picture above. A basket of hushpuppies would be a wonderful start to any meal. But as the prelude to my first Calabash seafood platter in 10 years, those little pieces of fried dough were like manna. And they led me to this...
The Captain John's Deluxe Seafood Platter. Fried oysters, clams, flounder, and deviled crab- because real men eat deviled crab. And loads of those tiny fried shrimp that most of the wold know as popcorn shrimp, but that true believers know as Calabash shrimp...because it is their home. It was all amazing. And to answer the obvious question, YES. I ate every bite. But not the french fries.
So my return to Calabash was everything I dreamed it would be and more. And I'm already pushing for trip #2! Have a blessed day!
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