Restaurants & Dining
Food Dude Goes for Burgers in Myrtle Beach

I love burgers. In fact, they are one of the four basic Food Dude’s food groups, right up there with pizza, barbecue and steak.

But finding a great burger isn’t easy. Almost every restaurant serves them, and there must be a dozen places on the Grand Strand that boast the best burgers on the beach.

I can’t try them all (not from a lack of trying) but I have sampled enough of the American staples to point you in the right direction, beginning with the aptly named Cheeseburger in Paradise in Myrtle Beach. If your name has “Cheeseburger” in the title, they’d better be awesome.

As the name implies, “CIP” took a verse from the Jimmy Buffett classic and created the mother of all burgers. In the ever pursuit of perfection, CIP recently upgraded their burgers to Angus beef, a popular move among fast-food joints that is misleading at best.

“Anyone can make a burger that’s 2 percent Angus beef and call it that, but you can’t taste a difference,” said CIP proprietor Bill Morrill. “Our’s are 99.9 percent pure Black Angus beef, and they melt in your mouth.”

Sensing a challenge, I recently hit CIP for my burger fix. The hardest part was deciding which of the 15 burgers to order. Yes, there’s Jimmy’s favorite “with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes,” but that’s just the beginning.

There’s the Baja Burger with fresh avocado, sour cream, lettuce, onions, jalapenos, pepperjack cheese, chipotle mayo and salsa for those who like their burger to pack a little heat.

Or the pressed Cuban Burger with ham, salami, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard and pickles on sourdough bread. And CIP always serves up their famous mini-burgers and a burger of the day that gets even more creative.

I went with the Bacon Cheddar Burger and had to smash it down a bit to fit it in my mouth. Out came the juices of a perfectly cooked medium-rare burger, which are hard to find these days.

But the true test was in the taste, and it was outstanding. The toppings only added to the fresh flavor of the beef, and a side of fries, onion straws or sweet-potato chips made the burger the star of the meal.

Although the Caribbean-themed eatery serves up all kinds of Dude Food, jerked ribs and fresh seafood, the burger is the VIP at the CIP.

Other burger places on the Strand that get the Food Dude’s seal of approval include River City (so many choices of toppings that peanut butter is one of them), Five Guys (so juicy you’ll need a shower afterwards) and Burger Brothers in Conway (well worth the drive if you’re craving a burger).

But burgers don’t have to be built like skyscrapers to be good. One of the best burgers on the beach in terms of bang per buck is Hamburger Joe’s in North Myrtle Beach and Surfisde Beach, which makes hot, hand-patted burgers that are tasty and cheap. Order a double if you really need more meat.