Festivals & Events
Food Dude’s Fave Five Dishes from Taste of the Town Myrtle Beach
For those who live on the Grand Strand, you know the Taste of the Town is the best festival to sample some of the best food from the best restaurants in the Myrtle Beach area.
For those who don't, allow the Food Dude to catch you up: About 7,000 hungry souls attended the 29th annual event Tuesday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, where more than 60 restaurants put on their best faces and dishes for the fundraiser to compete for future customers and awards.
The trophies traditionally go to the same handful of competitors – usually the fanciest restaurants with the most creative concoctions – such as Best Entree Mahi Divine by Divine Fish House and Best Dessert Tropical Naruto by Lil' Tokyo Steakhouse.
But the Food Dude has discovered some of the hidden treasures at this year's food-a-palooza. I can't call the awards the “Foodies” because that term has been hijacked by pop culture, and the “Dudies” doesn't sound very appetizing. We'll just call them the “Food Dude's Fav Five.”
The concept is simple, literally. The best-decorated booths with the prettiest dishes and longest lines are great for those with champagne tastes, but here are the top five finds for fellow Food Dudes and Dudettes who like to get their bang per buck:
* Bimini's Oyster Bar had one of the simplest booths and menus but packed more flavor into one dish than many of the other upscale offerings combined. The modest but popular seafood shack may not win any awards for fine dining, but it's a popular hot spot for those who like fresh seafood at reasonable prices.
Featuring Blackened Shrimp that was lightly battered and nicely seasoned, the real treat was the choice of dipping sauces – a Cucumber Wasabi Sauce that was both hot and cool and the Cajun Remoulade that was the perfect compliment to the shrimp. Any of Bimini's fresh seafood offerings dipped in these sauces is a winner.
* Clark's Seafood is new to the Grand Strand restaurant scene but local seafood fans are no strangers to its Calabash-style cooking. Owned by the same folks who operate The Boundary House in Calabash, NC, Clark's started bringing its seafood to the Little River side of the state border last spring.
I wasn't impressed with the pork chops, but what was I thinking? It's a seafood restaurant so you should judge them by what they do best. The crab cakes were sauteed to a perfect Calabash crisp and smothered in a creamy bernaise sauce. Seafood lovers should add this one to their to-do list.
* Fiesta Del Burro Loco: This Tex-Mex favorite has been around for years, which may be why the lines were surprisingly short for one of my favorite plates of the night. At one dollar per ticket, this was the best combination of quality and quantity under the Convention Center roof at only three tickets.
The Carnitas featured perfectly seasoned pulled pork placed in a tiny tortilla bowl and topped with pico de gallo and a spicy ranch sauce. A larger version of this meal is on the regular menu, but even the smaller serving packed a lot of flavor and punch. The “Party of the Crazy Donkey” delivers a Food Dude favorite.
* Vintage Twelve only opened its doors to the public last spring but it has quickly established itself as a player among some of the top restaurants in town. The word is way out after Tuesday's event, where V-12 showcased its Shrimp & Grits dish that melted in the mouths and created some great word-of-mouth advertising.
The shrimp was the star of the plate, of course, and V-12 used large, tasty pieces instead of the smallish shrimp offered by many seafood restaurants on hand. But the grits were the selling point for my taste buds, featuring creamy, perfectly cooked grits- good enough to make your tongue beat your brains out.
* The desserts at Taste of the Town are the perfect example of the difference between the Food Dude and foo-foo food lovers. For all of the lovely creations such as Tiramasu, Bourbon Bread Pudding and German Chocolate Cheesecake, my favorite treats came from the simply sweet kitchen at Canipes Chocolates & Candies.
This Longs sweetery takes the simple approach of dipping good things in chocolate, such as chocolate-covered Oreos, Twinkies and Nutter Butter cookies. Canipes gets real creative by offering such unusually tasty treats as chocolate-dipped jalapeno peppers and bacon. Forget the fancy food and just dip good stuff in chocolate.
