Restaurants & Dining
Food Dude Creates His Ideal Meal at Various Myrtle Beach Restaurants
All right, Myrtle Beach foodies. It's time to play a game I call “Five and Dine” designed to build the perfect meal.
You've played Four Square and Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon. This one is somewhere in between, only a lot tastier.
The rules are simple: Choose your favorite restaurant and course on the Grand Strand to build your ideal meal using a combination of top choices.
Transportation is not an issue; pretend you've got a limo waiting and the Food Dude is behind the wheel for this mobile dream meal.
No tipping required (except a doggie bag). This is a meal I would make if you told the driver to pick the places and place the orders:
So here goes – the Food Dude's ideal five-course meal gathered throughout the Grand Strand. Disagree? Play “Five and Dine” and post your own perfect five-course meal on our Facebook fan page.
Soup
Soup:
This liquidy first course gets a bad rap, but there are some great places on the Grand Strand where soup can be an entire meal.
Still, this is a five-course marathon, not a sprint, so we’re going for taste alone to start our flavorful, gastronomical adventure.
There’s a reason the Sea Captain House’s She-Crab Soup sweeps the Taste of the Town annually. It’s the perfect blend of crab eggs, cream, sherry and some other secret ingredients that make this my first-course choice.
Flamingo Grill
Appetizer:
This is a tough one because the Food Dude and Dudette often make a shared meal out of two or three appetizers. It’s a great way to try a little bit of everything a restaurant has to offer.
But if I have to pick one, it doesn’t take a whole lot of thought or driving time to get to course No. 2 – the Lobster Chunks at Flamingo Grill (or as we locals affectionately call it, the “Flamin’ Go.”)
These tender bits of lobster are breaded and lightly fried, somewhere between tempura and Calabash style. The bearnaise dipping sauce is the perfect compliment. This dish is so popular it’s now also offered as an entree.
Salad
2657 Beaver Run Blvd. , Surfside Beach, SC 29575
Salad:
All salads are pretty much the same, right? Couldn’t you just stop anywhere and get a decent salad? Sure, if you consider a pile of lettuce, tomato and cucumbers a salad. At some smart spots a salad is a meal.
That’s why we’re keeping the limo in drive and continuing north all the way to California Dreaming in North Myrtle Beach for its namesake green dish – the California Dreaming Salad. It’s not your garden-variety salad.
Stacked with mixed greens, shredded ham and turkey, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, chopped eggs, tomato and toasted almonds, this salad is perfect covered in the house special Hot Bacon and Honey Mustard Dressing. A hot croissant provides the perfect accompaniment.
Entree
Entree:
Don’t worry about filling up on the first three courses because we’re going to be driving for a while before we get to my favorite restaurant on the Grand Strand – Frank’s Outback in Pawleys Island.
The only issue is what to order. Will it be the Pan Fried Grouper with Shrimp in a Mustard Cream Sauce with Tomato and Scallion Cream Sauce? Or the Filet with Green Peppercorn Pan Sauce and Garlic Mashed Potatoes?
Odds are it will be a nightly special, which I usually order as soon as the server says it and before I even open the menu. With fresh, local seafood and prime cuts of beef, it’s hard to go wrong at Frank’s Outback.
Dessert
Dessert:
Our final course brings us full circle back to Myrtle Beach at Croissant’s Bistro & Bakery for dessert. Trust me when I tell you that I have saved the best for last.
Croissant’s specializes in creative cakes and baked goods, although the restaurant could easily place in any of the other four course categories. Once again, the only problem will be deciding which dessert to order.
Marzipan Cake, Chocolate Raspberry Torte, Double Chocolate Cake, Key Lime Pie and Peanut Butter Cake are among the mouth-watering options, but I’m going with the Food Dudette’s favorite – Red Velvet Cake. It’s my dream meal but she’s still the boss.
