Restaurants & Dining
Food Dude Finds Big Mike’s Restaurant in Myrtle Beach
A few weeks ago, the Food Dude did a top five list on the best places for home cooking on the Grand Strand. Then the next day, I stumbled across my new No. 1.
OK, so the Food Dude may not have the best timing, but he does have the taste buds and nose to sniff out good comfort food. And that, my friends, is Big Mike’s on 16th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach.
Longtime locals will know this place as the incredible revolving menu board, where restaurants like Baja, Buddy’s, Marti’s and Mr. Pit BBQ have come and gone over the years.
If the building, hidden behind a gas station from Kings Highway, is indeed cursed, as some locals suspect, we’ll find out soon. If Big Mike’s doesn’t make it, it won’t be because of the food.
Always manning the remodeled kitchen are two of the top names in local country cooking – Myrtle Beach City Councilman “Big” Mike Chestnut and Queenie Bowens, the godfather and godmother of soul food.
This is a partnership made in heaven for those with a taste for down-home cooking. Locals and tourists alike can sink their teeth into this meat-and-three menu, served with iced tea for only $7.95.
There are two standards on the menu – Queenie’s famous fried chicken and pork chops. Folks used to drive from miles away to feast on those items at her old restaurant that burned down years ago.
Rotating throughout the week is a variety of other entrees – meat loaf, chicken bog, ribs, hamburger steaks. The hard part isn’t finding one you like, but rather which one you love the most.
The same is true for the sides. Mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese and rice and gravy are standing items, but the rest is a revolving door of goodness from the garden.
Choose from collard greens, green beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes and okra and more, all served up with a side order of Queenie’s sweet cornbread that will make your tongue beat your brains out.
Big Mike’s also has a regular menu of both country cooking and pub grub, and beer and wine are available. But you’ll be regretting your decision if you go with anything other than the meat-and-three special.
Big Mike’s is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the breakfast will also give you a flashback to mornings at your grandma’s house. And like her place, you’d better be on time or you might miss out.
The first time I stumbled across Big Mike’s, shortly after the grand opening, I was the only one there. The next time there were a few of us on hand. My last visit I almost didn’t get a table.
The word is out to Food Dudes and Dudettes across the Strand that there’s a new home-cooking hot spot in town. And unlike the building’s former occupants, Big Mike’s isn’t going anywhere.
