Restaurants
The following description taken from
Insider's Guide: Crystal Coast:
Seafood is one of the Crystal Coast's grandest resources and pleasures. Local cultural history is frequently woven with recipes unique to our part of the world. Clam Chowder, Down East light rolls, stewed hard crabs, collards and dumplings are the tastes and smells that speak of home in Beaufort, Morehead City, Salter Path and Down East. Generations of Crystal Coast families and summer visitors were raised on the traditional seafood dishes of Morehead City's waterfront restaurants that, until the 1980s, fried just about everything but the cole slaw. In the traditional waterfront restaurants, fried hush puppies are always served first, usually before the water glasses are on the table. Hush puppies are a local cuisine tradition as well as a standard of quality. They are made with cornmeal, flour, eggs and sugar. To create a unique taste, some folks add chopped onion, and others add sweet milk. Once blended, the mixture is dropped by the spoonful into hot fat and fried to a golden brown. Old-timers say the name derived from cooks who, while preparing meals, tossed bits of fried batter to quiet the dogs waiting for kitchen scraps.
Most natives were raised on conch and clam chowders, and even the newest eateries include these among their soups and appetizers. Local conch chowder is made with whelk, while traditional chowder is made with chopped seafood, water, butter, salt, pepper and diced potatoes. For a different flavor, some chefs might also add squash, onions and spices.
There's nothing like a traditional Down East clam bake, although you won't find eating like this on any restaurant menu. You can sometimes luck out and catch a school, church or fire department holding a fund-raising clambake. If that happens, drop your plans and head on over for great coastal food. It is said that the idea for the clambake came from the Native Americans, who taught early residents to cook clams, fish and corn in the steam of hot stones. Modern-day clambakes usually offer clams, chicken, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions, carrots, corn and sometimes a few shrimp. The items are usually steamed together in a net bag or cheesecloth and served with melted butter. This is not the time for table manners, so use your fingers!
Peelers, pickers, jimmies, white bellies, hens, steamers, paper shells or soft-shells -- no matter what you call them, they're still crabs. Learning the difference between the names and the stages of a crab's life is the hard part. Knowing when crabs are ready to shed and are marketable as soft-shells is important to the livelihood of many Crystal Coast crabbers. Understanding the process a crab goes through to become a soft-shell is an art as well as a science.
A peeler is a crab that will, if all goes well, become a soft crab within 72 hours. They are carefully handled and put in vats where they can go through this molting process. Jimmies are the large male crabs that measure 6 inches from upper shell tip to tip, and steamers or pickers are just regular crabs. The sure way to tell if a crab is a peeler is by the pinkish-red ring on the outer tip of the flipper or back fin. Those that complete the molting process are sold live or dressed. Many are packed with damp sea grass, refrigerated and shipped live to restaurants or seafood markets as far away as New York. Most are sold dressed, because live soft-shells are delicate to handle and have a life of only about three days. Insiders consider soft-shell crabs a delicacy, and favorite ways to prepare them include lightly frying them in batter or sauteeing them in butter and wine. There is nothing better, or stranger looking, than a soft-shell crab sandwich.
Shrimp burgers, another popular local seafood treat, are little more than fried shrimp on a hamburger bun with slaw and special sauce. Each restaurant has its own sauce, which is the secret to a great shrimp burger. Some places have come up with variations (oyster burgers, clam burgers), but it's all basically put together the same way. Oh, what a wonderful lunch a shrimp burger makes!
Collards are a traditional mainstay in the diet of most locals, especially those living Down East. A "mess" of collards cooking in the kitchen creates an unforgettable aroma that you either love or hate. These leafy green vegetables grow almost year round in this area. Most locals say the best way to cook them is with a streak-of-lean salt pork or some fatback added to the pot. Top it off with a few new red potatoes and some cornmeal dumplings, an eastern North Carolina specialty made by shaping cornmeal, water and salt into small patties. Drop the dumplings into the collard pot for about 15 minutes -- and then you'll have some really good eating!
Within the past few years, somewhat more sophisticated culinary talent has begun to flourish in our haven of fabulous seafood. On the Beaufort and Morehead City waterfront, new gourmet restaurants reflect the demand of increasingly upscale appetites. Openings around Morehead and in Beaufort, new menus and redecorated restaurants from Atlantic Beach to Emerald Isle tell us that our tastes are changing. Our dining choices certainly are.
Great numbers of fast-food and chain restaurants are as convenient on the Crystal Coast as they are in every corner of the civilized world. Most of these establishments are concentrated on U.S. Highway 70, the main artery through Carteret County. This guide does not review chain restaurants, under the assumption that you are already familiar with their fare. However, we do have a section at the end of this chapter on fast food; we write about some of the local eateries where good, quick food is not to be missed if you have a yen for great burgers, coffee, bagels, pizza and deli fare.
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