Catching up

Numerous comments and thoughts since my last post about food and I owe this to my facebook friends for reading and commenting on my political viewpoints.



Ocean Front Bar and Grill in Myrtle Beach. Interesting place on the new boardwalk. I have to give the folks at OFBG some credit for trying to bring a pleasant sit-down and have a drink and a snack atmosphere to the ocean front. Despite 40 miles of beach, you can count the number of places you can sit and eat while watching the waves on one, maybe two hands. I'll just count the places I've been in the last 12 months:

• Bummz. A health code violation waiting to happen.


• Molly Darcy's in NMB. Nice, but no place to park.


• Austin's in the Litchfield Inn. The best by far, but as Cindy says, it is way the f#@k down there.

OFBG needs to make up it's mind: Is it a dive, or is it a nice place? Our first visit, in June, was very pleasant. Nice apps, good atmosphere, live acoustic music. Based on my last visit, late in September, it is leaning toward a dive. The urinal in the miniscule mens room was broken and our server was, for all intents and purposes, wearing pajamas. She was cute, but not cute enough to overcome pajamas in the work place.

Moving along in chronological order since my last post, Croissants earlier this month lived up to my high opinion. The steak frites may be the best steak in Myrtle Beach, outside of NY Prime.

The absolute best meals though were in Wilson, NC. Parker's Barbecue, one of the landmark NC barbecue restaurants in the state, Cherry's Barbecue, just outside Wilson and The BeefMastor Inn, a hidden culinary gems in the Carolinas.

Parker's is a real treat for 'cue fans. Moist, smokey and finely chopped. (A little too finely chopped for me. The appearance was almost like tuna or chicken salad.) The sauce was acceptable, mild and safe. Accompanied by brunswick stew, boiled potatoes, truly outstanding cole slaw and the best fried chicken I've eaten, ever. Crispy, not bready with some basic salt and pepper spices.

After 2 helpings of 'cue, vegetables and 2 pieces of fried chicken, I passed on dessert.

Cherry's Barbecue was also machine-chopped, a tad drier, which was OK as Cherry's homemade sauce was outstanding. Vinegar and peppers with enough zip to liven up the taste buds and impart some warmth. A plate of Parker's pork with a bottle of Cherry's sauce would be the perfect eastern NC meal.

The BeefMastor Inn is an experience unlike any I've had. Maybe 1,500 square feet of cinder block building housing a high volume, low choice, great service dining powerhouse. Here's the deal:

• You get steak, a ribeye.
• A baked potato.
• A trip to the salad bar.
• A stick of butter.

Your only choice is how thick you want the steak and how you want it cooked. The experience is combination NY steakhouse and football tailgate. No indoor bar, but they will sell you drinks you can drink in the parking lot while mingling with other guests. Once they call your name and seat you, the chef brings the entire ribeye to your table, you tell him how much you want and how you want it cooked. You hit the salad bar and by the time you're done with that, you've got a mouthwatering ribeye grilled to perfection delivered with a flourish. The steaks are for the purist; no marinating, just grilled with a little salt and pepper.

The best thing about Parker's and The BeefMastor though? The service. Pleasant, greeted warmly at the door and at the table. Enough table checks to be helpful without overbearing or intruding into the dining experience. Knowledgeable, the staff knew about the sauce, the cuts and the town. No attitude. Didn't act like they wanted to be somewhere else and acted like they were fans of the food.

Now, back to Myrtle Beach and ABSOLUTELY THE WORST CHEESEBURGER IN THE WORLD AT LIBERTY STEAKHOUSE. How do you ---- up a cheeseburger? Here's how Liberty does it:

• Cook it until it crumbles.
• Fry, bake and nuke the bacon until all the flavor is gone.
• Serve it with shredded lettuce.
• Don't bring any condiments to the table.
• Oh yeah. Don't forget the stale-ass bun.

How can a down at the heels textile and agricultural town like Wilson, NC have great food and great service and a tourist town that should write the book on great food and great service have so many places that serve crap?

Travinia and triathlon

I've been remiss in not posting. Not that I haven't eaten anywhere or seen anything that really annoys me or had any great sporting experiences, just nothing out of the ordinary.

Had dinner this past Saturday at Travinia in Market Commons. My experiences with Travinia over the years have improved. When they first opened a couple of years ago, they tried to be an upscale, contemporary Italian trattorria. They succeeded visually and failed culinarily (if that's a word). The food was over-priced and average. A bad combination, even in a place like Myrtle Beach where the philosophy is often well, if you don't like it, the other 12,999,998 people that come to town probably might. Recently, they seem to have taken a lesson from their competitor down the block, PF Chang's:

• Lowered their prices.
• Put a lot of stuff in bowls.
• And, as an improvement on PF Chang's, increased their portion sizes.

This past weekend, I had the veal Marsala. Wonderful Marsala wine flavor. The downside was the consistency of the sauce was just this side of gelatinous, more of a mousse than a sauce, it was thick. To me, great Italian has a sauce that accents, not literally buries the food. The sauces are why I always recommend Villa Mare for local Italian. You can taste the sauce at Villa Mare, you don't have to scrape it off your plate, or push it off to the side.

Kudos to the city of Myrtle Beach for the National Triathlon Championships. Hopefully, physically fit people on carbon fiber frames will eventually complement our fat Harley riding visitors and the sentiment expressed to me by a local doctor's wife/decorator "I can't believe they closed the by-pass for those bike riders", won't prevail. (Note: I said complement, not replace, although replacing wouldn't bother me.)

Also on the subject of the triathlon, it is a shame the city has had to endure some absolutely Old Testament weather with the the plague of rain we had in the week prior to the triathlon. Only a 3 day dump like that could close the waterway. Better a few disappointed athletes than the entire city water system affected the next day by 2,000 simultaneous cases of e-coli.

Eating Out with the In-laws.

With my in-laws in town for several days, we've been on an extended "eat out" tour the past several days.

To expand on my facebook post of the weekend, on Saturday the marinated sirloin steak at California Dreamin' (across from Briarcliffe Acres) gave my jaw muscles a better workout than my legs received on a 30 mile bike ride. I have to admit, California Dreamin' to me is the restaurant equivalent of the Dave Matthews Band. Some people absolutely love it, others don't get it. I have to say I am in the latter camp. The regular nachos were sub-par, some canned chili with not enough jalapenos, cheese, tomatoes or other condiments that make nachos great. The creamed spinach nachos were some frozen creamed spinach thawed on top of some tortilla chips. Not appealing at all. Kudos to our server (Sarah?) for patience and diligence throughout the meal.

Next on the in-law tour was Bonefish Grill (Myrtle Beach location) Sunday evening. Must've been intern night in the kitchen. As usual, the Bang Bang Shrimp were tasty. Hot, spicy and delightful. The calimari was nicely done. My entree, another story. Salmon with Pan Asian sauce, overcooked and literally ashamed to be seen, hidden under a mound of shredded carrots. (Nothing against shredded carrots as nutrition, only as camouflage.) They must've been rationing the vegetable of the day (succotash) as the portion was minuscule. The tastiest part of the entree was the potatoes au gratin. More kudos to the wait staff for promptness and explaining the shortage of clams.

Monday night, E Noodles (20th Avenue South). Thank goodness for some flavor and food cooked properly. Nothing overdone, nothing burned. Pot stickers, pork shu mai, shrimp stuffed tofu, excellent. Crab spring rolls and shrimp tempura, eh. Go with double orders of something else. Spicy Udon with scallops, very enjoyable.

If you're spending your own money, go to E Noodles. I wouldn't return to Bonefish unless someone else is buying or they have an all you can eat Bang Bang Shrimp special. California Dreamin'? Forget it.

Things you can do, but I don't understand why you would. Part 1

OK. I'm watching the Saints and the Vikings. I'm in the telecommunications business. I love wireless products. The only thing less appealing than watching Avatar on a 4.3" screen would be watching a football game on a 4.3" screen. I mean seriously?

Texting and tweeting, I understand. Blogging, I'm trying to understand. The fascination with watching tiny images on a tiny screen with even tinier sound. That I don't understand.

I'm sure there will be more things as time goes by.

The pleasures of trout.

Last night I had a trout-fest for dinner:

• smoked trout salad as an appetizer. Delicious.
• a poached apple salad with honey bourbon vinaigrette.
• Pan-fried trout with almonds, grapes and lemon butter sauce. I think there were some fingerling potatoes, baby carrots and asparagus along for the ride. Outstanding.
• Apricot milk chocolate mousse for dessert.
• Trefethen Chardonnay, 2007

Was one of the most memorable meals in a long time. The Homestead has been fun so far.

On the sports side; you know, if Brett Favre doesn't want to go to training camp, get on with it. Let him out of it. Give me a break on this "retirement" crap. Admit you want the money, love the publicity and move on. If the media ignored him for a week, he would flippin' retire, but as long as they watch his every move, he'll play on.

I wish I had played golf with a caddy before yesterday. What a great experience. Bart (the caddy at The Cascades Course) really helped me out; 1 3-putt was balanced out by 2 1-putts and none of my 2nd putts were over a foot. If you ever get the chance, spring for a good caddy. Now if the rest of my game could match my putting.