Charleston/Folly Beach- The Beach and the Food

A couple of posts about the trip, then back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The trip began with a hilarious encounter with a woman we dubbed "The Surly Flight Attendant" on our flight to Atlanta. Unfortunately I cannot describe to you the entertaining, yet venomous demeanor with which she did the little spiel on airplane safety. Remind me to do an impression of her when you see me. It could totally be an SNL skit.

BTW, we flew into Savannah, a couple of hours away, at a savings of about $100 per person. I heard savings were similar flying into Columbia as well.

Folly Beach is one of the best beach towns I've ever been to. Lots of personality, nice people, laid back, pretty views, everything walkable. It is ten minutes from downtown Charleston. The Holiday Inn Folly Beach was really great! It is in good condition, newly remodeled, right on the beach. Every room has a balcony facing the water. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. The only bad thing is the terrible cell phone reception there.

Blu, the Holiday Inn restaurant, was good. It is upscale, mostly tapas. There is a wonderful ice cream shop by the pool. Inexpensive Breyers ice cream served up by the nicest girls around.

I didn't see any reviews on Folly Beach restaurants, so I wondered how far we would have to drive to get anything to eat other than hotel food. Turns out, there are fantastic restaurants right there on Center Street. Here are the ones we tried, all a very short walk:

Taco Boy- OMG. Maybe the best beef fajita nachos I've ever had. Really! Awesome guac, too.
Locklear's Beach City Grill - This is the restaurant on the pier next to the hotel. We had breakfast lunch and dinner there... ALL good. Mix of seafood and the standard burgers and such.
Woody's Pizza- Yummo.
Center Street Kitchen- The food was really good. We just had to laugh about the difference between there and here. I ordered chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes. In Texas, one would expect the dish to be chicken fried chicken with regular mashed potatoes with cream gravy on both. The plate came with chicken fried chicken with a fruit chutney on the side, and garlic mashed potatoes with cream gravy. So I was dipping my chicken into the gravy and eating delicious garlic potatoes around the gravy, where the two hadn't mingled. Eventually I tried the chicken with the chutney. It was awesome.

There is also a snow cone stand that makes snow cones to die for. Not chunky ice, but this very smoooooth, airy ice. I have no idea how they make it.

The Kangaroo Mart has a Subway in it, and we had a good time with the guy there. ("You'd be surprised how many people develop a relationship with their sandwich as it goes along the prep line. A little too much mayonnaise at the end, and they're screaming- aaaah! It's ruined!" This guy would also be perfect for the Not-So-Ready-for-Primetime Players.)

I guess this has become a food post, so I'll just finish with two memorable BBQ joints we went to in Charleston. Jim N Nicks is a chain restaurant all over the southeast. It was fantastic! Sticky Fingers is another southern chain, a ribhouse extremely similar to Tony Roma's. So good.

I tried grits. Not bad, actually. I couldn't muster the courage to order collard greens. *cringe* Sweet tea is everywhere. When we asked, "Do you y'all have sweet tea?" the wait staff would always give us a look like, who doesn't?