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Find great restaurants in these east coast summer destinations

Feature: Dive In

By David Butwin, Meredith Goad, Stephen Jermanok, Sara Kennedy, Alicia Miller, and Katharine Walton

 

It's beach season along the Eastern U.S. The physical and social character of the shore may differ from place to place, but one factor contributes a big part of the oceanside's appeal, from Maine to Florida: fresh seafood. Some diners are happy to stick to upscale establishments. But if you're inclined to look a little farther off the beaten track, perhaps bayside or soundside if not beachfront, you'll find truly local options that reveal the personality of the areas and introduce you to whatever might be swimming offshore.

You know the spots—those decidedly unfancy eateries where the dress code equals throwing a T-shirt on over your swimsuit, where the food is plentiful but not fussed over, and where the décor tends toward fishing nets, paper plates, and oscillating fans. Here, in no particular order, with no angst over "best" or "oldest" or other superlatives, six beachtown writers offer a taste of their favorite seafood dives.

Low-key Lowcountry at T.W. Graham & Co.

/ By Katharine Walton / T.W. Graham & Co. in McClellanville, South Carolina, is the sort of place that film-location scouts text-message their producers about: a 120-year-old converted grocery store on a quiet main street near a creek that leads to the waterway. Within view, a gargantuan live oak. Spanish moss grows here like orchids in Hawai'i.

When a scout called the owners asking if Kevin Costner could shoot a scene at their restaurant, Pete and Claudia Kornak weren't sure. The couple had just recovered from chef Anthony Bourdain's dollying through on his TV show's authenticity hunt. Though they're generally unfazed by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, the Kornaks eventually said yes because the Costner film (The New Daughter, 2009) promised something that delivered: an interior upgrade with comfortable booths to replace the old tables and chairs.

Turning off Highway 17 on my way to the restaurant, I flip on my windshield wipers to swat away insects the size of popcorn shrimp. My relatives here seem to have some kind of built-in repellent. Not many tourists go to McClellanville, unlike Charleston and Myrtle Beach, each about an hour's drive away. Mosquitoes do their part to keep development at bay.

The sun beats down year-round. The sandy soil is not suitable for much farming. But that heat brews a sweet tea of salt water and mud to nourish shrimp, blue crabs, Bulls Bay oysters, and clams.

Just a few blocks from the shrimp boats, I reach my destination. Customers can sit on the screened porch or inside, under novelist William P. (Billy) Baldwin's painting, General Lee and the Bountiful South. Baldwin says he usually orders a bucket full of wonderful little creek oysters. During "R" months, the clusters are gathered by Pete, who was the cook here before buying the place. Billy's wife, Lil, orders the black-eyed pea salad topped with shrimp simmered on the stove until just barely pink. Many fried and grilled platters come out from the kitchen with sides of hushpuppies and red rice. The fish depends on what longliner Molly B brings in from offshore: tuna, whiting, flounder, or (best of all) golden tile.

For dessert, I have a tough choice between housemade key lime pie and a walnut/pecan/chocolate concoction called Pawleys Island pie. Fresh blackberries are made into a cobbler that tastes like my childhood. I remember finding the plumpest berries along the old rice fields, and gathering them came with the requisite mosquito welts, red-bug burrows, and bright pink thorny scratches on sunburnt skin. But now I'm content to let somebody else do all that work. T.W. Graham & Co. is the perfect spot to just sit back and enjoy the sweet taste of summer. 810 Pinckney Street, McClellanville, South Carolina; Tel: 843-887-4342

Bait & Switch: A bit north on U.S. Route 17, Louis's Fish Camp Bar serves scrumptious sliders and crab cakes on the patio. (The owners, Marleen and Louis Osteen, have taken the concept to Vegas. Seems impossible, but word is it works, kudzu ceiling and all.) At The Hammock Shops, 10880 Ocean Highway, Pawleys Island; Tel: 843-237-8757 or louisatpawleys.com

Classic Cape at Arnold's Lobster & Clam Bar

/ By Stephen Jermanok / As I near the end of my drive out from Boston, I round the Orleans rotary, pass Cape Cod's elbow, and head north up the forearm. Congestion and commercialism subside, replaced by the long stretch of sand, dunes, and moors that make up the Cape Cod National Seashore. I've reached one of the oldest communities on the cape—Eastham, Massachusetts—home to 11 beaches, two bike trails (including the 25-mile Rail Trail), two lighthouses, and arguably the best seafood shack this side of the Cape Cod Canal. Set on a corner lot on the cape's main thoroughfare, Route 6, Arnold's is hard to miss.

Undaunted by the long line (usually out the door), I wait my turn and order from the vast selection of seafood— including lobster, fried clams, scallops, and shrimp—add a mound of onion rings, and grab a seat at one of the outdoor picnic tables. My number is called fairly quickly, and I giddily dive into plates overloaded with fresh fare.

Owner Nick Nickerson has certainly faced his share of adversity these past 31 summers, like the surge in lobster prices last year. But he notes that there will always be demand for quality seafood. And Nickerson goes out of his way to find the tastiest seafood around, even when it means shelling out extra cash to the local fishermen. He can often be found on the docks at sunrise, tasting raw scallops right off the boat, knowing that the Cape Cod Bay variety is sweeter than the ones you get in nearby Chatham. For steamers, he likes the local type of clam found at the Town Cove on the Eastham–Orleans border. Clams for frying can hail from as far away as Rhode Island, but Nickerson prefers the ones that come from sand beds instead of mud flats, as he thinks the latter taste like, well, mud.

Lobster is another quandary. Nickerson likes the hardshelled lobsters found on the back shore of the cape, which last longer and are meatier. But problems arise when you steam hard-shell lobster; instead of becoming that juicy red color you see on brochures, the pigmentation can turn orange, even black. So if you're one of the lucky few to grab that black lobster, realize it's not burnt. On the contrary, it's an authentic Cape Cod collectible. But, as one who's savored more than my share of Nickerson's selections, I'm betting you won't be able to admire it for long. 3580 Route 6, Eastham, Massachusetts; Tel: 508-255-2575 or arnoldsrestaurant.com

Bait & Switch: You have to do something right if you want to stay in business for 60 years, like Cobie's Clam Shack in Brewster. A favorite of cyclists who pedal the adjacent Cape Cod Rail Trail, Cobie's is touted for generous portions of fried clams, washed down with creamy frappes. Kids will be happy with the grilled burgers and fries. 3260 Main Street; Tel: 508-896-7021 or cobies.com

Timeless Character at The Cortez Kitchen

/ By Sara Kennedy / Even though fancy hotels and soulless condos are rising all around it, Cortez, Florida, is still a fishing village. Dating to the 1880s, this town near Bradenton boasts three commercial-seafood businesses and all the trappings: workhorse fishing trawlers built for practicality, not pleasure, and their crews, who bring in the catch from the Gulf of Mexico. At the end of the day, I like to join them and the rest of the diverse assemblage that hangs out at The Cortez Kitchen, a restaurant and bar squatting comfortably between the Cortez Bait & Seafood Co. and the N.E. Taylor Boatworks.

The restaurant was named for a protean strip of water just offshore that's renowned for its bounty of seafood; it was dubbed "The Kitchen" because it fed generations of Cortez families and still does today. The Cortez Kitchen features a menu heavy on shrimp, crabs, and grouper. It's a classic dive. There's not even an inside, really. Customers sit on an open-air deck that's steamy in summer and clammy in winter. Old cast nets and a rowboat decorate the ceiling of the plain wooden building, which started as a fish market and was converted to a restaurant in the 1990s.

Nightly, a crowd lines up to enjoy the glistening view of Sarasota Bay, stiff drinks served in plastic cups, and seafood right off the boats docked nearby. Wealthy tourists from Europe, retirees from Buffalo or Detroit, local real-estate agents and lawyers, and blue-collar workers all hang out here. As I devour my dinner, children sit at picnic tables with parents and grandparents, tired fishermen toss back beers at the bar, and vacationers, reddened by a day at the beach, enjoy grouper sandwiches and steamed clams. "Locals at the bar, tourists at the tables," says John Banyas, a third-generation Cortez resident, whose grandfather built fishing boats here. Banyas owns the seafood company, the boatworks, and The Cortez Kitchen, which he leases out. "It's a little place lost in time," he says with a smile. Maybe that explains why I'm so happy to sit here and lose track of time myself. 4528 119th Street West, Cortez, Florida; Tel: 941-798-9404

Bait & Switch: You don't even have to leave the sand for some surf and turf at the ultra laid-back Café on the Beach in nearby Holmes Beach. Walk up in your swimsuit to the order window, or sit at the outdoor tables for some evening entertainment. Local favorites include the all-you-can-eat pancake-and-sausage breakfast, the crab cakes, and the grouper sandwich. Capt. George of The Mystic Dolphin recommends the "BLT with six slices of bacon." It doesn't get much more straightforward than that. 4000 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, Anna Maria Island; Tel: 941-778-0784

Sunset and Schmaltz at the Sea Gulls' Nest

/ By David Butwin / When the sun starts down on a sultry July day, there's one place I want to be. No, not Cape Cod, not the Hamptons, not even sunset-worshiping Key West. It's a colorful café on stilts less than an hour from my door in North Jersey, and though people swear by the burgers, I'll tie into some fried clams and a beer, and then get ready for the daily show.

It's not enough that the Sea Gulls' Nest in Highlands rises above a gorgeous, untapped stretch of the Jersey Shore or that it is perfectly positioned—rare on the East Coast—to take in both the setting sun on the bayside and the slowly darkening ocean to the east. No, if you're lucky enough to be up there, 25 feet above the beach, you'll also be served a large helping of schmaltz, and I defy the most cynical or blasé not to be touched by it.

Every summer day, the café's owner and founder, Ed Segall, a vigorous 80, leads a little ritual that he calls the Sunset Tribute. You should know that this bearded man giving a brief patriotic talk before a playing of "God Bless America" saw four brothers go off to World War II and lost the youngest in the D-Day landing. Segall, who served two years himself just after the war, started selling snacks in 1961 on the top of a truck near where the Sea Gulls' Nest (Segall, Sea Gull: no coincidence) would rise. Today's menu can almost match the view, with starters like coconut shrimp and that Jersey fixture, mozzarella sticks; Caesars topped with blackened mahi mahi; sandwiches of fried flounder or grilled mahi mahi; and the aforementioned and hard-to-ignore fried clams and juicy burgers. Sandy Hook, which sounds like the name of a girl you knew in high school, is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, a spotless seven-mile spit with a half-dozen parking lots spread along the shore. Get there early to spend the day. Segall opens up at noon. And don't worry: The view from his tavern in the sky is pretty spectacular then, too. 100 South Hartshorne Drive, Highlands, New Jersey; Tel: 732-872-0025 or seagullsnest.info

Bait & Switch: For a taste of the old Jersey Shore, try Bahr's Landing (since 1917) and its outdoor Moby's Deck, which sports a broad platter menu—scallops, shrimp, crabs, clams—and charcoal-grilled salmon and swordfish steaks. 2 Bay Avenue, Highlands; Tel: 732-872-1245 or bahrs.com

A Maine Attraction at J's Oyster

/ By Meredith Goad / Every restaurant has stories to tell, but how many can say they were almost dragged out to sea by angry fishermen? That's what happened at J's Oyster in Portland, Maine, in the 1980s when the owners of a popular local bar that sat right on Portland Pier decided they wanted to start serving food. The regulars who frequented the tiny joint revolted, threatening to tie their fishing boats to the pier's pilings and give their favorite hangout the old heave-ho.

Fortunately for me, as well as other hungry locals and visitors, they never made good on their threat. Today, J's is still a great spot to soak up local color, but it also serves a mean bowl of lobster stew. The restaurant was founded by Janice Noyes in 1977 and is now owned by her children, who have kept it looking as it did 31 years ago. The place is tiny and dark, with the same horseshoe-shaped bar, tired wooden tables, and worn-out paneling that have been there for three decades. The carpeting gets changed regularly, and the kitchen has been updated, but other than that, it's like having lunch in a time warp. I always enjoy listening to "Soul Man," "Play That Funky Music," and other '70s hits while I dig into my raw scallop cocktail.

Mainers aren't fond of change, and that may be one reason J's has remained so popular. Another reason is the food. This isn't fine dining by any means, but the seafood is well-prepared and mostly local. Even on a snowy weekday in March, J's is filled with a mix of hardscrabble fishermen, polished attorneys wearing suits, and young families who have come in for a cup of clam chowder and a grilled haddock fillet sandwich.

In the old days, lobstermen motored right up to the restaurant to sell their catch. Today, lobster is purchased just a short walk down the pier, from a seafood dealer who's been around since 1952. All that luscious lobster meat ends up in lobster rolls, lobster Pernod over linguini, seafood bouillabaisse, and a lobster stew prepared the way "a real Maine-ah" would make it.

J's has its own clam digger who brings steamers in daily. The oysters come from the Chesapeake Bay and are served raw, baked, or Rockefeller- and Mornay-style. I must say I'm a fan of J's long-standing tradition of giving away oysters in February during happy hour, which runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. I always tell visitors that you have to have a sense of humor to come to J's in the summer. There are only eight tables inside, and eight outside on the restaurant's "patio," a parking lot, where at times there can be 50 people waiting. But turnover is quick and executed by no-nonsense waitresses who have worked there for years and therefore have mastered the art of efficiently shuffling customers along without offending them. Anyway—drop in sometime and I'm sure you'll agree—J's is worth the wait.
5 Portland Pier, Portland, Maine; Tel: 207-772-4828

Bait & Switch: A local institution since the 1920s, The Lobster Shack sits on a rocky point just down the road from Two Lights State Park and the Portland Head Light, one of the most photographed lighthouses in the U.S. Savor a plateful of fried clams or a succulent lobster roll while drinking in a spectacular view of the Atlantic. 225 Two Lights Road, Cape Elizabeth; Tel: 207-799-1677 or lobstershacktwolights.com

Carolina Coasting at the Crab Pot

/ By Alicia Miller / On the last stretch of the drive to our yearly vacation on Topsail Island, my husband and I hold our breath, with a slight sense of dread to see what else has changed. As I was growing up, my family shifted loyalties among several local beaches, but for many years Topsail was, for me, the site of summer. When I returned as an adult to join my husband's family at their annual beach reunion, things were, of course, different. The manmade parts of North Carolina's coastal landscape—piers, boardwalks, businesses—seem to slip away and get replaced by something new as quickly and quietly as the shoreline itself.

On this trip, we're on our way to a rented condo, since our beloved early-'50s Topsail Motel recently made way for high-dollar development. But, before we get there, we'll get a taste of one thing that hasn't changed for nearly two decades: the Crab Pot.

Just over the bridge onto the island, we pull into the restaurant's gravel parking lot, by a channel off the Intracoastal Waterway. After a quick trip around back to check out the catch at the Crab Pot's sister business, Surf City Crab & Seafood Market, we head inside. Ah, just the same ... screened walls, plastic tablecloths, fans blowing from each corner, paper towel rolls on the tables—and that unmistakably alluring seafood-at-the-beach smell. It's midafternoon, so we're just here for a snack: peel 'n' eat shrimp and fried green tomatoes. But since one bite of the fresh-caught seafood (most brought up daily or hourly from around back) will get you, well, hooked, we'll be back tonight for more, maybe the steamer deluxe platter with shrimp, crab, slaw, and hushpuppies. And definitely for a Hurricane Fran, a gargantuan rum drink named for the devastating 1996 storm that forever changed the character of the island but, despite major flooding, didn't wipe out the Crab Pot. "This was a fishing village before the hurricane," says owner Peter Outlaw, "much of which was cleared out by Fran." The area's made a strong comeback, but with million-dollar homes and vacationing families rather than fishermen. To stay afloat through the transition, Outlaw says, the Crab Pot adopted "more of a family atmosphere," with "more emphasis on food and less on partying." Though with the Hurricane Fran, the half-gallon margarita (for sharing), DJs, karaoke, and the connected Shag Shack, where couples show off their shag-dancing skills and sing along to "Carolina Girls" or the Grease soundtrack, there's still plenty of party in the sticky, salty air.

We'll come back several times during our stay, in between shark tooth hunts and thunderstorm card games, with various family members in tow. We'll stay for hours, take pictures (one Crab Pot shot of our smiling, sunburned faces was "July" in last year's family photo calendar), sing, dance, and eat seafood, Southern-fried and Caribbean-style, till we're "fixin' to pop."

With the Crab Pot's laid-back summer vibe, it's understandable that folks want to hang around. Many leave a bit of themselves behind by paying a few dollars to have their name painted onto a red wooden crab; thousands of the tenacious crustaceans cling to the rafters like barnacles on a rickety old fishing pier. Not content to be just another crab in the crowd, one loyal customer took things further and requested that his boots take up residence on the Crab Pot's wall after his demise. His wish was granted; today you can see them hanging near the bar. Ask nicely and the staff might show you what's inside one: a salsa jar filled with the customer's cremated remains. Now that's a guy who really never wanted to leave. Who can blame him?

508 Roland Avenue, Surf City, North Carolina; Tel: 910-328-5001. Closed October/November till March; the Shag Shack opens in May.

Bait & Switch: Headed to Holden Beach? Try the Provision Company Restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway for cold beer and paper plates piled with fresh seafood. 461 Kristen Lane; Tel: 910-842-7205 (another location in Southport, 130 Yacht Basin Drive; Tel: 910-457-0654)

 

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