Our Pimento Cheese trip was a blast.
Think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but substitute all the drugs with food and replace the search for the “American Dream” with the search for “Pimento Cheese”.
It was a whirlwind of cheese spreads, biscuits, local Southern fare, splendid (and stiff!) cocktails and most importantly- fabulous Southerners.
On the way to South Carolina we had our very first “Chicken Biscuit” from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen.
Christophile enjoying breakfast
From our car, patiently perched in the right lane waiting to just get on the property, we watched countless Chapel Hill college students and high school kids get their morning biscuit fix.
There is a fellow in a window making the biscuits as you approach the drive-thru. Believe you me when I say that this was an out-of-biscuit experience. SO FRESH and FLUFFY and……. FRIED CHICKENY. Christophile and I actually squealed with delight when it dawned on us that we were eating fried chicken for breakfast.
The beautiful City of Charleston made the perfect backdrop for our interviews
Just look at the lush background behind Chef Robert Stehling of Hominy Grill. We got this interview at the very last minute, barging into his busy restaurant at that fleeting moment between the lunch and dinner rush. Thankfully he was a big sweetheart about it and even let us peep into the kitchen as they put together a classic PC sammie.
We drove an hour north of Chucktown to beautiful Pawley’s Island to meet The Henrys of the Sea View Inn and Palmetto Cheese.
They were the definition of Southern hospitality and I am really surprised Christophile and I did not just pitch a tent on their dock and move in. It is beyond comprehension how serene Pawley’s Island is.
This was the “creek” at low tide. Look at the oysters camped out! At high tide lots of mud skippers leapt about as the sun set in all sorts of psychedelic colors. Please go to Pawley’s Island. Please.
Coconut cake from Page's Okra Grill in Mt. Pleasant - SUPERB!
Some other highlights were:
Meeting Ted Lee and Matt Lee whose Lee Bros Boiled Peanut Catalog, I sent away for waaaay back in 1995-(I admit I was a wee bit starstruck) and whose collective charm has inspired me to develop a cocktail in their name (to be divulged here on Food Punk, soon).
A spontaneous trip to A Southern Season where the food is fine and the folks are even finer.
Getting our pimento cheese education from Robert F.Moss, food historian and BBQ expert.
Marty said they served this at school when he was a kid..yikes!
The bar at HUSK. RUN, don't walk!!!
So much road yet to scour in the quest for Pimento Cheese!
