So our anniversary adventure to Surfside Beach was a resounding success! Well… it was pretty good. It was fun. We had some time together, we built a fire and cooked over the flames, we had some drinks and swam in the gulf. We slept in the car on the beach. It was a little uncomfortable but it was fun to pretend to be teenagers again. The morning was a little rough, however. Needless to say, we are not teenagers and have decided we make WAY too much money to be sleeping in the car. All things said it was a great adventure. We woke up with some aching joints and an impressive rumble in our collective gut. Luckily there’s a little spot the lady at the corner store suggested call the Port Cafe. We pack up, dust off the sand and headed over for some well-deserved breakfast.

Finishing Up Our Adventure

A short drive away from the sand, we pull into the parking lot of a freestanding building that looks like it belongs on the beach. There were weatherbeaten wood panels and a thin dusting of sand everywhere. We walked into the door and immediately impressed by the decor. They were really trying to take advantage of this gulf thing. The walls were covered in every type of seashell and boating knot decoration you could imagine. The friendly waitress sat us quickly and offered us water and a much-needed cup of coffee. We looked over the menus stretching and massaging the sore spots of our backs and legs until we settled on our meals. Wife ordered standard breakfast fare, the Golden Breakfast, while I opted for the special: Chicken Fried Steak. I’m also famished and, since Wife said she’d help, I ordered a waffle too.

I’m Huuuungry

We reminisced about the good and not so good parts of our trip while we waited for our food to come out. There were plenty both. The fire and drinks were awesome. We agreed the wind was mean and wanted to eat our flesh. Then there were the teenagers who decided to tear ass on the beach at 2 am and got stuck. We were chuckling when the waitress showed up.

Wife’s breakfast was standard, eggs cooked to order (we prefer over medium both as a temp as well as a test for the kitchen’s skill level), hash brown and meat: sausage patties today. The eggs were pretty well done! A rare thing. And the sausage was wonderfully browned and juicy, just the way God intended. The potatoes were also well executed, crispy outside, cooked well and well seasoned. The Waffle was not bad either. It was a little spongy for my preference. Being a purist, I like the light and crisp texture you only get from folding in some egg whites beaten to a stiff peak just at the end of your prep. Still, the fresh strawberries and dusting of confectioner’s sugar paired wonderfully with the slightly sweetened waffle.

It Just Gets Better

The Chicken Fried Steak was pretty damn good too! They started with a cubed steak: pretty traditional. The meat was just a bit chewy but was correctly seasoned, dusted and seasoned prior to breading as opposed to letting the breading handle all the work like many places will lazily do. The breading was also wonderfully seasoned, thick and hearty. It was topped with a lovely, peppery sausage gravy that brought the whole dish together. The steak sat next to creamy grits (not instant) and two perfectly cooked over-medium eggs. I was in heaven.

The Envelope, Please

We finished up our breakfast and planned the trip back home, which needed to include a carwash. The car was coated in a thin sheet of salt. We packed up and hit the road considering the poor, poor chef at the Port Cafe. The food here was exactly what we needed after our longer-than-expected evening. On a scale of tip-the-hat (low) to shank-the-chef (high) he’s obviously going to get stabbed, but it’ll be a simple shanking and not too violent. It’s a compliment. Take it. Well done, folks. Good luck finding a replacement for the kitchen.

Chef Shanker

Keeping the world in balance.
Have you ever eaten something so delicious it made you angry?