Carolina Beach Eats
Last weekend the husband and I took a day trip to the coast, checking out Pleasure Island. Here’s a quick review of the places where we ate in Carolina Beach, for the next time you’re in that area.
We ate lunch at Gulf Stream Restaurant and it was a gem. Not a fancy place, but a good one. It’s been family-owned since 1978 and one of the owners, Joanne, was the person who rang up our bill. The menu is eclectic – they serve breakfast all day, have sandwiches, pastas, and even a few Greek dishes, but our focus was on the seafood.
My husband got a combo platter of fried shrimp and scallops, which came with fries, coleslaw, and hush puppies. I got the crabcakes, which came with the same sides. The fries were just average, your standard frozen crinkle-cut fries. But everything else was great. The shrimp and scallops were tender and cooked just right. I’ve had a lot of bad coleslaw in my life so it was a relief that the coleslaw here was light and tasty. The hush puppies were really light, almost airy, and the taste was reminiscent of funnel cake. That’s a thumbs up.
But the star of the meal was the crab cakes. Not breaded or fried, just two very generous patties of crab meat that were perfectly seasoned and just barely held together. No fillers, just a lot of fresh, sweet crab. They were awesome.
Service was friendly and it was clear that, as advertised, this is where the locals dine. Almost everyone eating there knew each other. Highly recommended.
I had read in passing that there was a donut shop on the boardwalk so we went and checked it out and I am so glad that we did! Britt’s Donuts has been there since 1939. It’s only open during the summer, so don’t miss out. They serve exactly one kind of donut, at 75 cents each, milk, and soda. Simple as can be, which I think is delightful. Sit down at the counter and order, watch the donuts being made, and then try to stop yourself from eating dozens of the fresh, piping hot, glazed donuts. Just writing about them makes me want one!
We popped into Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar for a mid-afternoon snack and got a dozen oysters on the half shell. They were good, albeit very salty, but for all I know, that’s what East Coast oysters are like and this was my first encounter with them. On the down side, every single oyster I had was marred by bits of shell. Not good eats.
We did dinner at the Deck House. The Deck House has nice ambience, with a nautical theme, and is housed in a converted church. I ordered the seafood pasta, which was bowtie pasta with asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, shrimp, and scallops in a lobster cream sauce. The husband got one of the specials – tuna in a bleu cheese sauce with asparagus and shrimp. My entrée came with salad, which was nothing special, just the usual boring pile of iceberg lettuce and a few other veggies. The husband got the grouper chowder, which was tasty but very scant on the fish. Our bread basket was pretty standard.
As my husband pointed out, the saving grace for both our dinners were the sauces. My husband’s tuna was bland on its own, the shrimp overcooked, and the side of “Chef’s mixed vegetables” was your standard side of mushy, frozen vegetables. I hate those. But he loved the bleu cheese sauce.
The scallops and shrimp in my pasta were overcooked, which is a little hard for me to forgive. But the lobster cream sauce was rich and lovely, so I ate everything but the seafood (which is a waste!). The accompanying garlic bread was hard and dry.
If we were back in the area, I’d probably give Deck House another shot, but mostly because there’s slim pickings for restaurants in the area.
Gulf Stream Restaurant
78 Myrtle Ave.
Carolina Beach, NC
Cash Only
Britt’s Donut Shop
#11 Boardwalk
Carolina Beach, NC
Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar
6A N. Lake Park Blvd.
Carolina Beach, NC
Deck House
205 Charlotte Ave.
Carolina Beach, NC