N.C. January 2017-- Part 13: Moving-- Moving-- Eat

JANUARY 14, 2017, SATURDAY

We picked up a trailer at Holly Ridge to take stuff over to a consignment shop.  The beds and especially the sofas weren't much fun at all.  Thankfully, Mom's Liftavator sure came in handy.  It was an all-day affair.  By the time we finished, the upper and second level were almost completely cleared out.

Talked with the people buying the condo and we are getting close to closing on it.  that was a relief as I sure am happy to be saving the real estate fees.  They are friends of another couple who own a condo in the complex.

We went over to Shuckum Shack in Surf City.  Good food after a long and hard day's moving.  I had eaten there before and really like their shrimpburgers.  Think a slider piled high with fresh shrimp.  There were two of them and fries for $10 and I couldn't eat the second one I was so full.  Poor Andy had mighty poor pickings as he doesn't like anything fish or sea.

Shuckum Shack is a small chain along the Atlantic coast.

Back to the condo for a bit and then back to the Jolly Roger Motel for NFL games and conversation.

Beginning to See the End.  --RoadDog

I Got My Shrimpburger, But At Shuckin' Shack in Surf City, N.C.

This past September, I was at Topsail Beach for a week and went over to Surf City and stopped at the Shuckin' Shack.  This wasn't my first time there.  I had been there in July and had something I'd been wanting to try since we were in Maine and saw something called a lobster roll.  They had them, so I got one and it was as good as I thought it might be.

But this time, perusing the menu I saw the shrimpburger offering.  I had read the Our State article and, of course, had a hankering to try one.  It cost about $10 and came as two large slider-type sandwiches.  That first bite into it proved I was right to have been wanting one.  That was really good.

Only theirs came with the shrimp cooked inside of a solid outer covering sort of like a burger.  By the time I had finished one of the two shrinpburgers and the wonderful fries, I had to take the second one home with me.

I just looked up Shuckin' Shack on the internet and found there are ten of them, ranging from Frederick, Md., to two places in S.C. and the rest in North Carolina.  Four of them are around the Wilmington area: Carolina Beach, Wilmington, Morehead City and the one in Surf City.

I'll be getting back to the one in Surf City in December.

The Big Problem:  What to Order, a Lobster Roll or Shrimpburger?  --RoadDog

N.C.'s Big Oak Drive-In at Salter Path: Home of the Shrimpburger

From the August 2016, "Sun, Surf & Sandwiches" by Jason Frye.

"At Big Oak Drive-In, find the beachy lunch of your dreams: barbecue, burgers, fried seafood, and the real star of this walk-up window -- the shrimpburger."

The tiny restaurant sits halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and Bogue Sound.  A steady stream of cars pull into the lot (which can only park a dozen at a time.  And, they have a shrimp on their sign.

A shrimpburger to N.C.'s Crystal Coast is like a po'boy to Louisiana.  "A shrimpburger is a steamed white bun, soft and chewy and a little sweet.  The shrimp are small, very lightly battered in a cracker meal, and cooked to the ideal tenderness.  Tartar sauce and cole slaw made in-house add creaminess, a spike of vinegar, and a cool crispness to each bite.  The ketchup -- not too much -- mellows it all out."  Like this description didn't make me hungry.

And, you can get fries,  onion rings (O-Rings) and hush puppies (H-Pups).

And, there are pretty much always lines waiting to place orders.

A Definite Stop If I'm Ever in the Area.  Gotta Have a Shrimpburger.  --RoadDog