Vacation = Food

In case I hadn't mentioned it, I love food. :) 


LOVE food. 


Our vacations are typically planned around eating really good food. 


So, this post is about food on vacation. 


Is it really sad that I am dedicating an entire post to what I digested while on vacation? Probably... but you know the one question I've been asked by everyone who asked about our vacation to Hilton Head? Where did you eat? That's the number one question. So, I don't think I'm all that crazy and I definitely don't think I'm alone out there in this one. :) 


Here's my list of favorites from vacation, in the order that we ate them. I wanted to put them in order of favorites, but I can't pick, so this will just have to do. :) 


1. The Boathouse - we sat outside and I ate crab legs. Lots of crab legs. Gnats about drove me crazy the entire time and I'm pretty sure I probably ended up eating a couple, but they did not at all interfere with the deliciousness of these crab legs. OMG. So good. Not to mention that I have a big thing for good atmosphere and this place had it. We walked along a pier to see the water, sat outside and watched the sun, and then got to eat on the patio. Subtract the bugs and I would have been in heaven. Oh... that and get my son to actually sit in his seat instead of nearly tripping servers the entire night. :) Oh... and make my daughter listen to me the first fifteen times I tell her to do something or not do something. It was our first night there and the beginning of a week of fights between mother and daughter. Oh, the memories. :) 

2.  Land's End Tavern (Salty Dog Cafe) - We made our way to the part of the island that featured the Salty Dog Cafe. I think this is called South Beach Marina, but I couldn't swear to it. The food here was also complete deliciousness. I got fried shrimp and regretted it the entire time. I should have done crab legs again. Colt got them and let us help him crack them, so I got to taste test and I regretted it even more. The shrimp was good, but I could have had it any where. Still kicking myself for it. Again, here, we enjoyed the atmosphere while we waited. Jake had fallen asleep, so I was carrying him most of the time, but Bailey really enjoyed seeing the boats and the water. We watched a crab devour a minnow. It was a crowded area of the island, but fun to be in the mix. Here's where Emily and I started our research on kayaking, boating, etc. :) This restaurant is also the one that featured several large pirates. Not live pirates, just pirate mannequins. Jake was obsessing over them the entire meal (he woke up before we ate). I promised him we'd take pictures with the pirates and then when he got the chance to actually go see the pirate and take a picture, he was terrified and cried. Hilarious...  

Jake and his version of the pirate's "hook." He's all fearless right now. 

Colt trying out some calamari

Bailey showing him up... not really... she just wanted a cool picture. 

Me wishing I had ordered crab legs again. :(

Who says playing with food isn't fun? 

Before the pirate....

"Hello Captain Pirate, I am terrified." 

Bailey showing up her brother. 

3. Guiseppe's Pizza and Pasta - OK. I don't think I have photos of this one. We ordered in. The boys (being Colt and Brad) went and golfed. Emily and I ordered pizza. It took way too long and I was way too hungry when it arrived. But, it was really good... if you ever go there, make sure you get meatballs on the pizza. Deliciousness. But, if you order cheese sticks and they act like you are getting breadsticks with cheese on them, don't count on it. You will get deep fried mozzarella. Or so we did. :) 

4. Lady and Sons - You can read all about this in my post about Savannah, Georgia, complete with photos, but not of the food. :) 

5. Crazy Crab - The week was half over before we figured out when and how to get to the lighthouse. :) And we finally made it. I'll be posting more about it separately. We had heard the Crazy Crab was touristy, but that they had good food. I'm not opposed to touristy. I usually like local favorites, but touristy isn't bad. And, it wasn't bad. It was really good. I had shrimp there. I can't remember exactly what kind because it's fading now, but it was good. It was peel and eat, but there was also some flavoring, just can't remember exactly what. What I do remember about it is the decor. There were fish everywhere. And there was a huge old scuba diver outfit that freaked Jake out. He wasn't really scared of it, but he called it a bad guy. If you have seen the Spongebob movie where Spongebob and Patrick get captured by a scuba diver and are being "dried out" to sell in a souvenir shop, then you'll understand why this is the "bad guy." Otherwise, just take it from me. He's the bad guy. Jake hasn't figured out that it's a person in that suit. I'll just let him go on thinking this. I'm sure he won't want to hear what I have to say about it anyway. :)

Trying to take a fun picture... 

Deciding this was more like how I was really feeling at the moment. 

6. Captain Woody's - After we spent our wonderful day out on the boat, seeing dolphins and enjoying the beauty of nature, we made our way to Captain Woody's. It was recommended by the driver of our boat. Oddly enough, it was owned by a couple from Kentucky. They even had a drink on the menu that was called "Go Big Blue." This was a small, hole in the wall type, but it was fabulous. And, it looked great from the outside, so I'm not sure I'd really call it a hole in the wall. It was just more like a small pub. I got the crab cake sandwich and it was great. I had been debating crab cakes all week and decided that I'd better go with it or I was going to run out of time. I don't think I have photos of this restaurant. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was just tired of my camera after the boat trip. :) This was probably my second favorite (next to the Boathouse). It was just good, fast, and relaxing. If you get a chance to go, you should.

7. Hinoki - On our last night there, I decided I needed some red meat or I might go crazy. I don't think I ate any for that whole week. Really. So, we contemplated. Brad and Colt had golfed, so they were starving, too. I made some kind of comment like, "For the amount of money we've been spending, we could eat at Hibachi." And it stuck. We started the research to find a Japanese Steakhouse. And we found this one. It was great! I have never gone to a restaurant where you sit on the floor. This place had a sort of pit for the table and you sat in these stadium-seat like chairs on the floor with your feet dangling in the hole in the floor. I took pictures of the food here. :) Yum.