On 11/9/2017 5:06 PM, cshenk wrote:
> jmcquown wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
>> On 11/8/2017 5:29 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> I am going to be down in your corner of the world in February and I
>>> am wondering about local specialties that should not be missed.
>>> I am going toÂ* Tybee Island with some friends from our kayaking
>>> club. We are renting a vacation propertyÂ* and making day trips
>>> from there. My wife does not kayak, but is coming along on the
>>> trip.
>>>
>>> I know I have to have grits. I have only had grits once before, and
>>> that was at a Bob Evans in Manassas VA. I can't get grits in a
>>> restaurant here. I can't even buy it in a store. The best I have
>>> managed was some quick cooking grits, and I had to cross over to
>>> NY state for them. Shrimp and grits is at the top of my list.
>>>
>>> I am wondering about soft shell crab, which you never see here.
>>> However, it looks like they won't be in season.
>>>
(snippage)
>> You're right, soft shell crab won't be available in February; they
>> have a very short season (they usually shed their shells around May).
>
> Climates vary though and up north of you:
> http://www.virginiaseafood.org/consu...shellscrab.htm
>
> We seem to have a longer period of them.
>
Yes, you (and Gary) are about 500 miles to the north of Tybee Island.
It makes a huge difference. But it wasn't even about that. Dave asked
about local (low country) specialties. I don't know about restaurants
in the Virginia Beach area. The ones down here try to serve things like
that fresh, in season.
>> You might try Frogmore Stew if you can find it. (Fresh blue crab
>> aren't in season in February, either.) Despite the name, it's not a
>> stew. It's a boil. A quick rundown is blue crab, shrimp, spicy pork
>> sausage, new potatoes and pieces of corn on the cob cooked with
>> "seafood boil" spices. Places that serve it will give you a bucket
>> for discarding the crab & shrimp shells and the corn cobs. It's a
>> messy but fun meal. 
>
> I like!
>
It's actually more like a picnic food than something I enjoy eating in a
restaurant.
Jill