So there are many things I love about Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. This was the fourth visit for us *Thanks to hubby taking a class, and I never tire of the beachy ocean shorelines, sunny blue skies weather, and tasty good eats. And I’m not a very picky eater, so if you’re looking for an expert food critic’s evaluation of the most famous restaurants on the island, you’ve come to the… wrong place. But stick around anyway, just for the yum of it! 

There are a lot of yummy options in HHI, and we tried quite a few this past week. *Disclaimer #1 here…especially for the trainers at my gym… Yes, I did partake in samples of all that you see below, but I rarely ordered my own, and I biked three times during the week. And did push-ups twice. Soooo, don’t be too mad! Puleeeeaze! 🙂

Back to matters of eating…First, if you’re ever driving down 95 South, anywhere below New York, two things you cannot miss when you cross state borders. When you enter, North Carolina, the immediate expansion of on the road, fast food options reminds you that you are in the south, with names like Bojangles, Chick Filet, and the Paulus all time favorite—announcement coming shortly! And when you enter South Carolina, actually a good mile from the “Welcome” sign, you see the neon lights of a ginormous light-bright sombrero and as you near, your eyes are blasted with the bells and whistles electric light show greeting of what’s genuinely known as “South of the Border”—a tourist trap I tell ya! But a fun one to see. At least once. Especially if you want to pick up some fireworks (shhhhh!) for your fourth of July celebrations.

But I’m here to talk about food today, so I want to start with our favorite fast food in the South: the chicken of all chicken, the wings that are to die for delicious, and the Texas toast that leaves a dab of butter at the edges of your lips…That’s right. You know the name well if you’re a Southerner. The one. The only. The infamous wings joint. Drum roll please! (Can you tell I love this place yet?!?) …

Zaxby’s! 

The first time we ate at Zaxby’s hubby made the mistake of trying their “Insane” wings. Let’s just say that his pallet finally matched my personality, and that’s not easy to do! 🙂 We have since then stepped down a notch in order to still enjoy the hot factor without having to down a jug of water per bite. You see, at Zaxby’s, they have four levels of hot sauce if you choose their wings: Original, Wimpy, Tongue Torch, Nuclear and Insane. Tongue Torch is plenty spicy for this masala marinated family! But occasionally we get a little crazy and order the Nuclear to change it up. Fire it up is more like it!

While in HHI, we ate at the Omni Hotel’s restaurant HH Prime and I can’t say enough about their creme brulee. We only ordered one, on two separate evenings, and with six of us, we passed it around, and the thin layer of caramelized sugar was just how I like it. Too thin to skate on. But just perfect for the palate. And the short rib dinner was fall off the bone tender…Yeah, the margaritas weren’t bad either, but I digress.

One day, we ventured over to Coligny Plaza and found a heaven of icey goodness when we stumbled upon a place called “Frozen Moos.” You guessed it! Ice Cream. But not just any old flavor. 92 Flavors! I can’t lie. I sampled about five and I was good. The espresso chip spoon hit the spot for me. The two older girls ordered red velvet, which was actual red velvet cake mixed into the ice cream and it was actually pretty good. Hubby went with the go with what you know approach and picked Moosetracks. One of my favorite all time flavors. And the younger two, traditionalists by nature, settled for vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. But what about Coconut, German chocolate, Kahlua Almond Fudge, Raspberry Truffle…awwww! Another day! Another flava. What can you do? Only so much room in the tum-tum…

Is it me, or are those the cutest cupcakes you ever did see… and I ain’t talking about those round things on the table!

RED VELVET

On this outing, we spotted the luring title of “Sweet Carolina” … a cupcake joint that radiated good smells each time someone opened the door. So a few days later, we biked forty minutes from the hotel [those are my strong girls!…well, Sarah sat in the trailer behind me,] and earned our cupcakes. I watched the girls have their sugarfest and sampled a sliver off each of their choices. The older two went with red velvet (Again!) and the younger two pink with sprinkles… Is it me or do you see a pattern here?!? 

I enjoyed watching them dive in while I sipped my latte from Java Joes (Still prefer Starbucks) but from the sight of all the icing and cake that was left over, I now know for sure that sweets can actually be too sweet to handle. Although the cake tasted light and fresh and the cream cheese icing had a nice smooth finish, after a bite or two, the sugar rush sent each of us over the edge. We were ready to bike the forty minutes back to work off the oopsie calories.

Now, by far the best food experience while in HHI was the Sports Bar Mexican delights at this fun-filled eatery called Aunt Chiladas. We went there twice. Our waitress was super su-weet too! 🙂 The second time, we returned to see the Bulls play since the hotel room didn’t carry NBA Tv. They Lost. But we won’t talk about that. Wahhhhhh! Where was I? Oh yeah. Aunt Chiladas. This restaurant serves light, not too salty, tortilla chips with three homemade dips: chunky guacamole, mango salsa, and queso with jalepenos. Yummy starter! The sizzling steak fajitas tickle your sense of smell long before they arrive at your table, and the jalapeno burger with pepper jack cheese hit the spice seeking tounges of my Indian palate. Even the dessert which we tried on the second trip was delish! Hubby really liked the Cinnamon ice cream, but I slowly worked through a slice of perfectly tangy key lime pie with the girls. Love lime. On or in anything. But by far, the best menu item at Aunt Chiladas was the grilled wings. What is with us and wings? I don’t know, but I have never had such delicious, fall off the bone, nicely seasoned, grilled to perfection, hot when served, wings like these. 

Outside of Aunt Chiladas with our Pre-Bulls Game Smiles… 🙁

Considering how much chicken we ate this week, it’s a wonder at least one of us hasn’t started clucking. Seriously. Although, we did have turkey once. From Publix. Two things that were a hit in my book of repeaters were from the deli section of the local grocery store: namely jerk turkey slices that were you guessed it…SPICY!! And jalapeno artichoke dip, perfect for dipping tortilla chips. Even inspired my poem for Chip MacGregor’s Bad Poetry contest. (Found on Day Two of the week long poll of the worst of rhymes and the like.) Which, by the way, I didn’t win. But he assured me that, as my agent, he was doing me a favor. I still wanted that Lady Gaga-ish Bible. Pout Pout. 

The worst part of coming off a week of no cooking (a rare vacation for us since we usually RV it and cook most of our meals,) is the phenomenon that creeps up and gets me every time. Cooking amnesia. I literally seem to forget how to cook. What time to cook. And the simple fact, that I probably should cook—so my family won’t starve. Like the first day back, six o’clock rolls around, and the kids are all staring at me. “Mom. What’s for dinner?”

“Dinner? What’s that? Crackers and cheese of course. Or you can do peanut butter/Nutella toast. Does that work for you? Because that works for me.”

And yesterday, one daughter took matters into her own hands and made pumpkin bread for dinner. I left for Starbucks to finish some writing when hubby came home, but I heard the next day that after three put backs, the middle of the loaf finally stopped being gooey! Garrreat! 

And thank God for those to-go packs of prontas (Indian whole wheat tortilla like bread) my mom froze for me for such a time as this. I think if my kids ever become moms, I’d like to help them out too. For times when they don’t feel like cooking. And for those days when I get cooking amnesia (I notice the symptoms returning more frequently with each passing year,) I’ll send them gift cards. To grocery stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes, where the prepared meals are usually healthy and tongue tickling to the last bite. Hint hint…in case you’re wondering what to get me for Mother’s Day (who cares that it just passed,) my anniversary in a week (who cares if you’re not married to me) or Father’s Day (who cares if Hubby’s not your dad) or… Christmas (gotta plan ahead!) 

Just kidding. Sort of.

Anyway, come back in a couple of days to find out what we did for fun on Hilton Head Island. We (crunch) did (lick) do (nibble) things (sip) other (chew) than (swish) eat. I swear! Gulp.

**So how ’bout you? Have you had a good food experience lately? Hungry minds want to know!

**IF you LIKED this POST, You MIGHT also LIKE:
“Confessions of a Post-Lent Chocoholic”
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“Don’t Do This When You Give Up Chocolate! Just Don’t!”
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“Operation Y.T.”