Nacho Hippo Fills Fun Niche
By Becky Billingsley
Divine Dining Group, a Myrtle Beach company that owns many local restaurant concepts, hit a grand slam with a new one they opened in late 2010 called Nacho Hippo.
Formerly the site of Roy and Sid's American Kitchen in The Market Common in Myrtle Beach, Nacho Hippo now has coastal cantina flair with a fun and casual decor. Golfers, young and trendy partiers and even families (kids love the Hungry Hungry Hippo games on the tables) are making this a vibrant hotspot.
A couple of the Grand Strand's best chefs - DDG Director of Cuisine Kurt D'Aurizio and Chef Sean Christenson - tinkered a lot with the Nacho Hippo menu before deciding to go with what Christenson calls "wild and crazy tacos from around the world."
Expanding on the concept started by West Coast taco trucks that serve off-the-wall taco combinations, Christenson had a blast developing "fun and ethnic varieties of nachos and tacos and ethnic dishes with a Mexican theme. It's still fun-Caribbean-island-meets-Cozumel-with-Puerto-Rican-flair, but it's all tropically inspired and bouncing around to different cultures."
These creative tacos that sell for $3-$5 include choices like The Carolina Kid with pulled pork, plantain slaw and sweet and sour honey sauce. Chef Christenson is smoking his own butts for this, and it shows. Area barbecue lovers are impressed.
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Love You Long Time has Asian flair where spicy orange chili chicken is tempered by honeydew melon balls, and it works deliciously well. Some standouts we tried include Ka-Ka-Ka-Kia with Korean beef barbecue and spicy kimchee, but the Kamikaze taco with seared tuna, seaweed salad and crunchy soybean kernels was also different and fun.
There are more international tacos, and several nacho choices are also given the hip treatment with toppings like chorizo, jerk chicken, Maine lobster and mango salsa. Other menu sections include quesadillas and house specialties such as Light My Fire Shrimp served with yellow rice, black beans and flour tortillas.
Appetizers and other finger foods are also popular at Nacho Hippo. The Tuna Tostada is a pretty tasty affair with its pineapple salsa and wasabi mayonnaise, but it's a hard dish to share.
Mango Shrimp Cocktail is Chef Christenson's phenomenally wonderful version of shrimp ceviche. He makes a carrot and habanero puree with mango, lime, orange, cumin, cilantro and a lot more for the sauce base, and it is outrageously delicious. A nice touch is the dish is served with fresh tortilla, plantain and yucca chips.
Nacho Hippo serves desserts like Key Lime Pie, Fried Cheesecake and Bananas Foster, but I sampled a luxurious dish called HoyTeeToyTee, which is a quesadilla filled with lobster, brie and sauteed spinach. It's rich and decadent but I loved it, and think it would make a great appetizer for four people to share.
During daylight Nacho Hippo has a friendly family atmosphere, but at night the daytime rock 'n' roll gets louder and more eclectic and becomes a bar scene. There's a bank of frozen concoction machines, Mexican beers and a whole lot more libations, and my favorite is the house $3 HIP Margarita. The glass it's served in is shallow so you're not getting a big old dose of drunk in each one.
Nacho Hippo is at 1160 Farrow Parkway in Myrtle Beach, and the number is 843-839-9770. Operating hours are 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily.
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