Savoring Soul Food: Tasty Options from North to South
By Becky Billingsley
Of course there are great soul food restaurants in the Myrtle Beach area, and here we present three that are convenient to all parts of the Grand Strand.
North end: Sam's Pizza & Soul Food
Located on S.C. 90 a few miles west of Little River, this humble-looking restaurant is the culinary home of Ben Bellamy, the general manager and cook. He can whip up pizzas, subs, burgers, fried seafood and salads, but what he is most known for are his soul food specialties.
We're talking Smothered Pork Chop, Meatloaf, Baked Chicken, Turkey Wings and Gravy, Fried Chicken and Rice, Barbecue Ribs, Chitlings or Salisbury Steak. Those entrees are offered for $7.50 each from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and they come with sweet tea or lemonade, cornbread or biscuit, and a choice of two side dishes: corn, green beans, collards, cabbage, macaroni and cheese or potato salad.
Bellamy also puts out a Sunday buffet from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and dishes include seafood and soul food, plus Strawberry Shortcake, Pecan Pie, Banana Pudding and Sweet Potato Pie.
Sam's Pizza & Soul Food (http://www.wampeepizza.com/) is at 9348 S.C. 90 in Longs, and the number is (843) 399-4951. It's open daily for lunch and dinner starting at 11 a.m.
Middle: Taste-N-See Restaurant
Gospel singer and cook Earl Campbell opened Taste-N-See in September 2010 in the heart of historic downtown Myrtle Beach in an elderly building that has housed a lot of different businesses through the years.
Campbell cooks up a lot of great food every day for his buffet, with choices such as collards, cabbage, ribs, cornbread, fried chicken, green beans, corn, fried pork chops, smothered pork chops, rice, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy. Other rotating buffet items could include roast with potatoes, meatloaf, baked chicken, barbecued chicken, fried fish and beef liver.
Cross your fingers and hope there is Banana Pudding for dessert.
Every buffet option is less than $10, and some are as low as $4.
Taste-N-See also has a brief a la carte menu with Express Combos where you get an entree, fries or potato salad and a drink. Entree choices are cheeseburger, fish sandwich, hot wings, fried wings, chicken tenders, pulled pork and fried shrimp. A Shrimp and Fish Special is $8, or you could opt for a chef salad or chicken salad topped with broiled or fried chicken breast.
Taste-N-See is open from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and it stays open later on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or later if people keep coming by. Delivery is offered within a two-mile radius, or they'll go farther for big orders. You can place an order by calling or (843) 267-0567.
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South: Aunny's Country Kitchen
If you want to visit a quintessential classic southern soul food restaurant that hasn't yet been overrun by tourists, visit Charles and Andrea, “Aun” Johnson at their soul food haven on historic Front Street in Georgetown.
Aun’s mother, "Mama" Jane Goings, says it was her mother, the late Miss Doggy (Lorine Sherill), who taught Aun how to cook, and both Charles and Aun have experience working in area restaurants. After the couple got together they realized they both had a dream of owning their own place.
Aunny’s is immaculate yet humble, with an approachable air that’s comforting and comfortable. You get real metal silverware rolled in paper towel napkins, and food is served on heavy duty crockery-style white plates.
Lunch specials come with one meat, one vegetable, rice and cornbread. The day I visited choices were Fried Chicken, Pork Tenderloin, Pork Chops and Meatloaf; White Rice, Yellow Rice or Chicken Pilaf; and Cabbage, Field and Snap Peas, Macaroni and Cheese, Candied Yams and Stuffing. The Grand Strand's rice heritage has been paid tribute, and some days in addition to white rice they also have red rice, brown rice, neck bone pilaf and pig feet pilaf.
The cornbread, made by cook Nathaniel Green, is the best I’ve ever had: sweet, cakey, fluffy-yet-dense. The daily specials are on set schedules. I visited on a Tuesday, and Fried Chicken is available every day. On Wednesdays there are Liver and Onions and Spare Ribs; Thursdays you can get Barbecue Chicken, Baked Chicken and Pepper Steak; Fridays is for Fried Shrimp, Fried Fish and Shrimp and Grits; and on Saturdays the entrees include Hog Maw (pig tripe) and Cubed Steak.
But the specials aren’t the only choices. Finger foods include Fried Pickles, Hot Wings and Peel-n-Eat Shrimp, or you could have a bowl of Seafood Chowder. Salads include Chicken Salad, Seafood Salad, Fried Shrimp Salad, Caesar Salad, Chef Salad and more.
There are also sandwiches like Bologna, Shrimp Po' Boy, burgers, Philly Cheese Steak, Club, Pork Chop, Whiting and Bacon Chicken Melt. Breakfast is also served at Aunny’s, such as Fish and Grits, Salmon Croquettes, Shrimp and Grits with Gravy, Pancakes and Corned Beef Hash.
Desserts are made by Mama Jane, and a few of her sweets include Sweet Potato Pie, Apple Crumb Pie, Peach Cobbler, Bread Pudding, Appleberry Pie, Eggnog Pound Cake and Coconut Pie.
Aunny’s Country Kitchen is at: 926 Front St. in Georgetown (about 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach and a fantastic day trip for history buffs). It's open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays, and the number is (843) 461-4750.
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