Spitball Army

Charleston, South Carolina is a great food town.  I mean, really great.  Especially if you like shellfish and seafood.  Years ago, I was taken to a restaurant downtown called Carolina’s, where I ordered the most amazing crawfish pasta dish with a spicy tasso ham sauce.  Absolutely “to die for,” but something to live for, as well.  On my recent trip to the area, I had tentative plans to go to Carolina’s again, but found out that they no longer serve that dish…WHAT?!  I was crushed.

We enjoyed a Thai dinner at Pattaya on Highway 17 on Mount Pleasant (I had my favorite dish, Chicken Panang, which I get regularly at Surin West here in Birmingham, and at Pattaya it had a powerful kick beyond what I’ve ever gotten at Surin), and lunch at RB’s at Shem Creek (my scallops were flavored wonderfully with pepper and oil), where the view over the water was a calming tonic.  The best meal, however – probably because it was completely unexpected – was at Jack’s Cosmic Dogs, a roadside retro lunch joint on the rustic north part of Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant.
You’ve got to respect the fierce spirit of a place where it is stated upfront that they’ll only answer the phone when they’re in the mood!  My dining companion told me that Bill Clinton is rumored to have stopped here to get his fast-food/junk-food fix, maybe on his way up to Myrtle Beach.  I can’t imagine that he didn’t love him some cosmic dogs.

I threw caution to the wind and had a variation on the chili slaw dog – the Blue Galactic Dog (previously, my favorite dog dressed in this fashion came from Sam’s Super Samwiches in Homewood, Alabama).  The slaw was creamy and very fresh, and the bleu cheese was subtle, not overpowering.  The chili had some tang to it, but wasn’t of the Texas-hot variety.  It all covered a large beef dog in a soft, seeded bun, and was topped by a dill pickle wedge.  I could easily have eaten two.  The addition of thin-cut fries (the peanut oil used at Jack’s gave them a mellow flavor) and a root beer float IN A GLASS MUG sealed the deal!

See on the menu where Jack’s calls their soda pop bottles “long necks?”  I love that.

I’m looking forward to my next trip back to the Charleston area (thank God I have family there!), so that I can try the sweet potato mustard on something.  At least once.