A special episode for anyone wanting to visit Beaufort, South Carolina and the Sea Islands. Campfire Tyler is a native and a local musician. It doesn’t hurt that he is also a big time foodie. Want the skinny (pun intended) on some of the best non-touristy eats in the greater Beaufort area? Tyler’s got the lowdown on it all for a weekend or a week-long spot.

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Jesse Blanco: Welcome back to the Eat It Like It podcast. Those of you who happen to spend any kind of time or live north of the Broad River in our wide and expansive area probably know the name Campfire Tyler. He’s a musician, native, resident, and a foodie, which is why he’s taking a few minutes to hang out with us here. First of all, welcome sir. Good morning. How are you?

Campfire Tyler: Hey Jesse, I’m doing great man. Thanks for having me on.

JB: My pleasure. You and I met a bunch of years ago at my first book signing, Savannah Food Crawls. That was, what, three years ago? There you go! (laughing) 

CT: Yeah, I guess that was like, what, late December, 2023? Something like that.

JB: Yeah, no it was 20… something like that. For those of you who are listening and not watching, Tyler just showed us his copy of Savannah Food Crawls, which you can still find on Amazon and eatitandlikeit.com by the way, shameless plug there. But yeah, so it was at that point that our mutual friend Dawn Harris told me, “yeah, he’s a big foodie.” I’m like, no kidding! Okay, cool. Well, that’s great. You usually would not associate a local musician with being such a passionate foodie. And we’ve become friends on Facebook, and I follow all your work. And you, legit, are like, looking for great food in your area. How long would you say you’ve been doing that?

CT: Well as far as being a musician and eating, that’s in my contract. They gotta feed me at any place I play at. But other than that, I mean, I’ve always liked to eat. I come from a food and beverage background, I did that before I did music. And so I was always looking for something tasty and always been big on supporting the local guys.

JB: Very, very cool, very cool. You, like I said, are a native, you told me, born and raised in that area. I know just in the handful of years that I’ve been visiting on a semi-regular basis, how much has your area grown, let’s just say, in the last five to eight years?

CT: Well, Jesse, we used to be a small town. We now have an Aldi and a Hobby Lobby, so, you know, things are really picking up around here. But, yeah, I mean, I think the growth has been exponential, lately especially. But that’s why the restaurants are so important, because it keeps that small town feel going there. And through eating, you can still kind of capture that small town charm.

JB: Yeah. Yeah, I don’t disagree with that. Yes, there are times where there’s traffic, yes, it can be crowded, yes, it can feel a little stuffy sometimes, but it still, at the end of the day, has that small town charm. Did you ever consider leaving? Have you ever left and come back?

CT: Well, you know, I’ve tried to run away about 15 times, as you do in small hometowns, but something keeps on bringing me back, and I don’t know if it’s a culinary quest, or destiny or what it is, but yeah.

JB: Very cool. So for those who are not familiar, you are, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully to any other musicians in your area, but I don’t know of any others. I’m sure there are others, but you are maybe the most prominent name on the local music scene across the area. How long have you been gigging around town?

CT: I started doing this in about 2019–that’s when I started getting paid for it, I guess you could say. I started doing it around 2017, I would go out downtown Beaufort and kind of play around in the park. And if I had a good day, I would go to Hemingway’s and maybe get a few beers, and eventually they said, “you know what, how about you sit out here and play?” And that was kind of the start of it.

JB: Very, very cool. Yeah, it’s an interesting dynamic that I have noticed in my time, spending more time up that way, and in Hilton Head and Bluffton and all that, which goes back a number of years, but the local, laid back, waterfront guitar playing music scene north of the Savannah River is a hundred, pardon me, a million times, very frankly, more active than it is here in Savannah. It’s a culture up there, isn’t it?

CT: Yeah, something like that.

JB: Yeah, I mean, it is, you can go–first of all, I think it would be fair to Savannah to say that there’s just more waterfront venues up that way than we have here, because it’s so far inland. So if it’s inland, yes, okay, you can have somebody doing live music and it’s a good time. But the whole waterfront thing, and near the beach and all that, like there is on Hilton Head, kind of invites the whole vibe. How long would you say–and I’m guessing it’s a guess–that the music scene in the low country, north of Savannah River, has been as vibrant as it is now?

CT: Yeah, I think I got in right at the right time. Yeah, I don’t recall it–I mean, obviously downtown Beaufort’s a little different, they had issues with noise ordinances and all kinds of stuff like that. Hilton Head as far as I can remember, because obviously in Beaufort, that’s a hop and a skip to get over there when you’re younger, and I remember a lot of music out there. Beaufort has definitely toned down over the years, we’re kind of getting back into the swing of things.

JB: Okay, okay. It’s funny, you say Hilton Head from Beaufort is a hop and a skip. It used to be a hop and a skip, now it’s about four hops and three skips. 

CT: Yeah, or if it’s Saturday, it’s three days long. (laughing)

JB: (laughing) It’ll take you a minute to get down there. Okay, so I want to ask you obviously about food, but I’m going to ask you how many days a week do you play out, generally?

CT: Generally during the season, about five or six days.

JB: And season is defined as what, loosely?

CT: I guess when it gets warm out, you know, and the gnats start flying around again, I guess, when it starts to wake up again after that little winter hibernation that we have around here. Yeah, and then this time of year, about four times a week. 

JB: Nice. Through the summer you play? 

CT: Oh yeah, yeah. 

JB: So you pick up, I’m guessing, same as Savannah, the green flag, I say, drops around Valentine’s Day, depending on if it’s warm or not. By March, we’re kind of rolling, and it’ll go until mid-October when things start kind of slowing down, depending on if we get a cold snap. Yeah. That’s a good chunk of the year, and you got the holidays to go part-time. That’s very cool. The number of spots that are available to play, not necessarily that you do weekly, but the number of spots that are available to play north of the brought up in your Beaufort area, has that increased dramatically?

CT: Yeah, absolutely. Actually, I get to stick a little closer to home now. I was out there cutting a rug and trying to cut my teeth out on Hilton Head, and eventually I got to keep it a little closer to home, which has been nice. So yeah.

JB: That’s good, that’s good. And we’ll tell everyone where they can find you here in a little bit. But let’s pivot a little bit here to food, the whole reason why we’re here. You eat everywhere. You eat at more places than just where you’re playing at. I know one of your favorites is at Fillin’ Station. It’s one of mine as well. 

CT: We love The Fillin’ Station.

JB: Yeah, I can’t ask you to say what is your favorite place to play, but when you get hired–let’s put it this way, when you get hired by X, name a place where you get excited because you’re looking forward to eating there.

CT: Oooh. That’s a good question. I like Shellring a lot, over in Port Royal. And one of the reasons for that is they do a revolving menu, so it’s never the same really each week. So it’s always something new to try, and it’s kind of street style food bites, so you can eat it before your gig and not have to take a nap.

JB: (chuckling) That always helps. Now, Shellring is the brewery there, what do they do? Do they rotate out food trucks? Do they do their own food? How does that work?

CT: Yeah, so they have an in-house food truck, it’s out on the side of the brewery. Obviously you get a couple beers in you, you get a little hungry, so they always have, I mean, a few things that come to mind, they do, you know, beer cheese and pretzels, that’s pretty standard for a brewery, but then they’ll have like, chorizo fries. They had a bacon wrapped hot dog last week when I was playing there. So yeah, always something good.

JB: Nice, nice, nice. For those who don’t know, the Shellring Brewery there in Port Royal, right next to Fish Camp, is quite possibly–there are a few really, really good ones, but quite possibly top two easy spots for a beautiful view of the water, combined with good food and drink. The scene there, there’s a brewery right next to a big ole restaurant with a big ole bar, outdoor bar, it’s a great scene there. How often do you get to play in Port Royal?

CT: So I do a Shellring about once a month, sometimes two or three times depending on if anybody needs a shift covered, or how hungry I am that week. So yeah, at least once a month over at Shellring.

JB: So, Shellring’s a favorite. I know another one, do you only do–The Fillin’ Station is one of–I don’t like to use the word favorite, but if I have a place that I’m a little bit partial to just because the vibe is just so tough to beat, it’s Fillin’ Station.

CT: (chuckling) So good.

JB: They participated in our Burger Bash back over the summer and it was a huge success, you had that peach glazed burger with the bacon and Gouda and all that craziness, that was a really good time. But you do brunch there on the regular, right?

CT: I do, yeah. Every Sunday, usually about 11 to 2, or 11:30 to 2:30, somewhere around there, depending on the day.

JB: Nice. Nice. If the weather’s pretty, there’s a nice turnout, I bet, huh?

CT: It’s great. Yeah. I mean, it’s hard to be pissed off if you’re sitting on the marsh, and you got a tasty libation and some French toast casserole, you know, it’s hard to be in a bad mood.

JB: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s a scene there. It’s a dive bar by any definition, by any definition, it’s a dive bar, but it’s waterfront, and you go out there on the deck and you have boats, and you have boats going back and forth, it’s like a great, great, great scene. That’s the only way I can describe Fillin’ Station. I very much enjoy going there. I flew my drone over it a couple of times. It was funny, I went to fly my drone months ago, I wanted some beauty shots. And by the time we got up there, all the way from Savannah, it was overcast, it was kind of ugly, I’m like, “I don’t care, I’m flying it, I’ve driven all this way, it was pretty in Savannah, now it’s overcast here,” I flew the drone anyway and got my got my footage. 

CT: Nice.

JB: A couple of other spots, where do you like to play that you enjoy the food, and you look forward to playing there because you’re gonna get to eat?

CT: Around Beaufort, Hemingway’s for sure. I’m a sucker for Hemingway’s food. That’s still one of–I think a lot more people are catching on these days, but they got a great Muffalotta sandwich, I love the French dip there, so anytime I’m playing, I make sure that I allow enough time to eat, or at least take something out the door with me.

JB: You know, what’s funny is that I’ve only been to Hemingway’s late, except that last time I saw you there, we were running through town, I had just come from Fillin’ Station. And so usually I’m at Hemingway’s late, the kitchens closed, there’s no food to be had.

CT: Get a bag of Doritos or something?

JB: Yeah, didn’t even do that, I had just eaten at Fillin’ Station, so there was no food that day that I had it, that night that I was there. I enjoy Hemingway’s. That’s a good time. OK, tell us outside if you’re not working, you’re not gigging. Give us two or three spots around town and in particular dishes that you enjoy across the Beaufort area.

CT: Beedos out on St. Helena, obviously, yeah. 

JB: Yes sir. 

CT: So, so good. If you can get out there on Sunday, they usually do a meat and three. Other than that, regular menu, can’t go wrong with the chicken sandwich, can’t go wrong with the burger. It’s funny, I went out to Beedos when you were doing your Burger Bash, and they were included on the list and I was making my way down it. And I think it was like one of the last days that I was eating burgers. And I went out there and I asked the chef, I said, “I’ll do the special burger.” And he said, “yeah, which one?” And I said, “you know, the special burger for the Burger Bash.” And he goes, “oh, all our burgers are special.” 

JB: Ha! They are.

CT: And he wasn’t wrong about that. He’s like, “it’s whatever you want. We put chili on it, we put beer cheese, we put whatever on there.” So, great burger, a stop at that. Locals Raw Bar, I mean, I think a lot of people know about that one these days. You can go there and get basically anything and I’m sure you’d be thrilled.

JB: Yeah, my big thing with Locals Raw Bar, and I’m not saying this like I was surprised, but for those who don’t know, it is a wonderful–everything made from scratch, the last time I was in there, and I took a picture of it [because] I was so taken aback by it, it was the middle of the day, they were preparing their stocks and all that stuff for, not only dinner service, but the next few days, and they had a big ole army pot going, making stocks, and it was full of shallots and herbs and all that, and it smelled AMAZING in there. It smelled amazing. And I had the burger, it was part of Burger Bash when I was there in August, and so everything there that I’ve ever eaten, I’ve been there a handful of times, is just so incredibly wonderful and fresh, it’s hard to find a place where they do this kind of food–obviously they’re not going out and catching the fish for their sushi, which is fantastic, but everything that they serve there, they put a lot of thought in. We had about a 20 minute conversation about the burger and the mustard they were using, and the buns that they make themselves, and all that stuff. 

CT: Unreal.

JB: The Locals Raw Bar is not a secret. Would you agree?

CT: I would agree with that, yeah, absolutely. I wanted to keep it for my own selfish reasons, but when you have food that good, everybody starts getting a little inquisitive about it, you know, “where’d you get that at?”

JB: (chuckling) So, okay, you got one more that you like to go to when you’re not working?

CT: Ah, Maryland Fried Chicken in downtown Beaufort. 

JB: Really? 

CT: I mean, I don’t know if it’s a nostalgia thing for me, I grew up, when we’d go out to the beach, we’d go through the drive-through there. And I mean, Maryland Fried Chicken, they’ve been open since 1969 in Beaufort. They have quite the reputation for chicken. I’m a big chicken guy, I love Maryland Fried, love the Tritators.

JB: It’s funny you would mention Maryland Fried Chicken, because I grew up in Miami, and I remember we had Maryland Fried Chicken back in the day. Besides KFC, which everybody had, we had Maryland Fried Chicken and we had a place called Kennedy’s Fried Chicken, which was a small chain, and those were the two. I make a point of it because Maryland and Kennedy’s were the two, that if we were getting a bunch of chicken to go to the beach or whatever, it was generally one of those two. So I have lots of experience with Maryland Fried Chicken, which is why I’m like, oh yeah, that’s really, really good stuff. Okay, Maryland Fried Chicken’s a good one, but give us two spots that people don’t necessarily talk about them for their food, maybe a dish, that they should. Totally under the radar.

CT: Hmm… man, it’s hard, it being such a small town, it’s hard, everyone knows everything these days, especially with social media and all that. I really like Ocha Indeed, it was the Ocha Noodle Bar and Yes Thai Indeed, they were two separate entities [that] came in. Really like the chicken saute over there. They a really good pad see ew. So that would be one. I’ve been really digging Breakwater recently, and I know that’s a pretty well known spot, but again, I used to always think Breakwater was a little too fancy for me, and it turns out that’s not the case. You can go in there and just hang out, and they have wonderful bartenders, a great food menu. I heard they’re getting ready to do a new bar menu, so I’m really excited about that. 

JB: Nice! Okay, a new bar menu at Breakwater, I’m all about that. Yeah, that crew is super cool. I had a good time chatting with them during Burger Bash when they participated. They did a crazy beautiful burger, but story for another time. They do a nice job there. I know exactly what you’re talking about, it feels like a fine dining restaurant, if you will, but if you go and sit at the bar, everybody’s laid back.

CT: So relaxed, yeah.

JB: And it’s a nice vibe there. I’ll have to meet you, when they get that new bar menu going, I’ll meet you there and we’ll throw a couple back. 

CT: Please do, yeah.

JB: Summers–well, let’s back up. You got Oyster Festival coming. Do you participate?

CT: I do, yeah, so I got an Oyster Festival coming up, that’s the 17th and 18th here in Beaufort, downtown on the Waterfront Park. I’ll be playing on Sunday, I get to start the day off, usually everyone’s like, “it’s so nice, there’s fires down there, there’s oysters, blah, blah, blah,” and I’m on the stage and the wind’s blowing. It’s a little cold. But getting to eat the oysters afterwards makes it all worth it, so.

JB: I was a judge two years ago and it was freezing. I ran the 5K in the morning and it was like 28 degrees. I was… I can’t go so far as to say miserable, but I was not thrilled.

CT: I got to judge the Shrimp Festival last time around and I was like, it’s gonna be hard to get me to come back as a musician now that I was a judge, because I get to eat so much good food, you know?

JB: Right? I heard that. All right, tell us where anybody who wants to go and catch some of your gigs, where there’s a central location to find you.

CT: Oh, well you can mostly find me at Fillin’ Station on Sundays, Hemingway’s usually on Saturdays throughout the month. The easiest way–I’m trying to get a website going and kind of make it a little easier to hunt me down, but right now Facebook is probably the easiest way to keep up with my schedule. I do Shellring, I want to say, the third Friday of each month, so, I have a couple of regular consistent ones, but it’s kind of, anywhere that’ll put up with me and feed me is kind of where I end up.

JB: I like it. I like it. I like it. Tyler, thanks so much for taking a few minutes to share some of your secrets with us. Maryland Fried Chicken, I gotta put them on my short list. All the places I’ve been to, obviously. Beedos is a star, as is Locals Raw Bar. But that Maryland Fried Chicken sounds like… I see it every once in a while when I drive through Beaufort. I’m like, oh yeah, I remember that. But now you’re telling me, it sounds like you’re saying it’s probably the best fried chicken in Beaufort, yeah?

CT: It’s the best fried chicken in Beaufort, you might have to wait a little bit because they cook it fresh, but I think that’s very important.

JB: Well, no shame in that game. 

CT: I also, I don’t know if you know this, but I have a Maryland Fried Chicken song out there on the interwebs.

JB: Oh you do? I’ll have to request it next time–

CT: We filmed it in part inside of Maryland Fried Chicken.

JB: Okay, is that available to watch anywhere online? 

CT: Yep, it sure is, yep. 

JB: Very good. We’ll track it down. I’ll request it next time I’m at one of your gigs. 

CT: Perfect. 

JB: His name is Campfire Tyler. He is a musician north of the Broad River, and travels South if you’d like to hire him to share some good music, good cheer, talk about good food, and have a good time as we roll into 2026. Sir, thank you for taking a few minutes. 

CT: Thank you so much.