Jesse and Maggie reconnect in the new year talking about their eats on New Years Day plus Jesse’s romp across Hilton Head Island in search of the area’s best Oyster Happy Hours.

Jesse Blanco: Hey everybody, good morning and welcome to Mondays with Maggie. My name is Jesse Blanco, host of not only this podcast, but Eat it and Like it with Jesse Blanco. You can find that weekends, WJCL-TV, and sometimes on YouTube. Find us there. On the other end of the line here is Margaret, we call her Maggie Crenshaw. Good morning. How are you?

Margaret Crenshaw: Good morning, I’m doing well, how are you?

JB: I’m good, I’m good. Happy New Year! 

MC: Happy New Year! I haven’t seen you since last year.

JB: (laughing) I see what you did there. Yeah, “hey, see you next year…” Oh, wow. Did you have an uneventful New Year’s Eve? I did, personally. How was yours?

MC: Pretty uneventful, I’ll say, I had a big date with my sofa. 

JB: Yeah, yeah, so did I, so did I. But I was watching my Miami Hurricanes bully the Ohio State Buckeyes.

MC: Oh man, you had a really big time.

JB: That was New Year’s Eve. 

MC: What a win.

JB: Yeah, yeah, it was a big one. And it’s interesting, because you know how–you watch enough college football to know, sometimes these games can go four hours or more. And so I thought, ‘okay, well, the good news is when my game is over, it will be just a short time till midnight, I can watch Ryan Seacrest for about 10 minutes, have a glass of champagne and go to bed.’ Well, my game ended I think a few minutes before 11.So now I’m like… [humming Jeopardy theme] If it weren’t New Year’s Eve, I’d have been asleep real quick, but now I gotta sit there and wait an hour, watching everybody talk. Saw Diana Ross, she did her thing in New York City in Times Square. That was cool. I did enjoy that. But otherwise, I was just kinda looking at the clock, waiting like, okay, my business for today is done. Let’s get on with this next year business so I can move on. Yeah.

MC: I was trying really hard to make it to midnight, but I think the last text I sent off to a friend was at 11:36, and I must have fallen asleep right after that.

JB: With the phone on your face. That’ll happen sometimes. You spent some time on New Year’s Day cooking? I know you–I saw your picture, what was it, collard greens?

MC: I sure did, yes, absolutely, I made collards, and the reason I made collards is because the grocery store didn’t have turnip greens. I prefer turnip greens. I don’t know how much you know about greens, but you know I’m super southern, and turnips are more delicate than collards. Collards are much stockier and tougher. And my family always made turnip greens, and then of course, you also cook the turnip root. So there’s big chunks of turnip root in there. But I had a conversation with Roger, the vegetable guy at Harris Teeter, he and I were buds. 

JB: Hi Roger. 

MC: That’s right, shout out to Roger. Hi Roger. I was like, “there are no turnip greens, no turnips.” And he was like, “well no one buys them.” And I was like, “aren’t we in the south?”

JB: No, you’re in Hilton Head.

MC: It’s the same thing with like, bulk raw peanuts by the pound, you can’t find them anymore. Anyway, so I ended up with collards, and I bought a rutabaga, because a rutabaga is really a cross between a turnip and a cabbage, basically. So it kind of mimics–it does the same thing in the pot. So I cooked my collards, I cooked them with vegetable broth, I didn’t make them the traditional way with ham hocks and all that business, because I like to keep things a little healthier. And I made some black eyed peas with andouille sausage, and I cooked ribs. We were texting that day, and you were like, “ribs?” I’m just not a ham fan, you know, so ribs were buy one get one free, and so that’s what I did.

JB: Going back to, we’re in the South, I would venture to say that the two zip codes on your lovely island are quite possibly the least southern zip codes in the state of South Carolina.

MC: Yes, yes, I understand that. I understand that. 

JB: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but still, we are in the South.

MC: Yeah, I do like to razz Roger about the vegetable selection.

JB: Yeah, it happens. Yeah, ribs. What did I do on New Year’s Day? No, on New Year’s Day, I was back to my boring grilled chicken brown rice bowl. I did a Cajun shrimp pasta New Year’s Eve for my game.

MC: Yum.

JB: There were some leftovers–actually no, I ate the last little bit of it right before midnight, in that hour I was sitting around, you know, waiting on the world to change almost literally, I had the last little bit of shrimp and pasta. So no, Thursday I did nothing spectacular. Grilled chicken, brown rice, and and I sauteed the chicken, like a burrito but i make bowls, with cilantro and caramelized onion, to give it some flavor. Kind of my version of Chipotle. I eat that lot more than I care to admit. In an average week when I’m not out eating, I’ll eat that four times in a week. That’s just me.

MC: Oh yeah, I mean it’s super satisfying, it has a lot of flavor, it fills you up.

JB: Yeah, filling, yeah, and healthy and all of that good stuff. Have you–but you have! We’ve both been out. That was the first. On the second, Friday, I did some running around. I’ll tell you about mine, but first tell me about your visit a couple of weeks ago to Chez George, yes?

MC: Had a wonderful, wonderful day after Christmas dinner while my brother and my brother-in-law were still here. Ellery couldn’t make it that night, but the three of us went to Chez George. And you know, you and I talk about this all the time, we always have such a great experience there. The service is top notch, you know, everybody is treated like a celebrity star. I didn’t see George, but of course his parents were there, and they were just tripping over themselves to accommodate and make everybody feel comfortable. And of course, you always start out with their bread. And after two baskets of bread and that yummy chicken liver pate that they put out, alongside some butter and a glass of wine, I mean, I could have left and been fine, but of course, you know, my brother, of course, had to have the escargot, because when you’re in a French restaurant, you have to have the escargot. Now, you know, I’m gonna say this, he and I both love escargot, and I think you and I have had this conversation a few times, we like escargot in melted butter with herbs and garlic.

JB: Yes.

MC: And of course, the toasted baguette. Their version, this go around, had a butter sauce, which I’m gonna say was delicious. I mean, it was absolutely delicious. But the druthers on our part would be just to do that classic butter with garlic. Anyway, we all devoured that really quickly. I mean, it was gone in less than 30 seconds. (laughing) 

JB: That’ll happen.

MC: But that was the only appetizer we shared, and the only reason being is that, you know, it’s just too much food. And each of us had our eyes on a big entree. They had a scallop special that evening, and so John got those seared scallops, and Michael and I both decided that the black grouper on their menu would be what was going to hit the spot for us, and it was really, it was prepared perfectly. And the grouper itself was just a really nice big fresh piece of fish. The menu suggested that brussel sprouts came with it, which we had actually just had the day before at my house, but I didn’t get just brussel sprouts, I got carrots, and those vegetables were almost… you know, the vegetables are always kind of like, okay, I’m gonna eat this because I know it’s healthy for me, but they were off the chart. I don’t know what they did, but very, very good vegetables alongside that. And then I’ll just touch on the sauce. It was a saffron creme kind of sauce that I could tell by the taste had a seafood base. So, really delicious, wonderful. I wish I remembered the name of the wine we were drinking. It was a Cabernet that was delicious. And of course, after all that yumminess, we couldn’t even order dessert. But great experience, just great experience. Back to you.

JB: Good! As they always are there. And so you got out this week too, and had some Thai, yes?

MC: Yes, so I had a friend who wanted to have lunch and asked, you know, what sounds good? I was like, oh my gosh, something healthy. Like, you know, after all the heaviness of the holiday season, and the toasted pecans and the pecan pie and you know, all the… so, first thing that came to mind was Thai. Thai or Indian, and so we decided on Thai. And then you and I, of course, love Relish, but for location and convenience and proximity sake, we went to the north end, Ruan Thai.

JB: When was the last time you’d been there? Because it’s been there for a minute.

MC: Well, you know they have the one on the highway too, so…

JB: Oh, so there’s two of them? I did not know that.

MC: Mhm, the one on the highway is where the Popeyes used to be. So I used to dine there a lot more frequently because my office, you know, was on that end. But the north end is just across the street from me here. So it’s much more convenient. So yeah, I probably hadn’t been to that location in a year. And, you know, I just kind of always order Panang curry.

JB: Nothing wrong with that.

MC: I almost never go off that market. If I do, I get their Pad Thai, which I love equally as much. But Panang Curry is just clean, there’s a lot of flavor, it has rice, fresh vegetables, bell peppers, green beans, and chicken. It’s so good.

JB: Looks delicious.

MC: So good.

JB: Yeah, yeah, that’s good. So that was your first dining out of the new year, was Thai?

MC: Yes.

JB: That’s a good one, that’s a good one. So Friday–I’ve had oysters on the brain, I text you last week, “hey, tell me about oysters on the island.” I’d done some research, I was looking around, asking questions, whatever, looking at oyster happy hours. And your trusty resource was out of town. So we’re gonna catch up with Beth later, but I did my own research, and I said to Sheila hey, let’s go let’s go run around eat eating some oysters, and so we hit, I think, five different spots in about three hours.

MC: Wow!

JB: Yeah, we were moving, because I was just there to try try some oysters and investigate some oyster happy hours, and found some places that advertised it that didn’t offer it, and it might have been because of the holidays, but they did not. Some places, like we went to… what’s the one over there on Marshland Road?

MC: Old Oyster Factory?

JB: Yeah, yeah, I had never eaten there, I’d been there, but I’d never eaten there, and that’s a lovely lovely venue. The views are beautiful–

MC: Great views.

JB: Yeah, great views. It was fairly full early, in the four o’clock hour when we were there, and I gotta say, their selection of oysters, the price, everything about it was probably the best of all the places that we went to, and I can share that because it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the others. We went to Brother Shuckers, we went to Black Marlin, we went to Skull Creek Dockside, we went to the Boathouse because we did see online that they did an Oyster Happy Hour, but no, they sent us over to Dockside next door. So Dockside, Black Marlin, Brother Shuckers, and then over in Bluffton we went to Toomer’s Bluffton Seafood House, I think it’s called. 

MC: Ohh, it doesn’t get any better than that. They’re the original, and the Hudson.

JB: They are, for some reason I thought they were located near the river, but they’re over in a little strip mall. But regardless of all that–

MC: Well, they’re–Bluffton Seafood is by the river. Yeah, the fish market.

JB: Gotcha. Gotcha. Right. But no, the ones that [had] the biggest selection, and the ones that we enjoyed the most, and tasted the freshest, and everything about it was just right was at The Oyster Factory there on Marshland Road. And they deserve a quick shout out for that. I’m going to put something together for the TV show, that was a lot of the motivation for doing that little run around. And so then we were–it was funny, because it was almost eight o’clock, we’re in Bluffton and all we had eaten for the previous few hours, it was pretty funny, was oysters. We had eaten, we had gotten a half dozen here, six or eight there, or whatever. And so all we had eaten for hours was oysters. And so you want to sit down and eat a meal, but it was almost eight o’clock and we were in Bluffton. And as you know, I live in Savannah, obviously. And so we were like, you know, I’m just kind of not feeling going somewhere at 820 to sit down to eat dinner and then drive home. I’ve done that many times and it’s not fun, so it’s like, let’s just get back to Savannah and figure out food. So as we’re driving, we’re talking about, “okay, well we can run in here, we can run in there, we can do this, we can do that, I’m not feeling that…” we wound up ordering a pizza in the car on the way back to Savannah across the bridge, went into into downtown, picked up the pizza, and came home. That was that. (laughing) 

MC: Perfect.

JB: Sometimes it be like that.

MC: Well, I have a couple things to say. Speaking of Beth, she is a fan of the Brother Shuckers Oyster Happy Hour special. She does that quite a bit. And the other thing I would add to your list that maybe next time you’re over is Hudson’s for oysters.

JB: Yeah, we were there. We were there. Had a lovely margarita at Hudson’s, but they didn’t have oyster happy hour. 

MC: Oh oh oh! They probably ran out.

JB: I don’t know about that. I think it might have been because of the holidays, they weren’t doing Oyster Happy Hour. I’m gonna investigate that before I make a big spectacle out of it, because it was surprising. Like I said, it had been advertised and it wasn’t offered. But yeah, I found that surprising. And because, see, the original thought was to just sit here and eat some oysters anyway, regardless of whether they were happy hour or not. But at that point, it was very early in my run around, and I had a list of other places I wanted to try to get to, so we cut it short. It’s like, okay, no happy hour? Cool, keep it moving. We had a margarita, enjoyed the view, and then ran off to The Oyster Factory over on Marshland Road. But otherwise I would’ve stayed and had some oysters anyway, who cares if it’s happy hour or not, just to try them. But for the sake of time… I’m gonna-I have an interview with Andrew coming up for a Seafood Festival, so I will be back over there in short order. So I didn’t overthink it, like, okay, I’ll be back here probably next week.

MC: You know, because you said the word pizza, I have been meaning to tell you this for like three weeks. When Beth and I–shout out to Beth, hi Beth–

JB: Hi Beth.

MC: –were out shopping before Christmas, and we did all of our shopping together, for food, for presents, we were just tag teaming and all that kind of business, and we were hungry, we were looking for something quick and easy to eat, and she goes, “have you ever been to Giuseppe’s for their lunch special, the big slice lunch special?” And I was like, “no, and as you know, pizza’s not really my go-to, but right now that sounds really good.” So Giuseppe’s there at Shelter Cove has a lunch special, and it’s a soda, your choice of a garden salad or a Caesar salad, and a big slice of pizza with either white sauce or red sauce–and you know how much I love a white pizza–for $11.50.

JB: Slice of pizza, salad, and a drink for $11.50.

MC: $11.50. Do you know that I have been there three times since then? Because what a bargain, and that pizza, it’s so crispy.

JB: Yeah, yeah, they do a nice job. I assume the slices are fairly large.

MC: Yes, it’s enough food. It’s too much food. But I’m going to say it again: $11.50.

JB: Very nice, very nice. I will make a note of it, because I’ll be over there quite a bit this month working on stuff for Seafood Festival, as I said, and preparing for a bunch of other things. So, it will be a very busy month. Reminder to everyone that the Hilton Head Seafood Festival is coming up, I believe it’s February 22 through March 1st, you can get your tickets at hiltonheadseafoodfestival.com. It’s become a really, really incredible event, arguably–I might say, I don’t go to all of them, but it might be the best week in food of the year on the island. And that’s saying something. So, a fine time will be had by all. All right, I think that’s it. Let’s get out of here. Tell us where we can find you if we want to buy a winter shack.

MC: Okay. I’m a realtor with the Kaiser Tutan team at EXP Realty, and you can view listings on my website margaretcrenshaw.com

JB: Sounds like a plan. All right, I’ll be around. I’ll holla at you. I’ll be texting you questions about other things that we can get into another time. But otherwise, you have a wonderful day, and a wonderful rest of your week, and happy new year, and I’ll talk to you soon. 

MC: Happy New Year!

# # #