There’s life before your first shrimpburger from Big Oak Drive-In & BBQ, and every day after.
In the community of Salter Path, on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, you’ll find the perfect sandwich: steamed burger bun, a heap of tender, perfectly-fried shrimp, a smear of tartar sauce, a mound of slaw and a dollop of ketchup. It tastes like summer, which is fitting for a restaurant tucked into a seaside copse of Live Oak trees, the Intracoastal Waterway to one side, the rhythmic sound of surf to the other.
From the Outer Banks to Wilmington to Calabash, chefs dish up tasty tributes to this tried-and-true Crystal Coast O.G. Even in Charleston, South Carolina, the state’s culinary champion, they try but fail to meet the mark set by Big Oak. Take it from me – restaurant critic, culinary judge, sandwich gastronome extraordinaire – I live on the coast and will hop in the car anytime for the two-hour trip to seafood sandwich satisfaction.
On a busy Saturday, Big Oak turns out about 800 shrimpburgers, so I know I’m not alone.