This article and photo made me recall, with great nostalgia, the first time I had shrimp and grits while sitting at the bar of a funky, offbeat locals joint called "Marshside Mamas" on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. Marshside was not so much a restaurant per se, as a covered, open-air pavilion with a well-stocked bar fronted by crammed tables covered in red check vinyl. The kitchen was "out back", and it was only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Folks would take boats out from Hilton Head or Savannah, tie up at the wharf in the twilight, and follow strings of Christmas lights, to experience some truly great food.This was almost 20 years ago, but the revelatory excellence of the dish, made entirely of local ingredients by a chef who truly knew and loved her craft, has never left me. The kind bartender, who insisted I try the dish, was aghast that I'd never had it before. With my first bite, the explosion of flavor and texture, I was swept into a different state of being, enhanced by the joyful buzz from the crowded tables of locals and tourists chatting and similarly eating with gusto; the stereo playing the blues; and the occassional ringing clang of a horseshoes game being played just outside.I've had shrimp and grits many times since, and a part of me always longingly hopes for the same elusive and sublime experience, the taste of that first time. But, it's no surprise I have never found it again!

This article and photo made me recall, with great nostalgia, the first time I had shrimp and grits while sitting at the bar of a funky, offbeat locals joint called "Marshside Mamas" on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. Marshside was not so much a restaurant per se, as a covered, open-air pavilion with a well-stocked bar fronted by crammed tables covered in red check vinyl. The kitchen was "out back", and it was only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Folks would take boats out from Hilton Head or Savannah, tie up at the wharf in the twilight, and follow strings of Christmas lights, to experience some truly great food.This was almost 20 years ago, but the revelatory excellence of the dish, made entirely of local ingredients by a chef who truly knew and loved her craft, has never left me. The kind bartender, who insisted I try the dish, was aghast that I'd never had it before. With my first bite, the explosion of flavor and texture, I was swept into a different state of being, enhanced by the joyful buzz from the crowded tables of locals and tourists chatting and similarly eating with gusto; the stereo playing the blues; and the occassional ringing clang of a horseshoes game being played just outside.I've had shrimp and grits many times since, and a part of me always longingly hopes for the same elusive and sublime experience, the taste of that first time. But, it's no surprise I have never found it again!

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