While on Hilton Head, Cindy decided that I needed a pair of swim trunks for our walks along the beach. For some reason, she deemed my khaki shorts as "inappropriate beachwear". I didn't pack any because I wasn't going to get into the water above my knees since I couldn't be immersed in water for four months after my last hip replacement. But she was adamant that we go get a pair of swim trunks for me.
We found a Wal-Mart on the island and went in to get some trunks. When we came out, there was a kiosk where a lady dispensed information on condo rentals, time-shares and local restaurants. We had read up on a local seafood place, Hudson's on the Dock, where they had their own fishery and fleet of crab/shrimp boats. The lady was trying to entice us to go to a couple of other restaurants by offering coupons. Cindy said, "What do you think about Hudson's?"
The lady sort of turned up her nose and she said, "It's OK. But I don't like to go to places where I can make the same food at home."
Well, we were on vacation, we didn't have a home - let alone a kitchen - to cook in. We declined her offer of the other restaurants and went with our instincts and went over to the west side of the island for dinner at Hudson's that night (see map).
We were glad we did.
Hudson's isn't fancy or high-brow compared to other places on the island. It's located at the end of road next to a marina full of fishing boats. There's a small parking lot near the building, but a larger one down the road where overflow parking can go. We saw the place and immediately fell in love with it.
The history of Hudson's dates back to 1912 with the construction of an oyster factory next to the water. In 1920's, a local gentleman by the name of J.B. Hudson bought the little oyster factory. The Hudson family served oysters to the locals right in the factory. Part of the Hudson's on the Dock restaurant is where the old oyster factory used to be.
In 1955, J.B. Hudson's son, J.B. Hudson, Jr., had now taken over the operation and added shrimp to the menu. He also expanded seating in the restaurant a few years later. In the early 70's, Brian and Gina Carmines, who had grown up on Long Island, but had been transplanted to Atlanta for Brian's business, bought Hudson's on the Dock. In the early days, Brian was the cook, chef, and manager. Family members waited on and cleared tables, washed dishes and glasses and manned the bar area. Over the years, the Carmines added to the restaurant to a present day capacity of 345 seats.
This is the main dining room at Hudson's, with huge windows that looked out onto the docks with the fishing boats moored to the docks. There was a nautical theme to the dining room with fishing nets hanging around the room. The old wooden tables also had comfortable high-backed chairs to go along with them. We went early - around 6 p.m. - and the main dining room was filling up with people.
We were seated at a corner table near the window and were given menus by our very friendly hostess. I immediately ordered up a Palmetto Pale Ale, a beer brewed up in Charleston. It was very good.
We decided to go for the seafood overload that evening. The menu had all different types of seafood combinations from a catch of the day, to boiled or grilled shrimp, fresh crab, anything that you could think of - and cooked anyway you wanted it.
One of their featured fresh catches that day was 1 lb. of soft shell crab claws served cold. I talked Cindy into that. I wanted shrimp, boiled and seasoned with cajun spices. But we also started out with a dozen of freshly caught oysters on the half shell. Cindy also got a side of what they called "Seven Day" cole slaw - a sweet, 7-day marinated cole slaw. Hudson's is famous for their Hushpuppies - deep fried balls of cornbread - so she got an order of those, two. And she also got a side of sweet snap peas.
Cindy decided that she wanted some wine that evening so I ordered up a bottle of the Franciscan chardonnay, one of our favorite white wines. The waitress - an older lady who had worked at Hudson's for over 20 years - brought it chilled to our table when she brought out the oysters on the half shell.
Oh, my God! The oysters were plump, meaty and flavorful. They were served with a side of fresh ground horseradish along with Tabasco. We had eaten a couple before Cindy suggested we take a picture of the oysters before they were all gone. Our waitress, who had a great sense of humor, assured us the oysters were caught earlier that morning and put on ice in the fishing trawler. She said, "We save the 7-day-old oysters for the people we don't like." They were just outstanding.
It wasn't long after we finished off our oysters when the waitress brought out Cindy's soft shell crab claws and her sides, and a heaping order of boiled shrimp. The crab claws were huge and came with a slightly spicy remoulade sauce. Hudson's also provided a nutcracker to get all the crab shells cracked. Cindy had some trouble getting some of the crab meat out, so I had to help her. As my reward for helping her, I got to sample some of the crab claw meat. Oh, man! Was it great!
Cindy also tried of Hudson's signature Hush-puppies. The look on her face told me they were good. She offered me one and I said that I really didn't care for Hush-puppies. She said, "They put some sort of seasoning or herbs in them. They're not like regular Hush-puppies."
She was right. They were excellent. They had a hint of an onion taste to them, along with some other herbs that I couldn't quite identify right away. They were completely different from the Hush-puppies I'd had in the past.
This is my plate of boiled shrimp. They were huge! And they were great - by far the tastiest shrimp I had during our whole vacation. Once again, our waitress told us the shrimp were caught earlier that day. She says, "We never have to freeze our seafood. We usually sell out of our daily catches." I found out that Hudson's sells over 5 tons of oysters and a ton of crab each year. They'd sell double the amount of crab if they could catch more.
The boiled shrimp was so good I finished the pound I had on my plate. I motioned for the waitress to come over and I ordered up another pound. The second pound was just as good as the first.
For dessert, Hudson's featured their homemade Key Lime Pie. We ordered a slice with two forks. It was good, sort of heavy, but not as good as what we'd had earlier in the week at Uncle Bubba's and The Lady and Son's. Honestly, we never had Key Lime Pie the rest of the week that came close to what we had at Paula Deen's restaurants. Except for one place. I'll tell you about that in a later post.
We walked around the restaurant after we finished dinner and looked around the expanded dining area on the north side of the restaurant. This is a picture of the nautical themed bar area. A few people were having dinner in the bar area, but I didn't seem to see any bartender while we were in there. I did notice the waiters and waitresses going behind the bar to grab beers and drinks, so maybe they make and fetch their own drinks at Hudson's, I don't know.
We walked outside to the dock and looked in the windows of the fishery where the fresh seafood would come off the boats each day. Outside the fishery, next to the dock, was a large pile of oyster shells. There had to be 1000 pounds of oyster shells in the pile. They certainly do go through the oysters at Hudson's
We walked down the dock looking at the boats and enjoying the evening along the water. I'm telling you, I achieved seafood overload that evening. A couple pounds of peel and eat boiled shrimp did the trick. But I really wish I would have been able to try the blackened cajun scallops they had on the appetizer menu.
All in all, Hudson's was just outstanding. Quite possibly the best seafood restaurant we ate at during our vacation. And we ate at a LOT of seafood places. If you're looking for a fancy place to eat, Hudson's ain't the place. But if you want GREAT seafood in any setting, Hudson's is the place.
As we left Hudson's on the Dock, Cindy said, "You know, we should really go back to Wal-Mart before we leave Hilton Head and tell that lady at the kiosk that she was completely nuts!"
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