With the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven't been able to travel and, subsequently, eat in any interesting places that I can write about on Road Tips. So, I thought I'd keep things going for the time being and look back at some of the more fun and memorable places we've found in our travels over the past nearly 15 years that Road Tips has been up and running. I'm hoping that we'll begin to start traveling on a limited basis in June, hopefully finding restaurants that are open along the way.
When my wife and I go on vacation, we like to eat where the locals eat. And we love seafood, so much so that we sometimes have a goal of a "seafood overload" where we gorge ourselves to near pain from eating too much seafood. During a trip to Hilton Head, SC 11 years ago, we found this great little seafood place on what was a working shrimping/oyster dock in the area. This is a look-back at our wonderful evening at Hudson's on the Dock in Hilton Head in May of 2009.
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While on Hilton Head, my wife 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 second hip replacement a little over a month prior to our trip. 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. The lady was trying to entice us to go to a couple of restaurants by offering coupons for free drinks, half-price appetizers, whatever. 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. My wife asked the lady, "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.
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. (see map) 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.
The view at Hudson's is just stunning. Being on the back waters of Skull Creek, the water was clear, placid and pristine. Evening time thunderstorms were brewing off in the distance and the weather that evening was absolutely perfect. We walked down 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 a half-ton of oyster shells in the pile. They certainly do go through the oysters at Hudson's and we couldn't wait to give them a try.
(Added May 2020 - In 2013, Brian Carmines' son Andrew established his own sustainable oyster farm - Shell Ring Oyster Company - in Port Royal Sound north of Hudson's. With daily harvests for same-day dining, Hudson's claims to have the freshest oysters in the world.)
We entered the building and found there was a bit of a wait for a seat in the dining room, specifically a table near the windows looking out over the bay. We went early - around 6 p.m. - and it was pretty busy at that time. While waiting for a short time to get a table near the windows, we found the nice bar area of Hudson's. A few people were having dinner in the bar area, but we wanted to wait to sit in the dining room. I thought about ordering a beer, but I really didn't see a bartender while we were in there. I did notice the servers going behind the bar to grab beers and drinks, so maybe they make and fetch their own drinks at Hudson's.
As I said, it wasn't long before we were able to be seated. Above right 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 were seated at a corner table near the window and were given menus by the very friendly hostess. As soon as our server came around, I immediately ordered up a Palmetto Pale Ale, a beer brewed up in Charleston. It turned out to be a very good beer paired with the seafood we had that evening.
My wife and I were on a mission being from the landlocked Midwest. 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 steamed or grilled shrimp, fresh crab, oysters, fresh fish - anything that you could think of and basically prepared anyway you wanted it.
One of their featured fresh catches that day was 1 lb. of soft shell crab claws served cold. I talked my wife into that. I wanted shrimp, steamed and seasoned with Low Country spices. But we also started out with a dozen of freshly caught oysters on the half shell. With her meal, my wife also got a side of what they called "Seven Day" cole slaw - a sweet and peppery 7-day marinated cole slaw. We were told by our server that Hudson's is famous for their hushpuppies - deep fried balls of cornbread, for the uninitiated - so she got an order of those, as well. And my wife also ordered a side of sweet snap peas to go along with her crab claws. She was looking for all different things to try that evening. Me - I just wanted a pound of the seasoned steamed peel-'n'-eat shrimp.
My wife also 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 my wife 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 trawler. She said, "We save the 7-day-old oysters for the people we don't like." They were just outstanding. And they went very well with the Palmetto pale ale.
It wasn't long after we finished off our oysters when the waitress brought out my wife's soft shell crab claws and her sides, and a heaping order of boiled shrimp for me. 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. She 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!
She also tried of Hudson's signature hushpuppies. The look on her face told me they were good. She offered me one and I said that I really didn't care for hushpuppies. She said, "They put some sort of seasoning or herbs in them. They're not like regular hushpuppies."
My wife 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 hushpuppies I'd had in the past. In fact, they were the only hushpuppies that I can say that I ever really enjoyed.
The story on the hushpuppies is that Brian Carmines had heard of a restaurant in a small coastal town in North Carolina who had great hushpuppies. He went there with his father a number of years ago to try the hushpuppies. Finding that they were as good as he heard they were, Carmines bartered with the owner for his hushpuppy recipe with a few bottles of high-dollar whiskey he had in his possession. Most people in the South will dip hushpuppies in a sauce and consume them that way, but Carmines claims that no sauce is needed with his. And he is correct on that.
This is my plate of steamed shrimp. They were huge! And they were great - by far the tastiest shrimp I had during our whole vacation. I really liked the salty/spicy Low Country seasoning they put on the shrimp. 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, she told us. And many of the items they have on the menu are also available in bulk from their market including 4 pounds of the steamed shrimp for around $75 bucks. Now, THAT would be the ultimate seafood overload.
The steamed shrimp was so good I easily finished the pound I had on my plate. I motioned for the waitress to come over and I ordered up another pound. Less than 10 minutes later, the second pound came to our table. It was just as good as the first. But between the shrimp and oysters, I was nearing seafood overload after that.
Of course, with all the food we ate, my wife wanted to try Hudson's 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 down in Savannah. Honestly, we never had Key Lime Pie the rest of the week that came close to what we had at Paula Deen's restaurants.
After dinner we felt we needed to move around as we were stuffed. We walked down the dock looking at the boats and enjoying the evening along the water. I'm telling you, I certainly achieved seafood overload that evening. A couple pounds of peel-and-eat steamed 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.
As we left Hudson's, my wife 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!"
And my wife was right as Hudson's on the Dock was just outstanding. It was, quite possibly, the best seafood restaurant we ate at during our vacation. And we ate at a LOT of seafood places between Savannah, Tybee Island and Hilton Head. We loved the laid back atmosphere at Hudson's, the wonderful views and the great seafood selection. And our waitress was outgoing, efficient and fun. If you're looking for a fancy place to eat in Hilton Head, Hudson's ain't the place. But if you want GREAT seafood in any setting, Hudson's would be my choice.
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