You can taste the coastline the moment you roll into Calabash, North Carolina, where the docks frame a town built around the sea. The promise here is simple, fresh, and unmistakably local, and it is the reason travelers detour for a plate that tastes like the tide. You will find a small community with a big reputation, earned by generations who let quality speak without fuss. If a road trip needs a purpose, this town in North Carolina delivers one that crunches, sings, and lingers long after the last bite.
1. The Signature Calabash Fry
A road trip to Calabash, North Carolina, the Seafood Capital of the World, begins with the namesake fry that made this town famous.
The technique uses a whisper thin dredge, usually seasoned cornmeal or flour, that turns into a delicate crisp instead of a heavy crust.
You hear it crunch, but you still taste the sea in the shrimp, flounder, or oysters underneath…