Fried Seafood and Farmers Markets....it is the South Y'all!

Farmer’s Markets, let’s face it, we are obsessed with them in SF (yes, I can still say “we”, it was 23 years there!). You can pretty much find one everyday of the week in one neighborhood or another and the mother of them all down at the Ferry Building. They serve many purposes from getting small suppliers and their food or wares to the “city folk” to being a great gathering place and reason to get out of the apartment. You know, city living and pretending to ourselves we are really doing good by supporting local as it were. Thus, upon my return to NC it seemed like the thing to do here also since this state is kind of known for having like lots of farms and stuff.

Of course, come to find out, things work a little differently here. Yes, there are farmer’s markets though seems they are not as prevalent as you may think. Seems Durham has one on a small scale but it is seasonal, not all year and is only on Saturdays from 8am to noon. And when there is the random pop-up market in the area it is usually also on a Saturday or Sunday from early-ish to noon. When I found out I that was my closest option I was like, “it closes by noon? I mean who can get themselves up, ready and out in time to that on a weekend day?” Seriously, one needs time to meld into what can sometimes be their only day off. You don’t just jump up out of bed and go like that. At least I don’t. That was one of the good things about the SF ones, they usually ran until 2, 3 or even 5pm. Plenty of time to pull ones self together, maybe have a light brunch then wander the stalls for an hour or so before heading back to your abode to laze and nap the rest of the day away. Needless to say, so far I have not been able to rally myself early enough to get by and check it out. My weekend laziness wins out everytime.

The only other option it appears is the State Farmers Market in Raleigh put on by the NC Agriculture Department of all places. Granted, this is a minimum 35 to 40 minute drive which folks here will say is “just down the road” but more like a boring slog on I-40 in these gas pricey times. Yet, it does offer the advantage of being all year long, seven days a week and happily enough for me, an event that goes until 7pm! And 5pm on Sundays!! This I can get behind and even look past the drive to get there. Another aspect of the place which draws me is it is also the location of NC Seafood Restaurant. I was also able to hit up my local gal pal Ms. M to accompany me on this journey to the “big city” and offered to buy us lunch if she would drive and she agreed (fell for it).

I think in my time here I have made it clear how much I do so enjoy me some seafood and how easily available and affordable it is to get. Something SF can’t quite seem to match. In a trade-off between fresh seafood and a farmers market I’m gonna go seafood every time. The good thing about NC Seafood is they get fresh deliveries daily since they are at the market and everything you get is cooked to order which can make for some good eats and, depending on busyness, long-ish waits. But what they are offering can usually be worth it.

Here it is all about the Calabash style seafood. If you’ve never heard the term it is kind of regional and comes out of the beaches along the coast of South Carolina, think Myrtle Beach area toward Cherry Grove. It involves freshly caught seafood from the Atlantic Ocean, lightly breaded, deep fried(!) and served up either buffet style or in large plate portions with fries, slaw and hush puppies. It is big eating for big eaters because that is what we do here in the South. At NC Seafood they are pretty much sticking to this theme and giving the people what they want.

three seafood combo plate

This is the three item combo plate which comes in two different sizes, a regular and a large. I got the regular and if this is what you get I can’t even imagine what the large was like. For about $22 I got a plate loaded with flounder, scallops, shrimp, home fries, hush puppies and cole slaw. This was A LOT of food and more than enough that two people with decent appetites could share and not go hungry when done. Every note about this was done right from the served hot to the crispy bites, the cool touch of sweet Carolina slaw to crunch puppies hot enough to melt butter. While it seems like all that fried stuff could come off greasy or oily, it really does not. I am not sure how much I can say about this except it was darn good eatin’! I think you could probably pay some upcharge and get this all broiled to be healthy or whatever but this isn’t that kind of place and not part of the experience.

fried shrimp sandwich

Now Ms. M didn’t want to necessarily share in my eats though she was all about some scallops and noshed a few. She decided to go for the shrimp sandwich and for about $7 you get a toasted buttered bun loaded with shrimp. Probably more shrimp that you will ever see on a sandwich you get anywhere else, especially at that price. They don’t put the tartar sauce on it as some people aren’t fans of it but you can get plenty of tartar or cocktail to suit your tastes. You can get any one of their seafood offerings this way and will most likely more than you thought, no light bites here.

I have been to my fair share of fried seafood joints in the last year or so and NC Seafood is one of the better ones. With their market location you kind of know you are getting some of the freshest seafood possible for being as inland as we are. Add in an abundance of big plate offerings and relatively affordability based on quantity and quality and you really cannot go wrong here. It is a great way to go Calabash style without having to go all the way to the coast or actual Calabash to get it. Oh yeah, I forgot we hit the farmers market too and they pretty much have whatever is in season you could be looking for so it was a fun day out too. I will say prices do vary from stall to stall so peruse the whole thing first before committing to that perfect head of lettuce or bucket of strawberries you are looking for. But you can’t go wrong with any of the choices from NC Seafood so get whatever you want.

**Note it can get busy on weekends when the weather is nice—duh! Thus sometimes the line is long but they seem to be used to it and can move it along pretty quickly so don’t be disparaged if you looks like a lot of people, plus, worth the wait.**