What is Calabash seafood and why do so many buffets in Myrtle Beach, SC serve it?

A diner in Myrtle Beach has a plethora of Calabash seafood buffets to choose from — 11 to be exact — Original Benjamin’s, Captain Benjamin’s and Bennett’s, to name a few.

While Calabash seafood is ubiquitous in the South Carolina tourist town, it actually comes from just above the North Carolina border. The town of Calabash is known all over for its fried seafood. Generations of vacationers keep coming back to inhale plates of fried shrimp with hush puppies and coleslaw.

Some foodies may wonder what makes Calabash seafood unique and if fried fish in Calabash is different from seafood in Myrtle Beach or elsewhere?

Read on to learn what defines this beloved meal and why visitors can try it all over Myrtle Beach.

What makes a dish Calabash-style?

Depends on who you ask. Many people define Calabash seafood as fish that is lightly breaded and quickly fried. But the specifics can vary.

“It’s not Calabash [seafood] if it’s not cooked in Calabash,” said Chuck Nance, the town administrator for Calabash.

“Nobody really knows what Calabash seafood means,” said Charleston-based food writer Hanna Raskin. If someone brought her a plate of fried fish from Virginia and one from Myrtle Beach, she didn’t think she could identify the Carolina one.

Rather than specific texture or spices, Raskin said the atmosphere of a restaurant defines the style.

“What really distinguishes what we’re calling Calabash seafood, I think, is these external cues toward summertime in the Carolina coast,” Raskin said.

Where does Calabash seafood come from?

The story goes that in the 1930’s, fishermen brought their finds to the banks of the Calabash River. There, locals battered and fried the seafood at picnics called fish camps.

In the 1940’s, two sisters who ran these fish camps eventually started the first Calabash seafood restaurants: Beck’s Seafood Restaurant and Coleman’s Original Calabash Restaurant. These two establishments were joined by Ella’s of Calabash, started by the sisters’ brother and sister-in-law.

The New York Times reported that in 1983, Calabash had 32 restaurants for its 180 residents. Now, the town calls itself the seafood capital with over 30 restaurants and more than 2,000 residents.

Why are there so many Calabash buffets in Myrtle Beach?

Raskin said she believes this has to do with economics.

With many tourists in Myrtle Beach, Raskin said buffets are “the easiest, most efficient way to get a lot of people in and out.” Since fried fish brings a feeling of coastal nostalgia, combining the tradition of Calabash-style seafood with the high-volume buffets makes good business sense for the tourist destination.

Does Calabash-style seafood taste different in Calabash and Myrtle Beach?

To get a peek into these flavors in North and South Carolina, Sun News visited a restaurant in Calabash and a buffet in Myrtle Beach. I wanted to unscientifically discover the differences, if there were any.

Beck’s Restaurant in Calabash, N.C. is the only one of the three original seafood houses open, after Ella’s went up in flames in April 2023. I found this one-story building near a busy intersection, surrounded by oversized signs pointing to their respective restaurants and gift shops.

Inside, a chalkboard advertised the Calabash seafood specialties: fried flounder, shrimp, oysters, deviled crabs, scallops and clam strips. I was seated in a dining room with a mural map of Calabash and wood floors that matched the wooden booths. My server quickly brought me hush puppies, which tasted sweet even without the honey butter.

I had to blow on the fried fish from the daily lunch special to cool it off. The flounder and shrimp each had different breading, the shrimp’s crispier than the one on the flounder. After eating away at the french fries, I found the light mayo-based coleslaw underneath.

Located next to Family Kingdom on Myrtle Beach’s Kings Highway, Captain Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood Buffet has the highest Google rating of Myrtle Beach’s Calabash seafood buffets.

A coastal theme abounds, with model ships on top of the buffet tables and anchor motif carpeting.

I filled my first buffet plate with Calabash-style favorites, but ended up going back to try crab legs, shrimp boil, pasta and one of the eight pie flavors.

Captain Benjamin’s popcorn shrimp had a light breading, letting the shrimp flavor shine through. I thought the round hush puppies tasted like the outside of an onion ring, slightly savory. The mayo-based coleslaw at Captain Benjamin’s was shredded into long pieces, as opposed to Beck’s chopped coleslaw.

Even though there were slight flavor variations between Beck’s and Captain Benjamin’s, I believe this was due to two restaurants interpreting the same dishes, rather than intrinsic differences between Calabash and Myrtle Beach.

For me, the biggest difference between the two meals was the setting. At Beck’s, the fried seafood was the main event, while at Captain Benjamin’s, it was one of a variety of buffet dishes to try.