By MARGARET EVANS
It was a cool, bright day in September as the Lunch Bunch settled on the porch at Brody’s Bar & Grill, reveling in the fluky weather. The next week would bring summer back with a vengeance, but for now we were getting our autumn on, and loving it.
I’ve always believed Brody’s serves up some of the finest bar food I’ve ever tasted. I’m a big fan of bar food, myself, but I wondered how owner Cris Morrison, a serious restaurateur, might feel about my use of that term to describe his fare. I asked him, and he embraced it.
“Sure, you can call it bar food,” he said. “But the difference between us and other places that serve bar food is that we put our hands on everything here. Everything’s made from scratch. We spend as much time with our food preparation as any of the most upscale restaurants in Beaufort. Personally, I just think of our food as good. The best food in town.”
Who were we to disagree? I was already halfway through my delicious Chicken Caesar Wrap by the time the discussion rolled around. It occurred to me that I’d never actually had a Chicken Caesar Wrap at a bar, thus my “bar food” thesis was already losing steam. Meanwhile, Cris’s “best food in town” theory was still very much in play.
We’d already finished off our appetizers; the fried mushrooms were big and juicy and perfectly battered, which pretty well describes the fried pickles, too.
Dawn was going to town on her Chloe’s Cobb Salad.
“For some reason, it’s hard to find a good, big, healthy salad around here,” she said, delighting in the one before her. “This bacon is really crispy and the veggies are so fresh.”
Grilled chicken, mixed cheese, onion, tomatoes, cucumber and hard-boiled eggs rounded out the feast, half of which was clearly going home in a box.
Jeff went the less healthy, more hearty route with a Chili Dog, which he thoroughly relished. (Yeah, I went there.)
“The hot dog’s big, the chili’s good, the bun’s tasty.”
Who could ask for anything more? Actually, Jeff could. He added jalapenos for some extra spice.
Betty had nothing but positive things to say about her Oyster Basket – “the oysters are such a nice size!” – and the Chicken Parm Linguini earned kudos from Mike.
“The chicken is tasty and tender. Really good breading, too, and it’s not the same breading you get on the mushrooms and pickles.”
How could I forget to mention the superb Mac & Cheese, which came with my Caesar Chicken Wrap? It reminded me of my mother’s – with hard, gooey cheese on top – and I was so overwhelmed by nostalgia I almost ordered seconds.
But just then, our server arrived with a “surprise” – a plate of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge over two soft, delectable chocolate chip cookies … and a handful of spoons. The conversation at the table came to an abrupt halt, unless you count “Mmmm” as conversation.
The challenge with any visit to Brody’s – along with pinning down what “kind” of food they serve – is deciding what to order. The selection is just so large and diverse.
Alas, there were only five of us there that day, so we left without trying the vast majority of enticing menu items. Nobody had the Hotti Totti Chicken Sandwich or the Asian Twish Burger or the Mama Mia Chicken Parm. The Mac Daddy Burger went untried, as did the Guac Guac Chicken Sandwich.
We didn’t sample the Wing Bar (15 flavors!) or the Ultimate Nachos or the Buffalo Shrimp. In fact, we barely scratched the surface of that mind-boggling menu.
Clearly, this could not stand. We would have to return and further our research in order to make a full and proper assessment of Brody’s Bar & Grill.
Lunch Bunching is a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.
