The Bowery

The Anti-Photographer Strikes

Damn, alright, so my girlfriend and I spun the wheel of random today and landed on The Bowery for our lunch destination. Before I get down to grease tacks I should note that, like a bunch of other bar establishments in Myrtle Beach, The Bowery is attached to/has its food services handled by a place called Duffy's Bar & Grill.

Say hello, Duffy's!

Hello!

Also, and this is less "important" and more "what is going on", but the classic-country-southern-rock band Alabama was the house band for The Bowery for something like 8 years in the '70's.

Oh, oh, oh! Also...

It's so hard to be me.

The above photo is the view you get when facing The Bowery/Duffy's and you turn your head to the right. Sorry (I'm not sorry) if your lunch spots are way less glamorous.

Alright, now on to "THE EXPERIENCE." We walk into Duffy's and it's your standard bar setup - a long room, bar to the right, seating on the left, pool table in the back, and a WELL-STOCKED merch booth at the door. This place is serious about The Bowery brand. We were allowed to seat ourselves and so we chose a spot along the wall between the merch and the bar that gave us an unobstructed view of a Bud/Bowery/Fun-with-spelling neon sign.

It's true, though. Ya can't.

The menu is classic burger fare if someone went into the nuts and bolts of the classic burger fare car and cut the brakes so it couldn't stop. We ordered the "Double D's Dill Chips" for an appetizer because if you don't like fried pickles, the pleasure centers in your brain simply don't work. My girlfriend ordered the "JP's Hillbilly Philly" which promised a cheesesteak-like experience with the addition of "secret sauce" and the non-standard SWISS cheese option. RISKY.

As for myself...well. Sometimes a menu item strikes me less like an option and more like a challenge. I found that here with the "Big Daddy Trash Truck", a burger that featured a half pound of meat piled on top with just about everything that must have been in the kitchen sink (but hopefully actually the refrigerator). Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo, mustard, ketchup, banana peppers, jalapenos, mushrooms, bacon, chili, "and both white and yella cheeses."

Alright, Big Daddy. It's on.

Ah, the domesticated pickle.

As we munched on our (excellent) Dill Chips and I started to ponder just what in the hell I had gotten myself into, I looked around the room some more. The Alabama connection is totally legit. I think I counted 8 platinum records hanging around the place and there was a guitar signed by the band hanging above the bar. Not my kinda music, but a cool thing all the same whether you're into it or not.

As I gazed about, a gentleman from behind the bar probed my readiness to accept the bounty which was to be placed before me.

"You ready for this?"

"Yep!"

"No, I'm serious. You ordered the Trash Truck?"

"Sure did!"

"You eat breakfast?"

"Nope!"

I received a thumbs-up in response. I chose wisely. Shortly thereafter, the beast was delivered to the table.

It came with a fork. Now...at first glance, this looks like a pretty solidly built construct so I initially didn't understand WHY exactly I was brought a fork. Until I picked the burger up and LAYERS of its contents threatened (and succeeded) to emancipate themselves from the whole and take up residence on my plate.

The Hillbilly Philly brought to my girlfriend wasn't quite as intimidating or terrifying but was still generously portioned.

Alright...the taste. I'll start with the Dill Chips. Most places you grab fried pickles from won't do too much with the breading. They know how powerful pickle vinegar is and that can more or less carry the dish. The Bowery/Duffy's isn't nearly as shy when it comes to seasoning...something that carried through to all the dishes we tried. A good saltiness accompanied the vinegar bite. The breading was laid on a little thick for my tastes, but that only made the pickles "Incredibly Great" as opposed to "Transcending Reality."

I'm a Philly-area guy, and I'm naturally skeptical (though almost always naively hopeful) about cheesesteaks from outside the northeast. Indeed, the Hillbilly Philly wasn't entirely faithful to the base dish with the use of Swiss cheese and the addition of secret sauce. That's also not necessarily a bad thing. The sandwich managed to capture a unique identity of its own - a good, southern cheesesteak, again well-spiced (something even mid-atlantic cheesesteak crafters could take a lesson in).

That leaves only the one-on-one battle that was my wonderful self vs. the Big Daddy Trash Truck burger. I was initially at a loss. The first bite surprised me with an explosion of flavor. As I chewed and pondered what it truly means to be a man, I looked down at my plate and tried to figure out what to do. A full quarter of a pound of material had fallen out of my burger. Do I sloppily pick up the pieces and try to recreate the whole? Do I call 9-1-1? Do I look for an adult?

I wiped my hands with a napkin. I wiped my face with another napkin. I took a deep breath. The plan formulated and it was a simple one. Shove the burger in my face as best I can and use that fork for the job that I had just come to realize the noble instrument was truly invented for: inserting BALLER sloppy burger seconds into my face hole.

It wasn't easy. The Trash Truck did NOT go quietly. Bite after bite I soldiered on until I was left with the food orphans. They might have been able to escape the burger, but it couldn't run from the fork. I had claimed victory.

As we were leaving, the gentleman behind the bar from before asked if I had even finished the "salad" that must inevitably fall from EVERYONE'S Trash Truck. Here I was worrying I had done something wrong...worried that my review might cast some negative light on what I deep down felt was an awesome gastronomical experience. The twist is that all along, everything was working like intended like some kind of episode of Chopped mixed with an M. Night Shyamalan movie that doesn't suck.

I'm so sorry I ran out of pictures. But, hey. Go to The Bowery.

The Bowery

110 9th Avenue North

Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

www.TheBowery.com

(843)626-3445