Beck's Restaurant of Calabash

Beck's Restaurant Calabash NC is a famous restaurant in Calabash city. It is considered a pioneer of fried seafood in the Calabash style. The restaurant remains open from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Today we will discuss this restaurant's menu, ratings, location, and food type in detail.

Calabash City

Calabash is a tiny fishing town in North Carolina. The city is well known as the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Since 1930, Calabash has been renowned for its special brand of fried seafood.

 Beck's of Calabash - Calabash, NC Style Seafood originated from this city. This famous fried seafood is also known as the “Calabash Style.”

 Beck’s Restaurant Calabash NC is located in this city. Besides this restaurant, the city also has dozens of Calabash seafood restaurants.

 According to the Beck’s Restaurant Website, Calabash City was known as Pea Landing in the late 1800s. Around the year 1883, upon the villager's request, ‘Calabash’ name was selected. Calabash is an Indian name that means ‘’Gourd’’.

Calabash Style Seafood

The style of Calabash seafood is unique. The style involves lightly battering and frying the freshly caught seafood. Instead of flour, corn meal is used in the Calabash Style Seafood. Corn meal is used to give the dish a light coating.

 The seafood is deep-fried until it becomes lightly golden. Calabash Style Seafood means it is caught and served on the same day. Calabash seafood is never frozen. Usually, this Seafood is offered as a buffet. You can cook Calabash-style seafood with,  

• Fresh shrimp.
• Fish.
• Oysters.
• Crabs, etc.

Beck’s Restaurant History

This famous restaurant was founded in 1940. One of the sisters that created that calabash-style seafood was among its founders. The same family still owns and runs the restaurant.

The restaurant claims to serve the finest seafood, just as their ancestors did. Their seafood is caught locally. Beck’s Restaurant lightly bread and fry the seafood in vegetable oil. The reason for using vegetable oil is that it has less fat and cholesterol. 

You can also get your seafood broiled for an additional charge. 

Location: 1014 River Rd, Calabash, North Carolina 28467.

Beck’s Menu

Beck’s Restaurant serves various types of dishes besides Calabash Style Seafood. A brief description of the available food items on the menu is given below:

Appetizers

In the appetizers, you will find the following dishes:

• Dynamite Shrimp- This Calabash shrimp is lightly breaded and fried. It is served with blue cheese.  

• Lemon Pepper Calamari- This dish is seasoned with lemon pepper and then lightly fried.
• Beck’s Cheese Fries- Here piping hot seasoned fries are topped with mounds of melted cheese.
• Peel and Eat Shrimp- In this dish, fresh local shrimps in shells steamed with old bay. This dish is served with melted butter.

 One reviewer named Steve Wood writes, “We have been here a few times, and we love the DYNAMITE SHRIMP appetizer.”

Salad

In the salad, you will find items like,  

• Beck’s House Side Salad- Lettuce, tomato, onion, etc are served with the customer’s choice of dressing.
• Beck’s Dinner Salad- Cucumber, cheese, bacon, etc are served with the customer’s choice of dressing.

A reviewer named Melissa writes about the salad, “Salad was fresh… and handmade.”

Traditional Calabash Seafood

This traditional calabash seafood is the main attraction of this restaurant. In this category, some of the dishes  they serve include: 

• Calabash Shrimp
• Sea scallops.
• Founder Filet.

The calabash seafood of this restaurant is very famous. A reviewer named Denise writes about the experience of Calabash seafood here,

“Food was delish and exactly what a Calabash Seafood restaurant should be. Our server was sweet and very attentive. We'll be back.”

Hush Puppies

It would be unfair if we don’t mention the famous hush puppies of this restaurant. It is perhaps the most famous dish in this restaurant. A hush puppy is a small, flavorful round ball. The essential ingredients for hush puppies are:

•  Flour
•  Sugar
•  Yellow cornmeal
•  Baking soda

These are the main ingredients of Hushpuppies. Some restaurants add some additional ingredients. A reviewer named Joan describes this restaurant's hush puppies as, 

“Hush puppies are some of the best. You will not regret this choice at Calabash….”

Seafood Platters

Beck’s restaurant also has specialized seafood platters. The seafood platters on the restaurant menu are:

• Smaller Seafood- Flounder, Shrimp, and oysters.
• Large seafood- flounder, shrimp, oysters, deviled crab.
• Deluxe Seafood- A little bit of everything! Flounder, shrimp, oysters, scallops, deviled crab.

Another amazing thing about this restaurant is that customers can customize their menu. They can create a combo of their own choice. This customization of the menu is especially useful in group tour dining.

And so, this concludes my review on Beck's of Calabash in Calabash, North Carolina. In my opinion, this restaurant is a must-see/must-try restaurant for seafood lovers driving by who want to taste true Calabash-style seafood. Also, we suggest reading about do other Places to Eat in Wilmington at ENC Explorer. places

Author: ENC Explorer

After getting accepted to ECU, I started looking for things to do in and around Greenville, NC. However, my searches kept taking me to places in South Carolina! There must be things to do around ECU, so I started asking other students. They kept telling me to graduate and move away! This inspired me to begin exploring eastern North Carolina and build this website as a showcase of the places to go, sights to see, and things to do all over eastern NC. I have fallen in love with this region and started taking up roots here. After graduating, I didn't move away - I bought a house here and continue to explore eastern North Carolina.