Randy and Nancy Swanson. photograph by Charles Harris
Boro Low Country Kitchen occupies prime waterfront space in this small fishing town that serves as a gateway to the Crystal Coast. About 150 yards from the restaurant’s dock is the cachunk-cachunk of beach traffic driving over the bridge to Cedar Point. Boro’s walk-up window slides open like a fast-food drive-through. But don’t expect a burger and fries: This joint’s specialty is seafood boiled with corn, sausage, and potatoes in a secret concoction of spices — no Old Bay allowed — and served steaming hot on aluminum platters.
“The Low Country boil was a real Hail Mary,” says Randy Swanson, who opened the restaurant in 2019. “It wasn’t really being done around here. Fortunately, it’s really taken off.”
Standing at the window near an old statue of a jolly pirate, you’ll order from a folded paper menu: Should you get lobster, snow crab, shrimp, and mussels? Or maybe blue crab and clams? Whatever you decide, a cold beer will likely come in handy. Then, take your tray and beer back to one of the long, high-top tables on the deck, grab a shell cracker, and savor the taste of the sea.
Boro Low Country Kitchen
103 Moore Street
Swansboro, NC 28584
(910) 325-0511
borolowcountrykitchen.com
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
