It's Crunch Time!

At Kiawah Island Golf Resort, the Crispy Shrimp are a spicy, succulent standout

- Jessica Marksbury

IF YOU’VE EVER VISITED South Carolina and its oceanfront golf meccas like Charleston, Hilton Head or Kiawah Island, you’ve probably noticed one item that always (thankfully!) makes its way onto the menu: shrimp.

Indeed, the Low Country is known for these delightful crustaceans, prepared all kinds of ways at dining establishments too numerous to name, but, perhaps, nowhere more delectably than at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Atlantic Room and Ryder Cup Bar. There, the Crispy Shrimp has spent more than a decade as a signature offering and go-to favorite for guests in the know.

“People come from far and wide to have it,” Atlantic Room Executive Chef John Ondo says. “It’s one of the things that you have to order when you’re on the island.”

Ondo estimates that the dish was served 20,000 times last year, which equates to roughly 7,000 pounds of shrimp consumed.