Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Peaches Corner, Famous Footlong Hot dogs, Myrtle Beach Boardwalk, Disaster

We were in Myrtle Beach during our son's fall break. We had great weather the entire trip, some days were even quite hot for the time of year. We stayed in North Myrtle for the trip and we had planned to spend one afternoon walking the boardwalk. Since we would be on the boardwalk, we looked forward to eating at one of the local nostalgic restaurants. When we walked up to Peaches Corner, we immediately saw the huge "Famous Footlong Hot Dogs" sign. This night was destined to be hot-dog night for our family.

My son and I love hotdogs. I'd like to think that I am a hot dog connoisseur, if there is such. Some of the best dogs I have had come from Crickets in Smithfield, NC. I cannot mention hot dogs without mentioning The Varsity in Atlanta, GA. I like a variety of dogs, but one of my favorites is the classic chili dog. If your in Atlanta, The Varsity is a great place to have one. 

In order to create the perfect chili dog: you must start with a quality dog, next you add an all-beef chili with no beans. Then, I like to add a a fair amount of onion and a single stripe of mustard. To make it perfect, the dog needs to be caressed by a hot steamed bun. Once done you have yourself a classic North Carolina style hot dog, "all the way".

Now that I have established my credentials, I will share my Peaches Corner footlong-hot-dog experience. When we walked in, I immediately knew that this was a nostalgic diner. Turns out that Peaches Corner originated almost a century ago in 1937. I ordered a footlong chili dog, a small cup of slaw, cheese fries, and a lemonade. The hotdog itself was long and thin. I imagined that it was the cheapest dog that they could find. They did use the correct chili, with no beans, but it did not have any flavor. Again, I figured that the chili was bottom shelf and straight from a can. As you can see in the photo this sickly looking dog was sunken deep into a crumby bun, it was not steamed, and it had a small amount of condiments on it.  

As for the rest of the meal that I ordered at Peaches, it did not get any better. The slaw was runny and I ended up leaving it sitting on the counter untouched. The fries were not spectacular, but they were served hot and probably qualified as the best part of the meal. The lemonade served at Peaches is, you guessed it, straight out of a can. If I were guessing, I would say it was Country Time which is not lemonade at all. In fact, to sell it as lemonade is actually false advertisement. The company that owns the Country Time brand, Kraft Heinz, labels it as "lemonade flavored drink". If you happen to like Country Time, (I do not) Amazon offers it in a single serve packets. Click the image below to check the price. (Sorry for the plug, I couldn't resist.)


If you are looking for a cheap lunch on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk then look no further than Peaches, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Peaches is living off their past reputation. At one time, probably not during this century, I am certain that Peaches served top-notch quality food. Nowadays, they are your typical tourist restaurant, they serve cheap food that has little to no flavor and honestly isn't very good. Tourist restaurants are not unlike most other tourist traps, they do not focus on quality and customer service to acquire repeat customers. They focus on feeding as many people as possible and maximizing profits in a short amount of time. In a tourist destination like Myrtle Beach, there will be thousands of new and hungry travelers the following week. You and I will be hours away sitting at our desk.