The “pizzeria” part might fool some, but that’s just the bait, because what decent person doesn’t like pizza? But the hook that’ll make anybody a halal loyalist is the hand-rolled dolmeh, tabouli, and other Lebanese menu items at Habibi’s Cafe & Pizzeria.

In True Myrtle Beach fashion, the spot with the spiciest menudo and tacos that taste like they were made for a quinceañera in Guadalajara share the same strip mall as a karate dojo and a Honduran restaurant cooking up chop suey (yes, chop suey). There’s also venerable favorites like styrofoam cups of horchata, sizzling skillets of fajitas, and tortas almost too big to finish. 

A trip to Myrtle Beach without taking a trip to the Calabash buffet is like a trip to Las Vegas and avoiding the slot machines and roulette tables at the casino. The inevitability of standing in line for hush puppies, clam strips, stuffed flounder, shrimp alfredo, and clusters of crab legs is almost a cultural certainty.

An absolute landmark that seems off most tourist’s radar, Maryland Fried Chicken is where the locals go to get boxes of the best fried yard bird in at least a 100 mile radius. It may not look like much from the outside, but trust the big yellow bird on the sign.

Yamato claims to be South Carolina’s original Japanese steakhouse. The dining room is dim and communal, punctuated by teppanyaki theatrics. The most show-stopping trick at Yamato is a mound of rice molded into the shape of a heart, made to look like it’s beating with the deft maneuvering of a spatula, if that doesn’t satisfy diners, the steak and shrimp drenched in housemade yum yum sauce will.

Yes, the potato salad has eggs in it, oddly enough that’s the litmus test of a legit soul food joint, so are the linoleum floors, the blistered upholstery, and turkey wings on Tuesdays, even though the meatloaf and candied yams are never to be ignored either. 

One’s German diet should consist of more than just Jagerbombs and burnt bratwursts at the cookout. Werner Horvath and his wife Martina have watered this Bavarian themed beer garden into a menu full of classics like wienerschnitzel and Viennese gulasch. 

Chef Jamie Daskalis snubbed tradition and converted a former Pizza Hut into a breakfast institution where funfetti waffles and a lox and onion Benedict is the reason there’s always a line snaking around the building on any given Saturday morning.

Playing into the boutique biscuit shop trend that has the South in a headlock, the buttermilk biscuits at 10/Fold are the size of frisbees. The slab bacon cut from the bellies of heritage pork and eggs laid by cage-free chickens are the initial components to breakfast biscuits on steroids. 

There’s no rhubarb foam or foie gras dusted with 24k gold but Aspen Grille flawlessly executes classics like shrimp cocktail, racks of lamb, and perfectly seared scallops. It’s one of the top old-school, fine dining establishments found in Myrtle Beach.

The PeeDee region’s mustard-based style of barbecue takes a backseat to Eastern North Carolina’s vinegary whole hog and the briskets and burnt ends of Central Texas, but that doesn’t mean that the hickory smoked butts at Little Pig’s aren’t just as delicious, so is the coleslaw — the most ideal sidekick.

This isn’t granny’s breakfast house of yesteryear, the one with the ugly carpet, horrible coffee, and synthetic syrup. Blueberry’s Grill is easy, breezy, borderline swank and filled with cool people noshing on omelets made with a wide range of fillings and the best Monte Cristos ever.

Croissants Bistro is the undisputed Myrtle Beach spot for when people want to get brunchy in an atmosphere that looks like it was borrowed from the French Riviera, with wicker seating and striped awnings. The main attractions are always a toss up between bananas foster French toast or the croque madame, but the mango mimosa is never in question.