Golf In The Fishing Capital Of The World

Having the twin havens of superb seafood and great golf make this North Carolina region a truly perfect stop along the American east coast.

- Benny Teo

It could be said that the late, great American entertainer Jimmy Durante helped put Calabash, North Carolina on the map. Durante coined a phrase which he used after his performances: “Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.” There have been the obvious discussions as to where that phrase originated but the good folks of the fishing community of Calabash, in Brunswick County, near the South Carolina border, claim that phrase started in their town.

According to ‘Our State Magazine’, NC, it was sometime in the 1940s when Durante came through the town. He stopped to eat at a restaurant called, The Original, Calabash’s first seafood restaurant. He liked the food so much that he asked to speak with the owner, Lucy Coleman. He told her he would make her famous one day. Lucy Coleman, as the local story goes, was Durante’s Mrs. Calabash.

Well, Durante may have brought additional attention to Calabash but the seaside town of approximately 2,000 residents had a reputation as a tourist destination long before ‘Schnozzola’ (Durante’s nickname) happened by.

Calabash’s claim to fame is that it is THE fishing capital of the world, more so because of the ‘Calabash style’ in the way the fish is cooked in the town’s many and varied restaurants. There are several interpretations of what the Calabash style of cooking really is but one of the more popular thoughts is that the fresh fish is rolled in corn meal instead of flour before it is lightly deep-fried.