DINNER: Tuesday, August 5, 2003

Ted needed to get a tire fixed — one had died on our trip down to Charleston — so, thinking "how hard can this be?", Wendy, Ted, and Drew set off to find a tire place that could repair/replace his tire.

We stopped at two or three tire dealers to find a replacement for Ted’s ailing tire. No luck. Each one sent us to another dealer, on down the line. Finally, someone mentioned Gerald’s Tire, and we were off to find it.

We pulled up to Gerald’s and noticed immediately that the entire store was surrounded by vehicles and employees working on them. Feeling encouraged, we spoke to an employee who assured us that they had the replacment we were seeking, and replied to our empassioned plea for somewhere to ‘get some food and something to drink’ while we waited for the tire by telling us about the bar next door — The Anchor Cafe’.

We marched in to the long, dark, narrow bar to find it empty save for the bartender, who offered us a warm welcome. We sat down and ordered our drinks along with a handful of fried local shrimp.

Before long, another patron walked in and sat near Ted. Around that time, I started talking to the bartender, Sven, who turned out to be a culinary school graduate (Johnson & Wales is located nearby), so we talked a lot of "chef-talk". At the same time, the other patron, Alan, was talking with Ted & Wendy about diving! This little rest-stop helped us find out about dive opportunities in Charleston (there aren’t many) and about restaurants that we shouldn’t miss (there are loads!). Soon enough, Ted’s tire was done and we were off.

Dinner tonight was at the Charleston Crab House. We enjoyed appetizers of Crab Stuffed Mushrooms and Calimari and I had another taste of She-Crab Soup. My entree was a Charleston tradition, Shrimp & Grits. Wendy had Crab-Stuffed Mahi Mahi.