I joined a Facebook group. What are things you might regret Alex? In this case it worked out well for me. Specifically it is a group of people who post about Oconee County SC food places. Like a good group the opinions vary on what’s good and what’s not and either people are generally willing to agree to disagree or the moderators quickly put the hammer down on trollish behavior. I mean it runs the gamut of someone posting about how tasty the Waffle House is to someone else talking about the grade of bean at a coffee house. Since the international food scene is kind of thin in these parts I figured it would give me a heads up on new places. I might also discover new options I haven’t considered.

There was a post saying the Blue Ridge Grill food trailer was parked in the Advanced Auto parking lot just a few miles from the office. I dig mobile food venues and I needed a valve stem cap so it was like fate was pushing me there. Good old fate.

There was no line so I knew I shouldn’t have any issues with time but I also wondered if that was a sign of the quality of the food. Only one way to find out. I checked out the menu board and then just asked them what they were particularly proud of today. The lady taking orders deferred to the guy making the food who said the Coconut Shrimp were something else today. I told them to hook me up because that was what I had been leaning towards anyway. While they prepared my food I ran into the auto parts store and took care of business. By the time I came back they were just closing the lid on my lunch.

I smelled that shrimp all the way back to the office and by the time I got to the table I was salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs. There were 9 shrimp, some coleslaw, fries and cocktail sauce in the box. Oh and the lemon garnish and two weird pieces of lettuce I assume were to add color. I was pleased with the look of those shrimp because the shredded coconut was abundant. Here’s a close-up.

These were some of the best coconut shrimp I’ve ever had. After trying the first one au naturel I decided to dress one up with a little cocktail sauce. I’m not a big cocktail sauce fan but I did want to judge the quality. It was decent but honestly it took away from the taste of the shrimp and kind of felt like an insult using it. I ate them slow to savor them. The slaw was ok and I almost skipped the fries but apparently the close proximity to the shrimp imparted some goodness on them and I ate few.

Overall I was well pleased with the parking lot deal I’d made with the folks in the Blue Ridge Grill trailer.