The Southernaire

Imagine a hot Saturday night in the south.  One has just finished a hard day's work around the house or on the farm.  You get to the house, take a bath, put on some clothes for "going out".  Your family gets in the car and drive 25 miles or so onto a dark road headed towards the coast.  Then out in the distance just past the last turn on the right you see it.  The "it" is the old Southernaire Seafood Restaurant.  

Now I am not old enough to know when The Southernaire started, but I expect since it was just down the road from the back gate to Camp Lejuene I would assume sometime right after the great war. What I do know is we as a family considered dining there a real treat and something to be anticipated as you drove to get there.  The draw here was fresh seafood from the docks at Sneads Ferry right down the road.  Fresh as in that day's fresh and that is almost impossible to find nowadays. 

The Southernaire was located in a building that was about 100 yards down the road from the intersection of NC highway 210 and what used to be Folkstone Road. This was before there was a bridge on NC 210 that crossed over the Inter coastal Waterway and onto Topsail Island.  Therefore there was little reason for most people to drive down this road if not going to the small hamlet Sneads Ferry or taking a short cut to the military base.  That meant it was dark, as in REAL dark during most of the ride.  The Southernaire had little around it other than maybe a few old houses so when you got to the intersection the lights of the restaurant were like an oasis in the night. 

One would drive up to the building, which was a long building right on the road and park where ever you could find a place on the sand covered lot around the business.  My fondest memories are when you opened the car door the smell of seafood permeated the air.  Make that the smell of "fried" seafood was all in the air.  Chances were good that we had invited another family to join us and we would get a large table for eight people or so.  We would get a basket of hush puppies and some butter and the waitress would take our order.  This was a critical moment as us kids preferred "filleted" fish and we looked to get our parents to let us order the then higher priced fish as opposed to the fish with bones still in.  Once the order was placed everyone would enjoy each others company and wait for the seafood to be delivered to the table. 

Did I mention The Southernaire for the first few years we went had no air conditioning?  Yes, that was part of the enjoyment as one would sit and wait for cool sea breezes through the screened door and windows to cool you off.  So here you sit in the warm building with lots of lights and your food arrives. Honestly here I can not describe the feeling and taste of the moment as the fresh seafood hits your nose and palate.  Maybe we cook seafood like this now, but I can not find it and expect the reason is that the whole experience, the drive...the dark....the lights....the screened doors....the family atmosphere....and of course the fresh seafood all came together to make memories.  

I miss the old Southernaire.  My best guess is that my last visit there was sometime in the early 1980's while staying at Topsail Beach with friends.  When I moved inland chasing a career I forgot about it and stopping going.  My recent visits to Sneads Ferry to visit The Riverview Cafe brought back the memories when we drove by the old building where The Southernaire once stood.
Funny too since The Riverview Cafe was the first restaurant I ever went to at age 18 months as my mother and father along with friends dined at their oyster bar as I sat in my basket in the counter sleeping.  I suppose they thought of the Riverview the way I now think of the Southernaire and wish I could dine there one more time. 

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