Farrell: Food Network makes stars of Hilton Head Island chefs on 'Beach Eats'

Chris Carge sat at a high top table and cracked shellfish with friends late Wednesday night at Skull Creek Boathouse on Hilton Head Island.

All TVs inside and out were tuned to the Food Network.

Everyone was waiting for the start of "Beach Eats USA."

Carge was relaxed.

He was relaxed in the way I imagine a batter might be after a homerun in the last inning.

I have to imagine this because I've never used a bat or hit a homerun. I know for sure, though, that not having to do either of those things because they are both past tense would feel great. It would free me up to watch the rest of the game while knowing I did my part for the team.

That is how the executive chef of Black Marlin Bayside Grill seemed to me.

Carge had his turn "at bat" a month earlier during his appearance on the premiere of "Beach Eats," which is a new show hosted by Australian chef Curtis Stone.

(It's an appropriate show for Stone, as he looks like the son of a surfboard and a sandy shore, if either of those things could possibly produce a human, that is.)

In "Beach Eats," Stone visits coastal restaurants to find the perfect bite. This past spring he was on Hilton Head to cook, eat and film separate segments with Carge and with Brad Blake, executive chef at Skull Creek Boathouse, whose episode aired Wednesday night.

"I was terrified," Carge said about the moments before the show aired Aug. 12. "I was worried, 'Did I do the restaurant justice?' 'Did I do myself justice?'"

He was the only one at Skull Creek on Wednesday night who knew exactly what Blake was feeling as he waited with family and friends for the 10:30 p.m. start time.

"I told him to relax and enjoy it," Carge said. "We're so lucky to get to do this. It's a reward. It's his reward for all the 60-, 80-hour work weeks. He deserves this."

Nearby, Blake, his wife, Stephanie, and their son, Tyler, finished dinner with friends. Earlier Blake and Carge signed autographs for a fan, Judy Viktora of Atlanta, who was on vacation with her husband, Larry.

"I'm not bashful," she said as she showed me a picture in a magazine that featured the executive chefs.

Skull Creek Boathouse and Black Marlin happen to be the Viktoras' two favorite restaurants on the island, where they've been coming for 18 years.

Judy Viktora didn't know Carge or Blake before "Beach Eats," but she was thrilled to meet them. She's a Food Network devotee and had seen Carge's episode back home.

"I. Love. To. Cook," she said. "I'm a chef for our church. I make a barbecue sauce that everyone loves. (People at church) buy it from me. I won't give anyone the recipe. ... oh, I wonder if they have other shirts like that."

As I was chatting with the Viktoras, we were interrupted by cheering and a spectacle of Skull Creek managers who appeared at Blake's table wearing matching T-shirts with Blake's face on them.

Assistant manager and director of catering Meggie Thompson had made the T-shirts.

"You!," Blake laughed with Thompson later. "I can't believe you used that photo! ... I'm honored."

When the show started, everyone crowded around the outdoor bar.

At the first mention of "Hilton Head Island, South Carolina," people began shouting and clapping.

"That's right, baby!" someone yelled.

Suddenly on the screen were Stone and Blake, cooking dockside with the Skull Creek in the background, mere feet from where everyone was standing now. They did 10 hours of filming that day for seven minutes on the screen.

Blake started off with fried green tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese, topped with a pepper jelly and also made a blackened catfish with pimento cheese.

His green tomatoes are coated in tempura, not the traditional cornmeal, though.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat," he told Stone.

Stone, who helped with the ingredients, paused.

"Skin a cat?!?"

The audience laughed. They laughed at every corny joke from Stone. They applauded and cheered nearly every time Blake spoke. They watched the TVs with Resting Smile Faces, ready to react favorably.

This was their guy. Their restaurant. Their island.

"Bloody. Delicious," Stone said of Blake's cooking. "A beautiful mouthful of food. I feel like someone came up and hugged me."

When Blake's segment was over, the bar crowd clapped and clapped and clapped.

"Best seven minutes of any program," Thompson declared. "I wish it had been three times as long."

Stephanie Blake chatted with friends afterward.

"He did very well," she said, smiling. "Very well. It was so much fun."

She said she was glad the day had finally come for the show to air, though.

"We've just been so ... not nervous, excited. Excited."

Afterward -- after praising Carge, his co-workers and pretty much everyone in his life -- Blake had this to say about his appearance on the show: "I'm goofy."

His friend of 20 years, Chip Booth, would disagree.

"He works so hard. I'm telling you, he works 10-, 12-hour days and then is the guy who comes home and cooks for everybody. Every party, every function, no matter what, he jumps right in. It's crazy how he can do that. He just loves what he does. And it shows."

On the TVs, "Beach Eats" continued to play, with segments in Alabama and California.

"You watching the rest of this?" I asked Booth.

He, like everyone else, seemed to have moved on from the show.

"No ... no," he laughed. "I was here for Brad."