COLUMBIA'S LUNCH REVIEW

Pawley's is a great spot to go for lunch (when it is not too sweltering hot outside) because of its awesome porch on Harden Street. Yesterday was no porch day in Columbia, so the Lunchmen and their crowd chose to eat indoors. If you haven't eaten at Pawley's yet, I'll give you the highlights: great mahi tacos, massive, carnivorous salads, and more ways to make a burger (or chicken sandwich, if you don't feel like beef) than you can find anywhere else in town. Pawley's has a lot of pre-crafted pairings of ingredients for you that carry coastal South Carolina regional names like "the Sullivan" or "the Wadmalaw" - you just pick a region and say beef or chicken.

Many of our crowd were thrilled with their orders. Rabbit, true to form, ordered a salad - albeit one with fried oysters - that did him just right. Despite a reserved endorsement from our waitress, our man Tebow tried the pasta salad as a side to his chicken sandwich, and he was very pleased. Yours truly, however, was not content to order off the menu this day. Instead, I attempted to tackle the burger special, an unholy creation of beef, crab cake, pickled green tomato, lettuce, red onion, and a secret sauce. The flavors on this burger, when paired together, were delicious. The downside was that the burger was about 8 inches tall, and even though I am an accomplished burger-eater, I could not successfully pick the beast up and bite it. As a result of my attempts to do so, the burger fell apart on me, leaving me with two options: 1) simply enjoy my Frank's Red Hot onion rings or 2) attack the remnants of my burger with a fork and knife. Since all of the individual ingredients were so good, I chose the latter option. My new white dress shirt did not leave Pawley's unscathed.

All considered, it was a good trip. A burger at Pawley's will set you back a little over $10, which is high for the Columbia lunch market. However, if you want to kick back and have a novelty burger that is sure to impress, head down to Five Points and relax on the Porch.

- Tank