The Best Boardwalk and Beach Snacks, According to MUNCHIES
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The Best Boardwalk and Beach Snacks, According to MUNCHIES

In this edition of Hella Good, our staff names the best places to grab a snack, a beer, or an ice cream cone at their beach of choice.

Welcome to Hella Good, a place where the MUNCHIES staff offers unsolicited opinions on the best of a food, drink, or travel category picked at random—the city we think has the best food trucks, our all-time favorite karaoke bar, or the best tourist traps in the country that you should actually see. This week, we’re talking about our favorite beach-side snacks and boardwalk spots: anything from the best/nearest place to get a lemonade when you feel the heat stroke comin' on, to the salt water taffy we're not sure we ever even really liked
 but a trip to the beach feels incomplete without bringing home a box of it as a souvenir. These are the spots you can find along the coast that the MUNCHIES staff can't pass up any time we're down the shore, just in time for you last few weekend beach jaunts before Labor Day Weekend hits.

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Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard, Ocean City, MD, multiple locations
If you don't crave soft serve when it's hot, you're a monster. My favorite way to cool down at the beach is at Kohr Bros. Get there, grab a cone, and prepare yourself for the creamiest custard around. It also technically has less sugar and fat than ice cream, so you can still work on your summer body while shoving it in your face. Regardless of health points, this shit is the best. — Farideh Sadeghin, MUNCHIES Culinary Director

Rockaway Brewing Company, 415 Beachside 72nd Street, Far Rockaway, NY
As a newcomer to New York City, I recently took my first trip to the Rockaways, highlighted by the hours spent at the Rockaway Brewing Company's new tap room. Located just down the way from Riis Park, they showcased their delicious brews, along with an array of tacos and Mexican eats sold out of the built-in food stand. They have a big screen showing games, and a secret gem of a record collection with albums both spinning and for sale to the thirsty crowd. — Jared Batson, MUNCHIES Test Kitchen Manager

The Sawmill Café, 1807 Boardwalk, Seaside Heights, NJ
The Sawmill for a slice of pizza on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ is the fuckin’ best. You can be stone-cold sober enjoying the day or have just stumbled out a local motel party at 1:30 AM and get the same great pizza and friendly service. — Chris Grosso, VICELAND Executive Producer

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Super Burrito, Rockaway Beach, NY, two locations
While it's a new addition to the NYC-area beach shack lineup, I love Super Burrito in the Rockaways. It's the only place in New York where I've been able to get a carne asada burrito that successfully emulates the Mission burritos I love and miss from San Francisco, which makes sense, since the guys who run it are from SF, too. — Hilary Pollack, MUNCHIES Senior Editor

Johnson's Popcorn, Boardwalks at Ocean City and Wildwood, NJ, multiple locations
While I'm actually at the beach, I'm eating soft serve ice cream (and soft serve ice cream exclusively—shout out to Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard) but since I consume several swirls a week even in the city, I associate the stuff more with summer in general than the beach specifically. But as far as sensory experiences that unfailingly recall days of going down the shore with my family, nothing tops Johnson's Popcorn. You would think that when it comes to food, quality necessarily tops quantity, and Johnson's popcorn is certainly good. But what really recommended it to my family of six was the sheer size of the tub. Before leaving the beach at the end of a sandy weekend, we'd make one last stop on the boardwalk to buy a tub of caramel corn that could have served as a bathtub for my littlest brother. It was ostensibly a souvenir of sorts but in exchange for good behavior, we were allowed to open it up on the drive home and spend the last bit of vacation overstuffing ourselves with what is essentially straight sugar. Last time I was in Wildwood for work, I got a whole giant tub just for myself. — Hannah Keyser, MUNCHIES Associate Editor

Frozen Chocolate Covered Mango from TropPops, Riis Park Beach at Bay 9 and the Bathhouse, Rockaway Park, NY
A frozen chocolate-covered mango is exactly what I want after a few hours of baking in the sun at the beach. Simple, sweet and refreshing. Apparently TropPops makes awesome chocolate-covered kiwis too, but they've been sold out both times I've encountered this mom-and-pop vendor at Riis Park Beach. — Ike Rofe, MUNCHIES Associate Producer

Thrasher’s French Fries, 7 Rehoboth Ave, Rehoboth Beach, DE
I stand by the fact that Thrasher’s fries on the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware boardwalk are the ideal beach snack. They’re fresh cut, starchy and salty, and really don’t even need a condiment, but, since we’re not in an enclosed space where the smell would overwhelm me, fuck it, douse ‘em in malt vinegar. I like to take a walk up the boardwalk to get some respite from the heat of the sand, then eat most of the bucket standing in the shade of the arcade because if I bring the full thing back to my big-ass family’s plot of towels and umbrellas, they will descend like seagulls until the bucket’s empty and then I’m just hangry and sunburned. — Danielle Wayda, MUNCHIES Editorial Assistant