Private Hibachi Chef in Grayton Beach

Grayton Beach is the oldest settlement on 30A and still the least manicured, which makes it one of our favourite places to cook. The lanes are sand, the cottages are tin-roofed and weathered, dogs are on the beach, and nobody is enforcing an architectural code. Practically, that gives us space: Grayton yards are irregular but generous, and there is nearly always somewhere flat to set up. The trade-off is the surfaces themselves. Sand lanes and soft driveways mean we plan the approach rather than assume it, and some of the older cottages have decks we would rather not put a hot grill on without mats. Groups here are self-selecting — people book Grayton because they want the unpolished version of 30A — and the dinners follow suit: louder, longer, less staged than an Alys courtyard.

Six by four feet, level, open sky, three feet of chef clearance. In Grayton we most often use the yard or a shell/sand parking area with boards down, and sometimes a rear deck. The older cottage decks here need mats without exception — several are original wood and we treat them accordingly. We cannot cook under a screened porch or a low tin overhang, which rules out a fair number of Grayton porches. Where a yard is soft sand we lay boards to get a level, stable base; that adds five minutes to setup and nothing else.

In off 30A onto the Grayton lanes, arriving 45 minutes before the seating. Several Grayton streets are unpaved sand and narrow, so tell us if yours is one — we will plan a shorter carry or bring the cart rather than take a loaded van somewhere it should not go. Parking is informal here, which mostly works in our favour, but we still want one spot held for the unload. There are no gates in Grayton, which makes it one of the simplest arrivals on 30A.

Grayton draws the bachelorette group that did not want a polished weekend — the one that picked a cottage with a porch swing over a house with a lagoon pool. Those dinners are our loudest and most fun: yard setup, everyone standing around the grill with a drink, the shrimp toss turning into a game, and no neighbour close enough to mind. Birthdays here are usually the same energy, often a milestone one for someone who has been coming to Grayton for twenty years. Because The Red Bar and the handful of other Grayton spots are small and get slammed, a group over about eight has a genuine problem eating out here on a Friday — and a yard hibachi dinner is a better version of the night anyway.