Beach Bites with Katie Lee

Katie Lee is on a mission to find the best beach food along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The Biloxi Bay Bridge connects historic beach town Biloxi to Ocean Springs, an artistic community that's becoming a hot spot for eclectic, diverse restaurants, and Katie finds that there's great food waiting to be discovered from one end of the bridge to the other. She starts with seafood gumbo made with crab straight out of the local waters, fishes for one of her meals, and samples some soul food that's not your typical beach cuisine. Down-home barbecue is a must-have for food lovers in the South, so Katie digs into the best ribs below the Mason-Dixon Line. Chicory coffee, homemade buttery biscuits and refreshing ice pops round out a perfect culinary tour of the Mississippi coast.

Katie Lee jaunts just off the coast of Florida to the most accessible, populated and food-centric island in the Bahamas, New Providence, and the city of Nassau. Conch is a staple here, so Katie can't turn down the freshest conch salad, and local specialties like hog snapper, chicken patties and a Bahama Mama cocktail also represent the island culture. Local spices give barbecue a uniquely Bahamian twist, and a Louisiana family is bringing N'awlins Creole to these majestic isles. Katie wraps things up with a true island classic, the Guava Duff, for dessert.

Katie Lee is hitting California's famed Pacific Coast Highway to find delicious, international beach food in a beautiful coastal setting. In Monterey, she discovers rich Italian influences in cioppino with local Dungeness crab. Then she finds an almond croissant in Carmel that makes her think she's been transported to France. Mexican fare in California is always authentic and unbeatable, and Katie samples a perfect pork mole, smooth Mezcal and a Mexican specialty snack, grasshoppers! She can't leave wine country without pairing some vino with local seafood, and sweet treats like fudge and candy apples are always in order.

Katie Lee heads to Tybee Island, Georgia, a barrier island just 18 miles southeast of culinary mecca Savannah. The small island is full of big flavors, and Katie starts her exploration with perfectly sweet local shrimp and a spicy blackened fish hoagie at a restaurant so beloved that the locals rallied to keep it open. She's introduced to "hog wings," a local version of hot wings that trade the chicken for pork, and she dives into the local specialty, oysters, that are so nice, she tries them twice -- roasted and baked with collards and bacon. Katie finishes off her visit with ice cream cookie sandwiches and deep-fried strawberries that represent what the South is all about.

An hour off the coast of Southern California, Catalina Island may be small, but it offers a microcosm of classic California cuisine. Katie Lee lands on Catalina and heads to historic Mt. Ada for a juicy lamb burger with a view. Local vegetables rule in California, and when they're paired with wine, Katie discovers they're even better. California's Mexican influence is present in a plate of perfect nachos right on the water, and Katie tries the sweet flavor of Pacific spiny lobsters that differ from Maine lobsters in one major way -- no claws! Katie rounds out her visit with bacon muffins, chocolate turtles and Buffalo Milk, a cocktail only available on Catalina.

A number of quaint beach towns along the South Carolina coast are leading a revolution in Lowcountry cuisine, and Katie Lee finds the best beach bites in Sullivan's Island, Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms and Folly Beach. She starts at a hot spot that's elevating the classic Lowcountry boil by turning it into chowder. She also discovers a restaurant that lures skeptics in with typical beach fare and flips the script with perfect Korean cuisine. A breakfast pit stop converts Katie into a devotee after she samples crab cakes eggs Benedict and banana bread French toast. And it's not a visit to the Lowcountry without fresh shrimp, fried chicken, a cocktail and some gelato!