The view from our deck during the March 2nd Nor'easter.As mentioned, the Outer Banks/Nags Head restaurant scene is one that is very familiar to us, and we have found many venues for creatively well prepared food. When you are eating out two meals a day, this helps. We've had our share of faulty dining and we don't take kindly to wasting time/money/calories with that sort of nonsense...
So, we generally return to places we had enjoyed the previous year and keep on the lookout for the new ones. Among our old favorites is Outer Banks Brewing Station (although they need to throw out those trendy wire cones lined with wax paper that they are serving their calamari in - the non-absorbent liner does nothing but make for soggy squid), Ocean Boulevard (where we enjoyed one of the only desserts we had the entire time - their version of an Ice Cream Sandwich, and a white chocolate creme brulee), the fried chicken night (Mondays!) at Rundown Cafe, and Kevin's favorite lunch place (if John's is not open yet for the season), Kill Devil Grill. A first for us was the several sushi lunches - two at Taiko Sushi and one at their sister restaurant, Fuji Japanese - that proved to be pretty tasty yet light middle of the day repast.
New this year was The Blue Moon Beach Grill. It's got a crappy location, at the end of a small strip mall, but that doesn't seem to be hurting it at all. We stopped by on a Wednesday night and enjoyed some of the best food we'd had so far - an oyster and a scallop small plate. Both were superb and made us want to come back for more. We spent some talk time with the bartender/server, who was about as gung-ho about a place as a person could be, especially with the chef/owner on the line behind him doing his thing. Their specials, which change often, as does the menu, are based on the market and when something is gone, it's gone. Our kind of talk, eh? We returned for dinner on Friday, once again sitting at the bar, but this time getting pretty much the last seat, with none available at a table. They were hustling! It was again an excellent meal - Kevin had the "Bacon Steak", which is nothing more than a slab of roasted pork belly! while I was thrilled to have a veal chop with a delectable mushroom sauce. It couldn't have been better, and it was great to see how busy they were, on a rainy off season Friday.
While we spent most dinner hours hopping from bar seat to bar seat, exploring small plates and seeing how things were going, there were a couple of full-course meals spent sitting at a table like grown-ups. One of our favorite fine-dining-at-the-beach spots is the Left Bank, a part of the Sanderling Resort. We used our Saturday night for that. We started with one of the few cocktails of the week - a French 75 martini, made with Hendricks Gin, lemon and champagne. How could we resist that? We didn't. They offer a prix-fixe menu, which is how Kevin went, while I stayed in the ala carte side, where I could focus on seafood. Highlights included the fillet of pasture raised beef on the prix-fixe, with it's Perigord truffle (the manager actually brought one of the huge things out to show us, when Kevin "questioned" the menu), and my lobster entree, served in the richest lobster consomme I have ever enjoyed.
The Blue Point Bar and Grill in Duck is another perennial favorite of ours. The dining room is very cozy, with booths and tables and an inviting bar; the service staff is always very well informed and professional. I went with a three course small plate meal. We both had the scallops, with more of that pork belly (although I did ask to substitute the truffle oil, of which I am not a fan), and Kevin had the pork chop while I had their version of the Wedge Salad, which was amazingly enough another vehicle for that scrumptious Benton Bacon that we had at the Vintage Kitchen in Norfolk. Dinner included some addicting cornbread as well. The only black mark they got - and it was more my fault than anyone else's - was the order in which my three courses were served. I had sort of hoped my soup would come out first - I could share with Kevin - followed by our scallops and then the two "mains". Instead, the server brought the scallops first, intending to bring my two small plates together as one. It was a perfect example where the diner needs to let the server know how they would like their meal to progress, or of the server needing to ask the diner how they wanted things to come out. When she didn't ask me, I should have spoken up.
Tomorrow - if you're still with me - the adventures of two rubes in the nation's capital and some Eastern Shore fine fare.
So, we generally return to places we had enjoyed the previous year and keep on the lookout for the new ones. Among our old favorites is Outer Banks Brewing Station (although they need to throw out those trendy wire cones lined with wax paper that they are serving their calamari in - the non-absorbent liner does nothing but make for soggy squid), Ocean Boulevard (where we enjoyed one of the only desserts we had the entire time - their version of an Ice Cream Sandwich, and a white chocolate creme brulee), the fried chicken night (Mondays!) at Rundown Cafe, and Kevin's favorite lunch place (if John's is not open yet for the season), Kill Devil Grill. A first for us was the several sushi lunches - two at Taiko Sushi and one at their sister restaurant, Fuji Japanese - that proved to be pretty tasty yet light middle of the day repast.
New this year was The Blue Moon Beach Grill. It's got a crappy location, at the end of a small strip mall, but that doesn't seem to be hurting it at all. We stopped by on a Wednesday night and enjoyed some of the best food we'd had so far - an oyster and a scallop small plate. Both were superb and made us want to come back for more. We spent some talk time with the bartender/server, who was about as gung-ho about a place as a person could be, especially with the chef/owner on the line behind him doing his thing. Their specials, which change often, as does the menu, are based on the market and when something is gone, it's gone. Our kind of talk, eh? We returned for dinner on Friday, once again sitting at the bar, but this time getting pretty much the last seat, with none available at a table. They were hustling! It was again an excellent meal - Kevin had the "Bacon Steak", which is nothing more than a slab of roasted pork belly! while I was thrilled to have a veal chop with a delectable mushroom sauce. It couldn't have been better, and it was great to see how busy they were, on a rainy off season Friday.
While we spent most dinner hours hopping from bar seat to bar seat, exploring small plates and seeing how things were going, there were a couple of full-course meals spent sitting at a table like grown-ups. One of our favorite fine-dining-at-the-beach spots is the Left Bank, a part of the Sanderling Resort. We used our Saturday night for that. We started with one of the few cocktails of the week - a French 75 martini, made with Hendricks Gin, lemon and champagne. How could we resist that? We didn't. They offer a prix-fixe menu, which is how Kevin went, while I stayed in the ala carte side, where I could focus on seafood. Highlights included the fillet of pasture raised beef on the prix-fixe, with it's Perigord truffle (the manager actually brought one of the huge things out to show us, when Kevin "questioned" the menu), and my lobster entree, served in the richest lobster consomme I have ever enjoyed.
The Blue Point Bar and Grill in Duck is another perennial favorite of ours. The dining room is very cozy, with booths and tables and an inviting bar; the service staff is always very well informed and professional. I went with a three course small plate meal. We both had the scallops, with more of that pork belly (although I did ask to substitute the truffle oil, of which I am not a fan), and Kevin had the pork chop while I had their version of the Wedge Salad, which was amazingly enough another vehicle for that scrumptious Benton Bacon that we had at the Vintage Kitchen in Norfolk. Dinner included some addicting cornbread as well. The only black mark they got - and it was more my fault than anyone else's - was the order in which my three courses were served. I had sort of hoped my soup would come out first - I could share with Kevin - followed by our scallops and then the two "mains". Instead, the server brought the scallops first, intending to bring my two small plates together as one. It was a perfect example where the diner needs to let the server know how they would like their meal to progress, or of the server needing to ask the diner how they wanted things to come out. When she didn't ask me, I should have spoken up.
Tomorrow - if you're still with me - the adventures of two rubes in the nation's capital and some Eastern Shore fine fare.
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