Outer Banks Skies

Outer Banks Skies

Outer Banks Skies

Second Tier for us

The crew at the Tomato Patch

Orange Blossom Bakery-Hatteras Island-Frisco

One of our traditions is to drive to Ocracoke Island for a few days, then drive back up to Nags Head to start the main part of our vacation. This is another gem introduced by my nephew and niece Shane and Angie. The Orange Blossom is barely open until noon, but if you are near this area you are missing the boat if you dont stop. The place is best known for a fried, iced, and sugary pastry called an Apple Ugly. If you do nothing else but have a cup of coffee and an Apple Ugly you have not had a bad day. These things look ugly, but taste great. Picture an extra large cinnamon roll with bits of apples, then fry it and cover it in a sugary glaze! Wow. I personally love the homemade biscuits, made only as they can in the south. Buttery and flaky they melt in your mouth. Add a couple of eggs, american cheese and a piece of sausage, and you have my breakfast on the way up to Nags Head. The Orange Blossom is not at all fancy, and it is basically breakfast only, but if you have a taste for something uniquely Hatteras, this is the place to go! It is a four star stop.

Toppers Pizza-Hatteras Island-Buxton

Again, thank you Angie and Shane. I will not write a lot about this place, as it is also a no frills pizza shot basically tucked away in a strip mall. But, man the pizza is the best in the Outer Banks if you ask me, and the topping combinations are limitless. Add the availability of cold beer, and it is a simple but effective formula for a great lunch. It is a 3.5 star stop.

Tomato Patch-Corolla-Shopping center across from Timbuck II

Neat little pizza and Italian food place on the northern Outer Banks. The Tomato Patch is also not fancy. Frankly, I am not sure if it is GREAT food, but it sure is very good food. It has what you would expect from a sit down pizza/italian food restaurant. There is however something about the place that makes it a favorite stop for my family. Perhaps we have too many good memories of finishing a day on the northern beaches, driving around looking for wild horses, or just hanging out, but for some reason it is another must stop for us. It is a 3.5 star stop.

The second tier for us

Goombays Interior

Ali and Lisa at Howards

Kris and I at Howards

Bar shot at Howards

The Fat Tire bicycle at Howards

Bar shot at Goombays

Interior of Goombays

Goombays-Kill Devil Hills-MP 7 Beach Road

Goombays is a stop on every trip, partially due its atmosphere, laid back and island like. My youngest daughter loves the alligator appetizer, plus the Caribbean Creole Pasta, a combination of rock shrimp, andouille sausage, crawfish tails in a tomato broth over penne pasta. It is a very good dish. In addition to this dish, they do a nice job with burgers, sandwiches and raw bar. I personally get a burger, or crab legs unless the specials are looking good. To me, Goombays is at its best with its nightly dinner specials. When they are on, Goombays is great....when they are not it is still good. They also do a nice sunday brunch. Finally, Goombays is great for deserts. Their key lime and peanut butter pies are worth the trip on their own. 3.5-4 star stop.

Kill Devil Grill-Kill Devil Hills-MP 9.5 Beach Road

KDG looks like a diner, and you might think of blowing right past it. Don't. All of its dishes are made from scratch, and there are specials that vary from night to night. They do an equally great job with seafood, steak and pastas. KDG has a full bar, with its share of draft beer, and from the appetizer menu you cannot pass up the chicken wings, or the philadelphia cheesesteak eggrolls. The eggrolls in particular are worth the stop. The specials vary from night to night, but we have never been here without everyone finding something that hit the spot! This is another place with great deserts, especially the strawberry shortcake and the apple crisp served with vanilla ice cream. 4 star stop.

MexiCaliBrewz-Kill Devil Hills MP 9 Beach Road

Operated by the owners of Mama Kwans, a great stop in the area for a touch of mexican food. Their outdoor entertainment including corhole tournaments make this a fun place to stop, relax, drink a beer, and enjoy the beach party atmosphere. Inside, you can enjoy the California/Mexican cuisine including burritos, tacos, and many fresh local foods including fish tacos. Their home made sauces to accompany the meals are great. This is a 3.5 star stop.

Howards-Ocracoke Island

Howards is a great stop on Ocracoke Island. Truth be told, the food is not spectacular, but it is fresh, quality bar food combined with fresh local seafood. I dont know that it has a signature dish, but it has good sandwiches, a good raw bar, outdoor and indoor seating. A plus for me is an expanded selection of draft and microbrews, as well as a great beach bar atmosphere. I would call it a 3.5 star stop. It is 4 star based on the other options in its area.

Tortugas Lie

Tortugas Lie-Nags Head-MP 11-Beach Road

This place is the final part of the Big Three for my family. Tortugas Lie for us is a combination of some of the things we love about Awful Arthurs(great raw bar), and Mama Kwans (healthy food). The atmoshere in here is great.....feels like a local bar with a surfers feel about it. Some of the highlights aside from the atmosphere and great service include:

Great bar with about a dozen draft beer choices that usually include Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen, Fat Tire, Guiness, Bass Ale, and others;

Great raw bar-The raw bar at Tortugas is excellent. The shrimp, clams, and crab legs are fresh, portions generous, and come out quickly;

Great Appetizers-Our favorites include the fresh chips and salsa, as well as the Creole Crawdads, served with toasted baguettes, island fries, and the Hatteras style clam chowder;

Great fresh fish specials-the nightly specials usually combine some sort of local fish with a Caribbean flair......they are unbelievable most nights;

Great Burgers-They have some really great burgers including.........yes, I am going to say their Garden Burger....I thought I would never be a fan of vegetarian burgers, but this thing is different.....served on a thick piece of whole grain toast and coated with their homemade barbeque sauce this burger made a believer out of a lifelong meat lover.

Wednesday Sushi night-fresh locally caught sushi;

My daughter Ali seems to favor their hummus wrap for lunch, and my other daughter loves the Creole Crawdad Fette, with is a spicy fettucine covered in a creole spiced sauce, loaded with sauteed onions, red peppers, tomatos, and crawdad meat. My wife seems to enjoy the raw bar, or the great nightly specials.....recently she was treated to the crab cake sandwich which was a huge patty of crab meat without fillers........This is a five star stop in our books.

Mama Kwans-Part of our Big Three

Mama Kwans-Kill Devil Hills-The Bypass-Milepost 9.5

Mama Kwans quickly became part of our regular routine on the Outer Banks....we eat here several times during each vacation, and I bring clients here as I do Awful Arthurs while on my annual fishing trips. My only mild complaint about Mama Kwans is a lack of draft beer, but that is the ONLY one...........Another place that seems to be a hangout for locals and tourists alike, it has a very lively tiki bar atmosphere, along with a very attentive service staff. This seems to be a place where you can great food, and leave feeling very good about yourself, as most of it has a healthy origin. The food is fresh local seafood, with an asian spin in many cases, and it is unbelievable. We have never had a bad meal in this place, but for us there are a few highlights to this incredible place:

For appetizers, you cannot beat their fresh salsa and home made chips or the Thai money bags.......For the main event, we bring people here for the most incredible fish tacos we have ever eaten. Despite my love of fresh fish and of tacos, I WAS a guy who believed that fish tacos would not be something I would eat.....so it was with great reluctance that we tried Mama Kwans at the behest again of our niece and nephew. For me, despite trying and liking several other entrees off of others plates, I cannot come here and not order the blackened fish tacos..........They are incredible........fresh blackened mahi mahi on a plate with shredded cabbage, jasmine rice, cheddar cheese, and green onions..........you truly have to try this to believe how good it is....the mahi is so fresh it melts in your mouth..........Now that Mamas showed me how good fish tacos can be, I have tried them in other places, but nobody comes close in my opinion. In addition to this dish, my wife loves the Pad Thai at Mamas.....It is fresh, tasty and has just the right amount of heat.........my daughter Ali loves the Garbage Plate which is a large plate of assorted marinated vegetables, jasmine rice and in her case, a piece of seared Ahi Tuna...........it is a winner as well! My other daughter Kris favors the pork plate.......if the fish tacos were not so good, I could readily eat any of these other entrees, but personally I cannot miss a single chance to get a taste of the fish tacos....This is a five star stop in our books.

Summer is Here-Time for Awful Arthurs!

Awful Arthurs-Beach Road MP 6-Kill Devil Hills-open year round for lunch and dinner:

We were introduced to Awful Arthurs the day after Thanksgiving in 2001 by my niece and nephew Shane and Angie Belcher. It was definitely LOVE at first bite! There is NOTHING fancy about the food at Awful Arthurs, nothing at all. But, I can tell you that as a person who entertains clients in many cities, and has done so now for 20 plus years, I am no stranger to quality restaurants, nor is my family. We can all tell you that you will never eat a better piece of fish than the very plain grilled fish sandwich served at AA! The family is torn on which is better the Mahi Mahi, or the Tuna, but we have never eaten fish that is better than their simply prepared grilled fish sandwiches. When they have access to fresh Wahoo, it is even better. I can honestly tell you that we have taken more than a dozen people to this place, and EVERYONE agrees that they have never had a better piece of grilled fish than the fish they have eaten here at Awful Arthurs. It is so fresh and simply prepared, that you can taste the fish as it is supposed to be. It does not need anything in the way of condiments. In addition to the fresh fish, they have for my money one of the best raw bars I have ever seen, with everything from oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp and crab legs. Their steamed shrimp may be the best we have ever eaten! Add great hush puppies, french fries she crab soup, fried oyster sandwiches, clam strips,and it is heaven for a beach bum with a serious taste for fish! My youngest daughter who is not the fan of fish that the rest of us are, always finds a sandwich she likes to go with the great hush puppies. In addition, they have GREAT service, a very LOCAL feel, despite it being a big tourist destination, and a nice selection of cold beer on tap. I prefer the Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen or Fat Tire to finish a feast of raw bar every time we go. If you want to mellow out quickly, try the Awesome Arthur, a quicker way to get happy! Try to get there during the offseason, or off hours, as AA is always packed, but make sure you get there! This place is one of the places we dream about during the long winter in PA, and my whole outlook truly changes when I walk into this place. In our opinion, stick to the fresh fish sandwiches/platters, or raw bar as that is what this place does so well.......but they do serve burgers, chicken, pastas and steak......for us, summer vacation is not summer vacation until we have had our kickoff feast at Awful Arthurs, followed by several more visits during our time there. (We eat out a late lunch and late dinner, every day, so we get our shots at this place!) Finally, we rent a home across the street from AA for one of the weeks partially due to the proximity. This is a five star stop in our books.