| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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Until 1970 the fishing village of Kinnakeet had a fishing fleet, its own high school, and fish processing factories. Kinnakeet was built on the soundside, well away from the ocean's angry waters. Where Route 12, which wasn't even paved until the 1950s, came South between Rodanthe and Buxton, there were 20 miles of empty sand flats dotted with low brush. One restaurant, The Captain's Table, sat alone where the side road turned off to Kinnakeet. In 30 years, the town of Avon has grown from nothing at all to become the island's largest community, and most tourists have never heard of Kinnakeet (it's still back there, its high school and fish processing plants long ago closed). The Captain's Table closed in 1977, and is still mourned by old timers as the first truly great restaurant on the island. But its descendants have carried on the tradition. Avon has 14 eateries : eight full scale seafood restaurants, two pizzerias, one Chinese, a Subway, a Dairy Queen, and a cafe. The famous Avon Fishing Pier, pictured above, has been a favorite fishing spot for half a century. Avon is also the windsurfing capital of North America. |
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PoHouse is next to Ocean Air Windsurfing at the north end of Avon. It offers fabulous views of sunsets over Pamlico Sound. In 21st Century style they offer a limited Southern Style menu of a few items done very well. Among their Appetizers we like the Mussels in ginger, white wine, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Their Lobster Shrimp Sherry Bisque is one of the island's great Soups and is worth a visit if that's all you order. Of the Entrees, we're fond of their signature item, the Po Boy Sandwich. It contains cornmeal crusted Chesapeake Bay oysters, Cajun remoulade, tomato and pickled veggies. If there were a competition for island's greatest sandwich, this might win it. There's a Cuban style Jerk Chicken, a Southern Seafood Basket, and a pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, cole slaw, cucumber salad and mashed sweet potato. They have Blackened Yellowfin Tuna, Blue Crab Cakes, Shrimp Pasta and a Southern Seafood Basket., At lunch they also offer a Veggie Wrap. There's a full wine list from France, New Zealand and Spain. Among their hand crafted drinks are a Cucumber Lemonade and an Elijah Craig Bourbon - Orange Bitters -Agave cocktail. |
In the old Dolphin Den is now Island Time Muffins and Scones. This is a quirky place with echoes of the 1960s. However, what they serve is delicious and well worth your driving over for breakfast or lunch. There are Coffees, Lattes and Smoothies. The Peachy Keen Smoothie contains peaches, papayas and blueberries. The Island Paradise includes pineapple, banana and strawberry. There's even a Green Machine, with kale, almond milk, flax seed, blueberry and banana. In addition to your drink, you can pick from any number of Bagel combinations. Their Bagels contain a Meat, a Cheese and a Topping. They make 12 kinds of Bagels fresh daily (tomato, cinnamon raisin, jalapeno, etc.). The lunch menu includes a Pizza Bagel, Broccoli Cheese Soup and Broccoli Quiche. |
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The Mad Crabber sounds like a place serving mostly Crab, but that's misleading. Chef Taylor Rawls is one of the island's most creative, and they have a full menu. The ambience is Summer Camp Rustic : picnic tables, exposed beam ceiling, paper plates, silverware in plastic baskets. The walls are hung with surfboards and other beach icons. But this place is a strong contender for Best Restaurant On The Island. They offer an outstanding version of Hatteras Style (clear broth) Chowder. Rockfish, which appears as a Daily Special, is exquisite. Their Fish Tacos are the best we've tasted and they're so bounteous you'll take the second one home for lunch tomorrow. Rawls does a fine job with routine sides like Cole Slaw (which, sadly, few restaurants seem able to handle), and an even better job with such items as Spiced Collards and Mixed Veggies. Their Sea Scallops, Crab Cakes and Calamari are great. And then, sure enough, come those Steamed Crabs : Blue, Snow, King, Dungeness and the Crab Combo. You can order either a pound or a pound and a half. Save room; their Peanut Butter Pie is from an old Kinnakeet family recipe and is one of the island's best desserts. |
| If you're into funky, eccentric atmosphere, The Froggy Dog is your place. It's got a dual screen surfboard and other bizarre features. The gift shop offers 100 laughable or scary souvenirs. Some of the menu items are pretty wierd, too. But hiding behind all this circus atmosphere is some pretty good food. Unlike most Hatteras restaurants, they serve all three meals. The Clam Chowder and Crab Corn Chowder are worth trying, and if you've never had Frog Legs this would be a good place to start. Lunch features six kinds of hot dogs, five kinds of burgers, seven salads and a children's menu. The dinner menu includes steaks, pastas, and chicken, but the heart of the menu is still seafood. We like their Grilled Sea Trout, Flounder Imperial, and Seafood au Gratin. You can add a Grilled Shrimp Skewer to any entree for $5. Froggy's signature style is to sautee their seafood entrees in spiced sherry. They are one of only six restaurants on the island with a full ABC certified bar, and locals consider their mixed drinks the best out here. There's live music at lunch Saturdays and in the evenings (5-9) most nights. Three nights a week (TWH) there's Karaoke. There's even a play area for rugrats. |  |
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When owner Jomi Price rebuilt after a hurricane, he raised it on stilts and built this handicapped access ramp across the front. So as you drive by, The Ketch looks like a squarish crab hunkering down behind folded legs. Don't let the appearance deter you. The remodeled inside is very upscale stylish 21st Century. Price and Chef Seth Foutz have fashioned a cutting edge menu. They offer a Tomato Basil Crab Bisque which is one of the island's top two or three soups. The Cobia with tomatoes and mushrooms on a bed of Thai noodles is delicious. Their Fish Tacos are among the island's top two. If you like your Crab Cakes crispy, theirs might become your favorite, served with red bliss potatoes, tomatoes, scallions and pickled onion slaw. The signature entree might be Three From The Sea, which includes flounder, shrimp and scallops in a white wine butter sauce, mashed potatoes and a cucumber salad. They also offer Shrimp & Grits, Glazed Tuna, and Seafood Pasta. The wine list is a very good mix of Californian, Italian, Spanish and Oregonian. Among the appetizers we like the Mussels, Scallop & Crab Martini, Smoked Tuna and Calamari. Service is prompt, efficient and professional. The French Baguette with the Garlic Herb Olive Oil is a fine way to begin a meal, and one of their desserts is a fine way to end it. Go early (5 - 6:30 pm) or you'll wait over an hour. |
With a new location and new menu, Oceana's Bistro is much better and well worth a stop. The Bistro serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The dinner menu includes the island's most dynamic appetizer page. It starts with their spectacular Sesame Seared Tuna, which is cooked rare, seasoned with ginger, soy and wasabi, and is available either as an appetizer or entree. The Sampler Platter of Fried Pickles, Crab Puffs, Shrimp & Wings is also excellent. Among their salads, we like the Pistachio Goat Cheese With Raspberry Vinegarette. Their Corn Crab Chowder is very good. Of their entrees, we highly recommend the Grilled Shrimp & Scallops, Crab Cakes, or, if you're burned out on seafood, the Hickory Molasses Ribs. They offer four "Grillers," served in a Tomato Basil Tortilla. The Veggie Griller includes cheese, roast red peppers, mushrooms, artichokes and onions. There's a Caribbean Chicken Griller, Tuna Griller and Crabmeat Griller. Lunch consists of 19 sandwiches, of which the Crab Cake, Veggie or Pork or Chicken Griller, or Mahi Mahi are the best. Breakfast offers some interesting items, especially the Crabmeat Benedict (English muffin topped with eggs, crabmeat and grits); and a Seafood Omelette (stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp, parmesan cheese and grits). Oceana's serves a strong Margarita, does a good job with its other drinks, and has some very intriguing wines. |
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Dirty Dick's is the closest Hatteras comes to corporate food, since the owners have also opened restaurants with the same name in Nags Head, Myrtle Beach and Panama City. They use slick marketing with a glossy website and touristy gift shop. But their bulk purchasing and managerial style are no match for their family owned, personally run island rivals. It's not that the food at Dirty Dick's is bad. It's not. Some of it, particularly the Gator Bisque, Crab Stuffed Flounder, Spinach Salad (spinach leaves, honey roaasted pecans, apple smoked bacon, mushrooms, red onions, bleu cheese, popcorn shrimp and Louisiana pepper jelly vinaigrette), Creole Shrimp & Grits, and the Crab entrees, is quite good. There's a definite Cajun flavor to the seafood and certain other entrees. And the service is prompt and efficient. The problem is the food quality is inconsistent and overpriced. Most of it is only average, and in this competitive island atmosphere, that's not good enough. The Mahi Mahi, for example, is really pretty tasteless. The Sides --- Rice Pilaf, Carrots, Green Beans, etc.--- aren't fresh and lack flavor. The Wine list is decent, almost all California labels with a few Argentinas. But the Margaritas are made with a prepared mix rather than locally. The ambience is also rather cold, with a concrete floor and high ceiling allowing an elevated noise level and discouraging conversation. If Dirty Dick's was in Knoxville, Cincinnati or Indianapolis it might be a real hit. But out here the standards are higher. |
| Don't let the Pangea Tavern sign scare you away. This place near the Avon Pier does serve 15 North Carolina craft beers (beer conneisseurs must try the Black Raddish, Oatmeal Porter, Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, Hot Rod Red Ale and Weeping Willow Citrus), plus all the usual brews, 18 wines and some very good mixed drinks. But it's also a fine restaurant. And it is THE place to go if you're ready for a break from all the seafood. Pangea offers an international menu with some very creative twists. Among appetizers we like their Mediterranean Smoked Hummus, Polynesian Crab Rangoon, and Arepa (an Ecuadorian spicy corn pastry with pulled pork, pickled red onions, grrilled vegetables and guacamole). There are two Soups and five Salads. Of the Sandwiches, we like the Carribean Jerk Chicken, Asian Panini (ginger sesame, marinated grilled chicken, provolone cheese, alfalfa sprouts, carrots, cucumber, sourdough and a teriyaki glaze) and, of course, the Crab Cake Sandwich. The Entree page reads like a world tour. There's Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Tuscan Chicken Marsala, Creaole Crab Cakes, Thai Cocunut Curry, New Zealand Lamb, Indian Vegetable Korma and Gorgonzola Strip Steak. A kids' menu includes Chicken Tenders, Spaghetti with sauce, Shrimp and Grilled Cheese. |  |
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On your way to fishing, windsurfing or the beach, you might want to stop by Bros Sandwich Shack for a lunch to take along. Three brothers from Texas opened it in 2014 and it's become the favorite lunch stop on the island. They specialize in sandwiches. They can pack you a Burger, such as the Cowboy (BBQ basted with pepperjack, smoked gouda and bacon); the Blue (bleu cheese and red onions) and the Frenchy (mushrooms, swiss cheese and onion jam). Among the regular sandwiches, there's the Philly (sirloin, peppers, onions, smoked gouda on a hoagie roll), French Dip, BBQ Chicken, Vegetarian and Texas Pork. Sides include Sweet Potato Fries, Cole Slaw, Sauteed Mushrooms, Avocado, Fried Onions, Cheese, Onion Jam and Bacon. Locals drive all the way from Buxton and Rodanthe just for the Waffle Fries. Next to the Food Lion, Bros is one block from the beach, a quarter mile from the Canadian Hole windsurfing and kiteboard launching site, and half a mile from the popular Falcon Cove fishing area. They open at 11 a.m., just about the time most families are heading out for their afternoon recreation. |
| Chinatown Buffet is primarily a takeout restaurant, but eating there is a perfectly reasonable option. There's an All You Can Eat Buffet and a menu with 150 items. This is one of those standard Chinese menus which half the Chinese restaurants in America use, putting their own name and photo on the front, but that doesn't make the food any less tasty. The traditional appetizers are all here : Egg Rolls, Crab Meat Rangoon (crab meat mixed with cream cheese), and the Pu Pu Platter (wings, ribs, egg rolls, shrimp, beef, crab meat sticks and wontons). We like Hot & Sour Soup, ordering it every time we go to a Chinese restaurant, and a cup of it here is as good as most that you'll get in a major city. Among the entrees, we like their Seafood Platter (shrimp, scallops, lobster and crab meat in white sauce), Garlic Scallops and The Happy Family (lobster, shrimp, chicken, beef, pork and vegetables). If you're undecided whether you're in the mood for Chinese or some other cuisine, you might come here and order the Barbequed Ribs, Scallops with Vegetables, or the Butterfly Shrimp With Bacon. Chinatown offers special luncheon plates excepty Sundays. They do not use MonoSodium Glutamate, and use only 100% vegetable oils. Chinatown is located in the shopping strip between Food Lion Grocery and the Hatteras Movie Theatre (now closed). |  |
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You can't leave all the familiar icons back home. When after all that seafood you just want some ice cream, there is always Dairy Queen. In this concrete block building just off Route 12 in mid Avon, you have the traditional DQ menu: cones, cups, sundaes, shakes and all the trimmings. The fanciful paint job makes this little DQ hard to miss but there's not much parking and even less room inside. Its central location places this within a walk of most of the town and within biking distance of even the Island Creek and Askins Creek houses. It's also within a block of the beach, and convenient to the Ocean Air Windsurfing School. Not a bad place to walk around 3 pm on a long day tubing or bodyboarding, and not a bad place to pull in after a morning windsurfing on Pamlico Sound. |
| In case you get tired of seafood, La Fagota offers a full Mexican menu. (The word means "bonfire" or "campfire" in Spanish.) This is one of only two restaurants on the island which is not locally owned (Dirty Dick's is the other) but the chain includes just two other locations, in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head. There are no soups and the Chili Rellenos hide inside combination meals and side orders. However, they offer separate sections of Burritos, Quesadillas, Fajitas, Steaks, Enchiladas, Taco Salads, Vegetarian Dishes and Child Plates. The lunch menu borrows Huevos Rancheros and Huevos Chorizo from breakfast (they don't open til 11 a.m.). There are 27 Combinations and six Desserts. In a bow to their Hatteras location, they offer five seafood entrees, the best of which we think is the Mojarra (whole fried Tilapia). There are two Shrimp entrees : Cocktel de Cameron (shrimp cocktail with pico de gallo and sliced avocado) and Camerone ala Diabla (marinated shrimp). The Quesadilla Del Mar is a flour tortilla grillede and stuffed with cheese, onions, bell peppers, shrimp and beans and served with rice, lettuce, guacamole, tomatoes and sour cream. Fish Tacos feature grilled fish in three flour tortillas with rice, salad and pico de gallo. They offer Jarritos (the classic Mexican soft drinks) and 12 kinds of Mexican beer. |  |
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Burger Burger has moved to Avon. It's a classic beach sandwich and wrap shop. They offer a limited menu but what they prepare is delicious. We believe their best offerings are the Chicken Ranch Wrap (chicken breast, jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing), Crab Cake Sandwich, Grilled Mushroom & Swiss Chicken Sandwich, and, for vegetarians, the Chopped Greek Salad Wrap (lettuce, tomato, onion, olives, cucumber, peppers and feta). But there are also five salads, six burgers and five kinds of hot dog. They run an extensive carry out service for people taking lunch to groups on the beach or fishermen heading for the pier. You can get the usual soft drinks here but consider their Lemonade. It's among the best on the island. |
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