Jolly Roger

The Jolly Roger restaurant in Kill Devil Hills was an interesting breakfast experience. The exterior is decorated with oversized chairs, bejweled horses and statues of pirates and once we entered we were greeted by a young man dressed as a pirate (insert free.credit.report dot com jingle here). Like I said, interesting. The lobby was packed with people waiting to be seated. While we waited we browsed the collection of knick knacks and souvenirs that lined the lobby walls. It gave everyone something to do while they waited for a table.

Twenty minutes may have passed before we were finally seated. The sign outside the restaurant says, "home of the $2.99 breakfast" but when I opened the menu, I swear I didn't see any breakfast for $2.99. I did find out later that the $2.99 breakfast consists of two eggs served with homefries or grits or baked apples and toast. Not bad for three bucks.

Our server, a young woman dressed as a pirate chick (similar to biker chick I imagine) came over quickly to get our drink orders. There was so much activity in the restaurant and I believe that most of the people were vacationing as we were.

Even though my eyes couldn't find the $2.99 breakfast on the menu I did notice many different breakfast combinations to choose from. I settled on the Italian frittata with grits:

Can you see that pool of butter on top of the grits? Probably not the best way to start my day, but I don't make it a habit so I took my chances. The three-egg fritatta was loaded with onions, tomato, green pepper, mushrooms and romano cheese. Everything tasted good and definitely filled me up.

Bryan ordered an omelet with spinach and feta cheese but the thing that I found fascinating was the biscuit and gravy that he also ordered:





I have never seen a biscuit that covered an entire plate. I stay away from the B&G because it's just too heavy but I did taste this one. Awfully light and fluffy for a biscuit and the sausage gravy was just right ... I still wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing though.

I was surprised at how quickly the food hit the table based on how many people were being served. I noticed the owner, Carol Ann Angelos walking around in the midst of the breakfast rush. She too, was dressed in the pirate garb and she stopped at our table to see how everything was. She also gave us coupons to visit her other restaurant, Carolina Seafood which is a seafood buffet.

The Jolly Roger has been around since 1972 and is the oldest Italian restaurant on the beach. The friendliness of the staff is one of the reasons why I love going to the Outer Banks. It seems to represent easy living. And what is wrong with that?

Outer Banks Brewing Station

We arrived in the Outer Banks shortly after 5:00 pm and I was starving. All I had to eat that day was a breakfast drink and half a frozen Healthy Choice meal. My schedule got all screwed up and I just never ate. I was ready to start my final summer fling but I was running on fumes.

Bryan suggested that we stop at the Outer Banks Brewing Station at milepost 8.5 on the main road into Kill Devil Hills. “Brewing station?” I thought. I wanted to eat not drink beer. He assured me that it was a restaurant and I didn’t have to worry. The brewing station does serve handcrafted beer and there was plenty available. Apparently, the beer menu changes frequently because Scott Meyer, the brew master is constantly trying new things and coming up with great brews. I have to admit right here that I am not a beer drinker so I am far from qualified to review it. Bryan, on the other hand, is somewhat of a connoisseur and has reported that the Olsch and the Dog House Tripel were fantastic.

There was plenty of activity on the first floor of the restaurant, in the dining area and especially at the bar. We were seated immediately on the second level where it was much quieter. I didn’t particularly have an issue with this but I would have preferred to have been given a choice as to whether I wanted to sit upstairs or downstairs. I think Bryan wanted to be downstairs closer to the action. I, on the other hand, just wanted to eat.

We started our meal with the old school crab and artichoke dip. It was mild in flavor, topped with bread crumbs and served with the house bread. As I said earlier, I was starving so I don’t know if we finished it so quickly because of that or if it was just really good. Okay, it was really good.

I ordered the daily fresh catch which was red snapper. It was prepared with sautéed potatoes, artichokes, asparagus, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and capers. It was an interesting combination of vegetables that seemed to complement each other quite well. Nothing got lost in the mix. It was delicious.



Bryan ordered the pasta special which consisted of swordfish and shrimp over penne pasta and seasoned vegetables. I noticed that this dish wasn’t loaded with pasta which would force you to search for the fish and shrimp. It was nicely balanced.



For dessert, our server convinced us to order the Monkey Mousse. She explained that it was a take on Chunky Monkey ice cream and it is prepared fresh at the brewing station. This creation is layered with a graham cracker crust, banana cake and chocolate mousse and it’s drizzled with chocolate and banana sauces. Trust me, it looks heavier than it actually is.



It was ridiculously good.

I was not expecting to be so impressed with the food at a beer brewing station. I actually expected regular bar food: hot wings, onion rings and the like but not so at the Outer Banks Brewing Station. It also bears mentioning that the Outer Banks Brewing Station is America’s first wind powered brew pub.

The service at the Station was spot on. Friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. Elizabeth, our server was patient and understood completely when I stated how hungry I was and that we just came in from Virginia Beach … she was quick with the cocktails and everything hit the table in a reasonable amount of time.