OBX: A Culinary Road Trip

As of this post, consider GRG reopened. I can’t promise daily updated content, but recent events have pushed me away from writing as a profession (but I still remain in journalism) and I’ve rediscovered the itch to bang out words on a keyboard using fact-based opinions and observations.

It only felt appropriate to begin again with a trip my family and I recently made to Outer Banks, North Carolina.

I had heard great things about the culinary minds of eastern North Carolina. Once on the beach, some places lived up to the hype, and some didn’t. Either way, I decided to rank my meals (that weren’t cooked up at home or in someone else’s beach house) from bottom to top.

Without further adieu, the Best Places for Your Stomach in Outer Banks, according to me.

6.) PLACE: Coastal Cravings. Duck, North Carolina

MEAL: Snow crab legs, one pound

This is last, partially from my own doing. When headed to the beach, I crave seafood. Shrimp first, crab legs second. Always. I’ll cover the former later, but as far as the latter is concerned, tackled that at Coastal Cravat well-priced, dress casual seafood spot connected to a gas station in Duck, the town we stayed in.

Getting back to the whole “my own doing” part: I ordered one of the few things that, if you want something specifically prepared by a chef at a good restaurant — which Coastal Cravings is — you aren’t going to get with much flair. The crab, the butter sauce, the lemon, the end.

I spent the better part of the meal cracking and pulling and dunking, and was underwhelmed by a place that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Google it if you don’t watch Food Network.)

The legs had no seasoning, the sauce was at least 80-percent actual butter (not butter sauce) and, while boiling crab legs are soft by nature, these were almost too soft.

It was our first meal of the vacation. It would get better.

5.) PLACE: The Paper Canoe, Duck, North Carolina

MEAL: Appetizer – Chef’s Lobster salad. Entrée – Oven-roasted chicken thighs with a pan sauce demi-glaze, seasoned green beans and three cheese macaroni and cheese. Dessert – Coconut crème brulee.

My wife and I found this place by chance on a drive up the island. The name (seriously, The Paper Canoe is a great name for either a restaurant or a publishing company) caught our eye and the menu hooked us. Though, admittedly, it was a little pricey when it came to the entrées.

With the wallet in mind, I turned my sights to the Chef’s Lobster Salad (pictured below), which was solid. Great texture, sweet flavor.

Then the oven-roasted chicken (good price for the portion) partly because, also, I was getting a little tired of seafood. The green beans were nothing short of perfect. Seasoned with parmesan cheese in generous chunks. The three cheese mac-and-cheese was great because, well, it’s not tough to make good mac-and-cheese if you pile on the good cheeses. In this case, they seemed like parmesan, provolone and Swiss.

But the chicken itself was bland. The demi glaze saved it somewhat with a sweet tanginess to it. Maybe that’s what the chef was going for. But it wasn’t something I was interested in.

The dessert made it all better though (thanks to my wife’s mother ordering it and splitting it with me.) The candied sugar on top gave way to a great coconut creaminess that was helped by the whipped cream — but what doesn’t get a boost from whipped cream?

Overall, the meal was basic, but the flavors, however simple, weren’t executed properly.

4.)  PLACE: Outer Banks Brewing Station, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

MEAL: Shrimp Po-Boy and fries with a flight of four beers.

In all honesty, this meal was about the beers. OBBS is the first wind-powered brewery in the nation and there’s always something cool about visiting the place where something “first” occurred — which is also probably why it’s a quarter-mile from the Wright Brothers Memorial Museum and Park in Kitty Hawk.

The meal started with the flight — light to dark, Olsche Kolsche, Lemongrass Wheat Ale, Naked Saison, Shipwreck Porter. All great beers in their own right, all made by harnessing the wind gusts the nearby Atlantic Ocean has to offer (which are gathered by a 93-foot turbine, the tallest structure on the island.)

The Po-Boy was as good as expected. The shrimp was fried and in a huge portion, with the garlic aioli mayo (the green sauce you see below) just added to the flavor. The cabbage portion was a bit heavy, but nothing I couldn’t scrape off. The hoagie roll held it all together and the juices stayed inside the bun, helping get the full taste.

Yes, it was about the beer. But it wasn’t all about  the beer at the end. And I got a sweet shirt.

3.) PLACE: The Fat Tuna Grill, Williamsburg, Virginia

MEAL: Shrimp and cheese grits with Tasso gravy.

This meal set off our trip. We stayed a night in the Virginia bay area, taking in Colonial Williamsburg on the Fourth of July and trying to find a good dinner spot. My wife found the Fat Tuna Grill and although the name was intriguing, the food was better.

Shrimp and grits is a southern staple, but it gets better as you get nearer to the ocean in the southeastern United States. If done right, science (probably) has proven a man can survive on alone for six years. Though that’s just a rough estimate.

I liken grits in America to risotto in Italy. The dish has to be cooked perfectly to work. If undercooked, the grits can be hard. Undercooked? Grits are soupy. Fat Tuna got them perfect. Mixed with the right amount of cheese and these are some grits that would be in my Top 5 all time (nothing tops my Nanny’s grits, though. Ever.) The shrimp was thick and lightly-seasoned.With the cheese grits mixing so well with the shrimp, there was no real need for excess spices.

The Tasso gravy was basically a dipping sauce for the shrimp, which I eventually mixed into the grits and provided a tart zing to add to the thick zest of the grits.

Good culinary experiences can be simple sometimes. This was one of those times.

2.) PLACE: Central City Café, Huntington, West Virginia

MEAL: Whatta Burger — Cheeseburger with mushrooms, bacon and provolone cheese.

If you know me, you know I have a slight obsession with Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. When my wife, Rachael, discovered that on the way home from Outer Banks there was a diner that had been featured on the show, we had to stop (it helped that it was right off Interstate 64 near the Kentucky-West Virginia border).

Central City Café is a quaint 20-or-so table spot in what seemed to be old downtown Huntington, with a number of small antique shops around it.

The inside of the restaurant was filled with various items marking the history of the town, from Marshall University to Army regiments from the area. It was fun to see, even though the café had only been around since 1993.

The food though, took my mind off anything else about the area the second it arrived. I got the Whatta Burger — your basic giant cheeseburger with mushrooms, provolone cheese and bacon — and judging by what you see in the photo below, you can guess it filled my stomach easily. The burger was perfectly cooked at medium (best for ground beef, I think) and all the juices were captured by the vegetables and bun.

It made for a happier trip across Kentucky back to the homeland. And was a perfect end to my own culinary adventure.

1.) PLACE: Tortuga’s Lie

MEAL: Pork Antonio, parmesan-seasoned green beans and garlic mashed potatoes

This was far-and-away the best piece of culinary erotica I had on our trip. I had never heard of the restaurant before my wife informed me that I was meeting her and her family there 30 minutes before getting there.

After finding to place (GPS took me to a totally different address) we survived an hour-long wait to get in, at which point I discovered this would be, at the time, our second spot where Guy Fieri graced the door and the kitchen.

Of course, that factoid became irrelevant once I got my order of Pork Antonio in front of me.

The bone-in pork chop was perfectly cooked — medium, the best way to treat white meat — and seasoned so well that to touch it with salt, ketchup or any other type of sauce or added spice would be a crime. The green beans were so good that less than a week later, I would attempt to replicate them in my own kitchen. I failed. As for the garlic mashed potatoes: creamy, well-seasoned. Everything they should be.

I could sit here and say that all the meals I enjoyed were great, but that would be a lie. And given the name of the restaurant from which I got my best dinner, that would be sacrilege. I can’t tell a lie about a meal that was so good.

A special shout-out to Duck Donuts, our first meal upon arrival in Duck, N.C. Sure they’re simple breakfast food, but these were arguably the best doughnuts I’ve ever had — warm, fresh dough and creamy frosting.

If you’re in the area, wait in line, order a pack of six with a maple bacon glaze as part of that and thank me later.

 

 

Just add lime

Skirt steak never looked so good.

After such a long absence on a  topic such as food, it only  makes sense to come back with a bang.

A local group that specializes in enhancing both ethnic and American food recently opened a Mexican-based restaurant. The name, Local Lime, obviously gives one something to expect. All the food comes accompanied with a lime wedge. The one basic tool for the meal.

Myself, Rachael and three friends found our way there recently after the power went out in the movie theater we were in. Don’t worry, Silver Linings Playbook cast and crew, we saw you later. Four stars out of five, I say.

The atmosphere at Local Lime is anything but ethnic based. And I think that lends itself to the guests. You hear the name, then walk in, and both refuse to show their hand. Then you look at the menu.

The menu is based with a Mexican feel. Various seafood, chicken, steak and vegetarian options await the diner. I myself took in a Sol — a solid Mexican beer, about the equivalent of a Bud Light, really — and, after sampling a group order of various salsas and guacamole, order the Grilled Skirt Steak Taco Plate.

Three soft shell tacos came to me on a rectangular wooden plate. Surrounding the succulent cuts of meat (rare, by the way, though they don’t ask how you want them cooked. But trust me, it won’t matter) was a healthy dose of rice, cilantro, onion, manchego and chili sauce. I threw in my two sides as beans with bacon bits and lime rice (see the whole lime connection?). The beans, which as some might know, I’m not a huge fan of, were great, especially with bacon. The texture, which is more my dislike than the taste, was light. The lime rice was just so good. I ended up putting a ton of it on the tacos. Sweet and soft. The rice was cooked perfectly.

The steak was tender and the bits were so small that it didn’t matter the way it matters when biting into an actual steak. The chili sauce livens up the taste buds and makes sure you want more. The tacos came in threes for all us who ordered them, which was enough to eat, but still left you wanting the sides, which is perfect.

I’ve always been intrigued by places like Local Lime, from the ambiance to food, you have nothing to expect, because nothing is shown.

The lime doesn’t hurt.

Emptying out my beer odyssey.

-In recent weeks, I’ve made it a point to find some new beers, so here are some the tasty brews I recommend after trying them throughout the past two weeks.

Hog Haus’ Abbey Road Belgian Dubbel.

Brewed in the friendly confines of Fayetteville’s own Hog Haus Brewery. The spice notes are really sweet, but the finish goes well with red meat.

Looks like a cider. Tastes like victory.

Also recommended from Hog Haus, Woodstock Wheat.

Bought a growler of it and the picture of it states that it looks pretty much like every wheat you’ve ever seen, so why take a picture of the beer itself. Really light taste. Find out more about these brews here.

Hogs everywhere.

Scrimshaw Pilsner, via The Joint in North Little Rock. Brewed by the North Coast Brewing Company, it’s brewed with Munich malt and, Hallertauer and Tettnang hops. Pretty solid to sip on while you’re being dragged to a play by your wife.

Mendocino Oatmeal Stout.

Making me a believer.

A California-based brewery, Mendocino has me coming into the light as far as dark brews are concerned. I’ve never been able ot handle them, but the best part about this particular oatmeal stout is that it eliminates the one thing I loathe about most dark brews, the sour-as-hell aftertaste. It’s totally smooth going down, It’s brewed with a “massive quantities of oats” and generous amounts of hops from the United Kingdom.

Every beer also comes with this helpful direction, probably designed for the fifth beer in a six pack.

Thanks.

Great month for my pallet. Not such a great month for my liver.

Kabobbling it.

-The word kabob just sounds weird. In fact, the spell check on this blog tells me it’s not a real word at all.

I’ve always associated kabobs with easy grilling. Throw a bunch of veggies and meat on a stick, and let the grill do the work. Not much creativity to it.

So naturally, I had to try it.

My creativity blew it.

Using some beef tips normally suited for stew and the skewers we own, I chopped up some mushrooms (which were insanely too hard to place on a skewer), green peppers and onions to attempt my first kabob.

Beef tips for stew. I beg to differ.

The seasonings was a relatively simple one: cumin, salt, black pepper, garlic and lemon pepper.

The fun part was the assembly. A tip: NEVER cut a mushroom in four parts for a skewer, I ended up with more pieces off the skewer than actually on it.

A few turns on the Weber and it was done.

“If finding a way to make creative kabobs gets me home to my wife, then, that’s my mission.” -Tom Hanks, probably.

At some point, I’m going to figure out a creative way to make these boring concoctions.

Seasonals. The reason God makes the temperature change and all that.

-Tapping into my inner beer geek isn’t easy. I’ve had to try new things that I don’t normally, and waste a lot of money on brews I’ve ended up hating.

Something that’s tough to hate is pretty much any beer Sam Adams puts out. The Summer Ale is no exception.

The spice note is amazing. Lemon zest and grains of paradise are something that you don’t taste much in beers, but they make it work. Best part is that it goes with any traditional summer meal. Hot dogs, brats, burgers, corn, etc. I found this out this Memorial Day weekend, trying all four out with one, or two.

From Bawston!

Find out more on this delectable ale here.

New Belgium Brewery makes something other than Fat Tire?

-It’s a question I asked myself when I saw it’s summer seasonal beer, Somersault.

The answer: Yes, they do. And it’s good.

It’s an ale, with an amber color, and has a smooth taste for 130 calories, it’s not watered down.

You can definitely taste the pale and caramel malts, something that would go amazing with a well-cooked steak. Seriously, it might make your head explode.

The sweet aftertaste comes from the ginger and apricot, which for me, is really important. I hate sour aftertastes. I now understand how big of a wuss I sounded like with that comment.

No, you’re not trippin’, that label doesn’t say Fat Tire. And I’m glad it doesn’t.

You can read more about the beer here.

Bluegrass Brewing Company, the happiest place in Louisville.

-In our many trips home, Rachael and I have made the Bluegrass Brewing Company, or BBC, as it’s known to the adoring alcoholic masses, our spot to meet friends because 1.) it’s a well-known restaurant and 2.) the beer could make a priest not go to confessional on Sunday.

The more I try the beers there, the more I transition to just liking all beers. I always considered myself a “lights guy” for my love of blondes, wheats and ambers. After a few dark brews at BBC, I’m drawn more to whatever they put in front of me.

The Summer Wheat is great with any light dish. Seafood or pasta.

I just couldn’t wait to take the picture. Sorry for partying.

The Dark Saison was the first dark brew I’ve tried from BBC. A ton of malty accents in this one. I just kept thinking “burger beer” as I drank it, which took all of 30 seconds (kidding!).

It’s so good. Once it hits your lips, it’s so good.

Add BBC to the list of places Little Rock needs to add. Yesterday.

A dub for a beer I can’t drink yet.

-Thanks to my buddy Sean Walsh, I’ve become somewhat of a beer geek. He’s my no. 1 source for all things beer. He’s my CNN for BEER.

He recently told me about DarkLord  Day in Chicago. The one day of the year where Three Floyds Brewery of Munster, Ind. sells it’s DarkLord Imperial Russian Stout in Chicagoland stores. He went, he saw, he bought….he told me, he sold me one.

Currently sitting in the back of my closet, waiting to be consumed.

The most painstakingly cruel but necessary about truly authentic craft beer is that it gets better with a little age. So with that in mind, I stuck it in a dark place in my apartment — get your mind out of the gutter — and will wait a few months to a year to finally partake in the sweet flavor that comes with this purchase.

This damn stuff better turn me into Brad Pitt. Or at least give me the alcohol tolerance of a Russian cosmonaut.

Yet another craft beer.

-Blame it on the order of things. I’ve been on a beer binge lately (once again, don’t judge).

On a trip to ZaZa’s recently, I took a BottleTree Blonde off the shelf and consumed. This had a weird taste for a blonde, or at least what was called a blonde.

It didn’t really jive with the pizza we ate — a meat lovers — which I didn’t expect. It’s bottled in South Carolina, and we all know that part of the South does things differently. By differently, I mean weird.

Not bad by itself, though.

A weird-tasting blonde from South Carolina. Sounds like a song title.

 

Summer booze, makes me feel fine…

-Seasonal beers, for me, are a recent acquired taste. I have a few friends who turn me on to certain brews for certain times (shout-out to Sean Walsh) and most of the time, they’re right.

Never do I expect that to be my wife.

Rachael got me a new — well, new to me — beer on Tuesday night, Shock Top Lemon Shandy.

If you’ve ever had a Shock Top, just sub in a lemon taste for the normal full citrus flavor, and you’ve arrived. It’s definitely not as lemon-y as you’d expect, but the brew definitely goes with any organic meal, possibly vegetable-oriented, or  a fish or chicken dish.

Some say light beers are for pansies. I say you take up way too much time thinking about how manly your beer should make you.

Good. Stuff.