Originally posted by Lighthouser:
T.L's is one of my favorites on Roanoke Island. They have the best fried oysters anywhere! I'm down in that area so often, I know a lot of the eating hang outs that the locals like. If the locals go there, you know it's going to be good, plus, it helps contend with the off season problem of so many being closed.
Like you, I do not care for the Core Sound clam chowder. I was actually served that for breakfast - at Core Sound on Harkers Island. Yuck! It was good they also offered bisquits and gravy.
Unfortunately we didn't know about the fried oysters, which Bob loves, but he tends to be somewhat unadventurous when eating in restaurants for the first time.
I actually like Core Sound clam chowder OK - I just like the New England variety better. I had it twice - once on Roanoke Island, and once in Cedar Island after we got off the Ocracoke ferry.
We landed right after noon and right there at the ferry dock was a motel and restaurant.. I thought we should eat while we had the chance. Bob said he thought that we'd probably go around the corner and find a McDonalds.
But I prevailed. There seemed to me mostly local folks that were eating there. They didn't have much that was suitable for lunch (it wasn't expensive, it was just that everything was a full dinner type thing - no hamburgers or sandwiches), so I got Core Sound clam chowder and Bob had she crab soup ($2.50 each), and he got chicken bites (appetizer) for $4.95 and couldn't eat them all, and I had the all you can eat salad bar for $5.95. The clam chowder was like the one I got at Roanoke Island, except it had a lot more clams and no bacon. It was still a clear broth with potato cubes in it.
And I was right - there were no fast food places for the next 40 miles.
Originally posted by Lighthouser:
Here's a name of a smaller place in VA that I lived for awhile (surely not long enough)- Gloucester. My office was in Ordinary, and my home was in Hayes, which was not far from the Coleman bridge over the York River. My home faced on Sarah's Creek. I'm betting you know the area, Rosalie.
Right. We've been to the area three times on the boat and in the 1960s I used to drive up Route 17 through Gloucester Courthouse. At that time, the road was one way on each side of a brick wall which enclosed the square the the courthouse and jail. The fact that the main US 17 has been routed elsewhere is probably good. We frequently saw evidence that not all the cars made the turn in good order.
In 1999, we went to Deltaville by boat, and friends of ours who lived there took us to the Blue Fin in Gloucester. Excellent dinner and not expensive. Good familiar service - the kind where the waitresses know the regulars. Kind of a diner type place. I had a broiled crab cake which was excellent (very lightly seasoned and mostly just crab meat) plus fried clams and crab legs, mac and cheese and stewed tomatoes and hush puppies for $13.95
In the fall of 2001 we went into the York River Yacht Haven and ate at the River's End restaurant Very popular locally, but way too expensive for what you get IMHO. Bob had she-crab soup and an appetizer, and I had the Blue Plate special, and we drank iced tea, and the bill was over $41.00.
In 2004, we went to the Severn River Marina off Mobjack Bay, and friends who have their boat in a private marina on Sarah Creek took us (via Ordinary) to Dolphin Cove Seafood & Oyster Bar. Paul (our friend) recommended that I get the scallops because they would be really fresh, and so I had the grilled sea scallops and jumbo shrimp in brown butter for $13.99. They were very good. I think Bob had steamed shrimp, and Paul or Barbara (his wife) had fried chicken and french fries.
