As we pulled into the Outer Bank to start our week long vacation, we stopped for lunch in Nags Head on our way to Kill Devil Hills. Our first couple of stops were only serving breakfast or brunch. We moved on to Yellow Submarine and found our lunch just after 12:30 on a Sunday.

Inside

Our table for ten was ready immediately and many of the other tables were also occupied or would soon be filled with hungry patrons. The long bar stayed empty but would make a good spot for a quick dinner if the tables were all full.

Chicken Philly

My wife and I split the chicken Philly, grilled chicken cooked with white onions, sauteed green peppers, and mushrooms. This is topped with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and white American cheese, served with potato chips (6-inch: $8.49, 12-inch: $13.49). Overall this is a very filling sandwich and the taste was good. There is plenty of cheese on top, which is a requirement for a solid Philly.

Rip Curls

The start of the meal were the rip curl appetizer we shared with the table. These are pizza dough brushed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, Italian seasonings, and stuffed with Mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, sliced into pinwheels then baked (12 count for $17.48). These are awesome and highly recommended! A smaller 6 count is available for a smaller group.

Overall the prices are a little high, but that often comes with tourist destinations. Our service was excellent and the food was good.

Another dining stop we had during our brief stay in Raleigh was at the Raleigh Beer Garden. We actually had tried to go elsewhere, but a popup storm had us quickly changing plans to find a large indoor space for dinner. This place is so big that our party of ten was able to be seated right away just past 5 on a Saturday. We had a cool table with a fake tree growing out of the middle of it.

Tree Table

There are two floors inside, an outdoor rooftop bar, and a large patio on the ground level. They claim to have the worlds largest draft beer selection, and there are plenty of choices for every style. The full list is online and includes over 300 options. Some of my wife’s selections turned out to be pretty expensive, so watch what you order as prices are also listed.

Inside

The food menu is not nearly as long as the beer list, but there is a wide variety of apps, wings, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and platters. I went with the North Carolina pulled pork sandwich with pickle on a brioche bun. This was served with fries and coleslaw ($10). This was a lot of food for a fair price as the sandwich was piled high and the fry cup seemed to be never ending. The taste was good and seemed fairly true to North Carolina style.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

My wife went with the firecracker shrimp platter with fries and coleslaw ($13). I think she jumped the gun on the shrimp order and should have waited until we were closer to the ocean to enjoy. She thought that these were not very fresh and she commented that she should have ordered something else.

Firecracker Shrimp Platter

The kids enjoyed their burger and chicken tender meals ($5 with fries). Overall I was impressed by the beer selection and for the most part the food was enjoyable. The pork was a popular item in our group, as was the brisket and burgers.

Our first vacation of the summer took us to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. On our way there we stopped for a night in Raleigh. After driving through the night to get there we immediately headed for breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Cafe, a southern chain of roughly 20 restaurants through 4 states.

Inside

The parking lot was crowded upon our arrival and the restaurant appeared fairly small from the outside. Our group of 10 was told that it would only be 15 minutes wait for a table, and it turned out to be even less than that. The inside is much more spacious than the outside led me to believe.

Biscuits

After placing our drink orders, plates of warm biscuits and apple butter were dropped off for our table. The biscuits were light and fluffy and the apple butter added some great flavor. Our group also enjoyed a selection of mixed drinks including the manmosa with vodka, blue moon beer, and orange juice.

Biscuits & Gravy

For breakfast I went with more biscuits, but this time they came covered in homemade chicken sausage gravy ($5.99). I almost always order biscuits and gravy if it is on the menu, and these did not disappoint. The chicken gravy was a little different than the more traditional pork sausage, but overall I enjoyed it.

Grits

I also had a cup of grits on the side ($2.69). They claim these to be award-winning creamy dreamy grits, and they certainly were creamy. Normally when I order grits I enjoy them with cheddar and jalapeno, so these were a little bland for my tastes. Others in the group enjoyed them more than I did. Though overall we all had a really good breakfast.

Our last meal in Colorado was a pleasant surprise. We were staying one night in Stapleton before a morning flight the following day. After searching for nearby restaurants that are good with kids, we settled on Next Door Eatery.

Inside

Our arrival before six was great as the restaurant was nearly empty and it also happened to be happy hour! The inside was very clean and still looked new for the most part. The house made fried pickles and pepperoncinis were a great start to our meal ($4 during happy hour, $5.95 otherwise). I’m a huge fan of fried pickles but I don’t recall having fried pepperoncinis before. I really enjoyed the addition of these. Neither of them begged for the dipping sauce that was provided as they had a great flavor on their own.

Pickles & Pepperoncinis

For dinner I went with Merlin’s Carolina pork with mustard BBQ, cole slaw, crispy onions, and house pickles ($11.95). The sandwich was piled high with well flavored pork. It was very filling and came with a side of chips and simple salad.

Merlin’s Carolina Pork

As good as my dinner was I was pretty jealous of my wife’s order of the ancho chile chicken bowl with brown rice, black beans, corn, fresh pico de gallo, tortilla strips, lime creama, and cilantro ($13.95). The flavor combination in this bowl was outstanding, similar to a taco style bowl from other places, but the ingredients were fresher and the serving size was huge.

Ancho Chile Chicken Bowl

Our kids enjoyed the cheeseburger slider and the kids bowl, though my son really wanted fries with his burger, which are not available. Next time I would try to talk him into trying the crispy smashers. Overall we really enjoyed the food, service, and quality from Next Door Eatery and would definitely visit again.

Before and after our ski trip to Copper Mountain we spent some time in Denver. Upon our arrival we met some friends at the zoo and then met even more friends at the Lowry Beer Garden for lunch. One a nice sunny Denver day this is the perfect place. The outdoor patio is huge and lined with plenty of picnic style tables. The beer selection was good, a kids menu is available, and food comes out fast!

Outside

For lunch I chose the pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, and pickles on a cornmeal Kaiser bun with a side of Carolina slaw ($9). This was messy but tasted quite good. The side of slaw was immediately dumped on my sandwich and the flavors melted together perfectly. I also stole a bite of a Cubano sandwich ($10) which was equally as good.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

The prices are a bit high since sides are not included, but who can complain when you can get a side of fried pickles for $5! This was more than enough to share and came served with dipping sauce. Our kids enjoyed the grilled cheese with fries and drink for $6.50. Overall we enjoyed our visit and would not hesitate to swing by again on another sunny visit to Denver.

Fried Pickles

I was recently given some free meal coupons to use at the Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers location on Red Bank. Started in 2002, the chain has grown coast-to-coast and serves made to order food without a long wait. The Red Bank location has been open since October 2016.

Outside

There is a drive through window, but I chose to get my to-go order from the counter to check out the entire space. The dining area is very large and customers flooded through the doors just past noon on a Friday to get a quick lunch.

Inside

I placed my order, grabbed my cup and filled a cup of ice tea. Within a couple of minutes my order number was called and I was on my way.

Inside

Initially I was a little hesitant to give them a try as most of the menu focuses on steakburgers. But I decided to give it a try anyway. Before I get to my sandwich, I must note that the fries are excellent! They also have their own fry sauce, which seems to combine mayonnaise and ketchup with some signature spices. Make sure you get some of this!

Fries

As I don’t eat burgers I was left picking between the veggie burger and the grilled chicken sandwich. I went with the veggie burger and was presently surprised. The patty is made mostly of black beans, and though mine seemed to be a touch over cooked, the texture and flavor were good. It came topped with cheese, a full slice of onion, Freddy’s sauce, lettuce, and tomato on a toasted bun.

Veggie Burger

I look forward to another visit to Freddy’s. Next time I’ll be sure to take the kids as they will love the burger, grilled cheese, and chicken tender options. I also need to try some of the frozen custard. I’m sure I will have plenty of opportunities to do so as they are located just down the street from our swim club.

Good Fellows has been operating in the Anderson Towne Center since 2004. I’m in the area at least one a month and often pass by but had never walked inside until my family and I were in the area at lunch time. It always looked so dark from the outside I assumed it was more of a bar than a restaurant. But it turns out they are open for dinner every day of the week and lunch on the weekends.

Outside

We were seated near one of the front windows and there was actually a surprising amount of natural light entering the space. I think that the red walls and dark ceiling make it look much darker from the outside than it truly feels inside.

Inside

After placing our orders, we found a few games between our table and the entrance to help pass the time. A couple of arcade games were available, but the Foosball table proved to be the most fun!

Games

One of our kids is a pretty picky eater and unfortunately decided he didn’t want pizza. We ended up with the Italian cheese stix with the sauce on the side ($5.99). I would have preferred one of other appetizers such as the pepperoni balls or the veggie skins, but these weren’t bad.

Italian Cheese Stix

My wife and I decided to try a couple of the signature pizza offerings but splitting the pizza in half. Louis’s love features olive oil, fresh garlic, artichoke hearts, banana peppers, black olives, and goat cheese. While the BBQ Grippo is topped with BBQ sauce, chicken, bacon, onion, cheese, and BBQ Grippos chips. Both were $10.49 for a 10 inch all the way up to $20.99 for 16 inches.

Pizza

I love BBQ Grippos and that half was an easy decision for us. I thought the Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce complimented the spicier chip topping really well. This is a must try! Louis’s love was much different, a more traditional pizza combination and was also good. Good Fellows has a couple of other unique signature pizzas include lemon pepper chicken and chicken fajita. Overall the food was good, service was quick and friendly, and the value was just right.

There aren’t a ton of restaurants at the base of Copper Mountain, but even so there are some that we will likely not return to. Casa Sanchez is one of those on our skip list. The enchiladas presentation was pretty sloppy and the flour tortillas were disappointing. Overall the taste was pretty typical of your average Mexican restaurant.

Enchiladas

The burrito was huge, probably enough for two to split, but the taste was again very average. The sauce on top was sub-par, and probably should have been replaced with the somewhat better tasting green chile sauce.

Burrito

One thing that was really odd were all of the water cups lined up across a counter. It shouldn’t be hard to fill these cups on demand for your customers. It wasn’t even very crowded, so this seemed excessive and bordering on unsanitary. We will likely not return.

Water Cups

Another spot in Copper Mountain that I’m a fan of is Eagle BBQ. They have been located in the center village since 2016 and server up what they call Colorado BBQ, a mixture of the traditional American styles.

Inside

Orders are placed at the counter and there is plenty of seating available for groups of any size. There is also a small bar with a good selection of local craft beers and a full bar. Kids plates are available and include a burger, hot dog, chicken tenders, or mac and cheese.

Pulled Pork Platter

I went with the slow smoked tender pulled pork platter ($16) served with a choice of side (bbq beans for me), thick cut white bread, and a fountain drink or PBR. The side of beans was large and of good flavor. The meat was tender and had a nice smokey flavor.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

My wife had a similar order but went with the pulled pork sandwich with side and same drink choices ($15). The portion size of pork seemed to be pretty much the same, so maybe the sandwich meal is the way to go, unless you are going to try more than one of the meats offered. They do offer brisket, turkey, ribs, and sausage in addition to the pulled pork we tried. Overall a good and quick meal option in Copper.

We spent last week in Copper Mountain, Colorado for our now annual spring break ski trip. We stayed in the same condo building as last year and stuck to many of the same ski slopes. However one thing did change, the newly opened Ten Mile Tavern quickly became our go to spot for dinner.

Inside

If you are familiar with Copper, Endo’s Adrenaline Cafe is no more and Ten Mile Tavern has taken it’s place. While we enjoyed Endo’s a time or two, I think the new space is a tremendous upgrade. For starters there are 20 beers on tap at the newly rebuilt bar!

Patio

A variety of low and high top tables are available throughout the segmented space. One spot in particular would be great in the summer as garage doors can open up to a large patio when the weather is warm.

Brussels Sprouts

On our first visit my wife and I started with the Brussels sprouts with bacon, lemon, and Cajun spice served with a spicy aioli ($10). Dishes like these are why we have become such a big fan of Brussels sprouts. They were tenderly oven roasted and seasoned to perfection.

Mini Corndogs

My kids enjoyed the corn dog offering on both occasions ($9 with choice of side). The price was high for this item, but it is on mountain dining after-all.

Peak One Pie

The peak one pie features house tomato sauce, bacon, pepperoni, bell peppers, Mozzarella, and goat cheeses ($14). Though the menu says these are personal size, the thicker style crust is filling and the pizza can easily be shared with the addition of an appetizer or salad.

Beer Battered Cauliflower

On our second visit my wife and I started with the beer battered cauliflower in 10 Barrel Pub Beer tempura batter, then tossed in house buffalo sauce and served over a bed of pickled cucumbers, celery, Arcadian greens, and Cotija cheese ($10). As much as I loved the Brussels sprouts, the cauliflower was my favorite thing we ordered on either visit. This is a must try dish!

The Hogback Sandwich

I also sampled the hogback sandwich on our second visit, which is sort of a Cuban style sandwich. It combines spiral cut ham, pulled pork, Swiss cheese, and mayo-mustard relish pressed on a ciabatta roll ($14). The relish was more of a sauce and was actually served on the side, which I used dip my sandwich in. The meat was tasty and the bread was soft of lightly toasted. A solid choice for dinner and Ten Mile Tavern is as good as it gets in Copper.