My family and I spent a few nights in Elizabeth City, NC before heading for a week at the Outer Banks on a large family vacation. My favorite meal of the entire trip was courtesy of Hoppin’ Johnz, our first night in Elizabeth City. This restaurant was just a few blocks from our rental home in downtown Elizabeth City. We arrived just before their dinner rush on a Friday evening and were immediately seated at a high top near the bar. Soon after the host was letting other parties know that it was going to be a 30-40 minute wait for a table.

Inside

To start we ordered the fried green tomatoes ($12). The server kindly let us know that the serving size was 3 and offered that we could add another to our order so each member of our family could have their own. There was no way my son was going to try these, so we just stuck with the standard order. Hoppin’ Johnz is self-described as new south cuisine, and I think that description fits it well.  These tomatoes were fried in cornmeal and topped with country ham, pimento cheese, and pepper jelly. I have never seen fried green tomatoes presented this way, but they were extremely good!

Fried Green Tomatoes

For dinner, I had the heritage farms pork barbecue topped with new south slaw and eastern NC barbecue sauce ($11 with choice of side). The pork was full of a nice smokey flavor, while the new south slaw had a welcome addition of sweet peppers that really made it stand out. On the side, I enjoyed the Brussels sprout slaw which was mostly sweet in flavor thanks to the dried cranberry addition. It was a great meal and a ton of food for the price tag!

Pork Barbecue Sandwich

My wife enjoyed the classic Chesapeake crab cake sandwich, which is a blue crab cake, that was topped with lettuce, tomato, and remoulade ($14 with choice of side). She commented that the crab cake was one of the best she had. And she also enjoyed the side of sweet potato fries dusted with cinnamon sugar and served with apple butter.

Crab Cake Sandwich

The restaurant is totally kid-friendly. I can’t remember exactly what our’s had, but I think there was at least pasta and a burger on the menu. That’s what I remember my kids enjoying anyway. Overall this is a wonderful place for lunch or dinner and has to be among the best in Elizabeth City.