Tiki bar
I am loving the Tiki Bar at the Ocean Grill in Carolina Beach. I have been hearing good things about the place for a while now, but have only recently ventured down there to check it out. Ian, Eli and I went last Sunday for lunch and were surprised and delighted to find a band just setting up to play. I was even more delighted when I realized the band, Steve Todd and Friends, were the same guys I had seen playing at Mellow Mushroom some time ago — good guys, and good music.
Back to the Tiki Bar. We sat in the covered porch area next to a giant, open window where a friendly lizard kept popping in to gawk at us and where I could see the choppy, blue ocean through a field of swaying sea oats. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, which I never do, except that I just learned from the Corksuckers, my wine club buddie s, that Sauvignon Blanc is one of the best wines to have with shellfish. And, let me tell you, its true. I had a crunchy (not wilted) green salad with big, juicy, grilled shrimp with just the right amount of char to go with my wine and I was in heaven. Ian had catfish fingers or fritters(?) and a soft-shell crab sandwich both of which he quite enjoyed, while Eli had his first ever corndog. Imagine his joy when he bit through the crispy, sweet exterior of corn bread and realized he was eating meat on a stick!
Can’t wait to go back and sit out on the pier at the official little Tiki Bar hut and drink.oh, I dunno, something fruity and tiki bar-ish.
Ciao
[where: 1211 S. Lake Park Blvd. Carolina Beach, NC 28428]
The Tiki Bar is great but don’t go in the summer. Mindle and I went one day last summer and stood at the bar for about 10 minutes without being acknowledged. Bad radio music blared loudly (actually commercials for a good part of the time we there), and the bar was teeming with poseurs. We left sooner than we wanted to. Off-season is much better.
Everything’s better down here in the dirty south off-season, if you ask me
Just added ratings stars and placed this in Reviews as well. -ed.