Island Deliveries

Please join us Saturday, June 20th for a day of fun including artist exhibitions & presentations, live music, food & drink, and so much more! Festivities begin at 2pm and will go on until 8 pm this Saturday at Stowe on Twelve shopping center at the north end of Hatteras Village. Please call Kaia’s Kitchen at 252-986-2024 for more details. See you there!!

Open mic night starts this Thursday, May 28th 2009 at Kaia’s Kitchen & Market starting at 7pm and ending at 11pm. Drinks and dinner served. This will continue every Thursday throughout the summer. Hosted by Mike & special guests. All musicians and music lovers welcome. Please call 252-986-2024 for details.

Kaia’s Kitchen & Market will be serving up fresh sushi Tuesday, May 26th from 5pm - 8pm! This will continue every Tuesday same time, same place throughout the rest of the summer. Come check us out! Call 252-986-2024 for more details or visit us on the web at www.kaiaskitchen.com.

If you’re in Hatteras Village for Thanksgiving vacation & looking for sushi, Kaia’s Kitchen & Market in the Stowe on Twelve shopping center is the place to be from 5pm - 9pm Tuesday evening! 252-986-2024

Kaia’s Kitchen & Market, formerly Martha Jane’s Kitchen has completed the transition into being its own entity. We bought it in June (on my daughter’s due date), and have operated through the latter part of the season as Martha Jane’s, but have now hoisted the new signs! We will be open 7 days a week throughout the winter only closing briefly for Thanksgiving & Christmas. Sunday brunch will continue throughout as will Sushi every Tuesday evening. We are open Monday through Saturday 8-4 & Sunday 10-2. Please give us a try! We take pride in serving the freshest food including gourmet sandwiches & wraps, homemade soups, and a variety of salads & spreads. We also offer fresh deli platters for your holiday party! We are very excited, despite the winter, to continue business throughout the year and hope to see you soon!

The holiday kickoff weekend for Hatteras Island has arrived and with a steady flow of traffic has inundated HWY 12 since yesterday afternoon. Throughout the evening and into the morning the population seems to have quadrupled instantaneously. It’s a little overcast, but it seems this will pass and the rest of the weekend promises to be sunny and warm. With temperatures hovering in the low 70s, we should see an increase by Tuesday, and it appears that spring has finally revealed itself. All things In Hatteras should be open and in full swing this weekend. Refer to the next post for all of the Memorial week happenings!

Live Music

Breakwater Restaurant - Hatteras Village - Sunday, May 25 7pm - Jamie & Mark (classic rock) Outside Tiki Bar

Teach’s Lair Restaurant - Hatteras Village - Saturday, May 24 8:30pm-12:00pm - Dreadnecks (reggae)

Sandbar & Grille - Buxton- Friday, May 23 10:00pm-2:00am - Karaoke

-Saturday, May 24 10:00pm-2:00am - No Dreads (punk/ska)

Finnegan’s - Buxton- Saturday, May 24 7:30pm-11:00pm - Chicamacomico (classic rock)

Froggy Dog - Avon - Every Thursday, Friday, & Saturday 9pm-1am - Karaoke

Fish House Restaurant - Buxton - Every Wednesday 7pm-12am- Open Mic

Dirty Dicks Crabhouse - Hatteras Village - Every Thursday 7 pm - Open Mic

Annual Outer Banks Beach Music Festival - Manteo - Sunday, May 25 11am-6:30pm

Other Island Activities

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - Buxton - Open 9am-4:30pm

Chicamacomico Lightsaving Station - Rodanthe

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum - Hatteras Village - Open M-F 10am-4pm

Maybe it’s the beach closures. Or possibly the yo-yoing weather patterns. The gas prices could have an effect. There are so many different factors probably attributing to the seemingly slow start to the season. I worked Friday night, and never got a table in the restaurant until after 7:30. But, then I go to the grocery store on Sunday, and it’s packed! (Which, by the way, you can avoid the lines at the grocery stores and the unnecessary grief by having your groceries delivered..hint, hint..) I can’t figure it out. It’s even hard to gauge by the crowds on the beaches considering the people and cars are more concentrated now that there are less areas open to pedestrian and ORV traffic. Hatteras is in such a transition period. There are so many things going on on a national level as well, so it will be interesting to see how all of this mixes with the changes occurring on a community level. Time will tell, and Memorial Day is right around the corner. At that time we will more accurately be able to ascertain the effects of the beach closures, the gas prices, and various other things that have befallen us.

It seems there are an awful lot of new restaurants popping up around Hatteras Island. Not necessarily new restaurants, per se, but old restaurants changing or falling under new management. Hodad’s Cafe which has been a staple in Avon for quite a few years is now Avon Cafe. A group of us went to investigate the new spot… For anyone who had been to Hodad’s, you would remember the “surf decor.” The walls were covered with signed surfboards, surf pictures, and other various memorabilia. Those days are gone. At the present time, the walls are bare, but I would guess that some sort of decor is in the works for the summer. The menu has also been completely changed. We ordered the crab dip, kung pao beef, and the eggplant bruschetta for appetizers. The flavor and presentation were excellent! I was not so impressed by my meal, a warm potato and arugula salad. The salad consisted of arugula, roasted red peppers, and shoestring french fries tossed in a lavender vinaigrette. I thought it to be a bit plain, and I didn’t care for the bitter vinaigrette. A friend had the ribs and said that although they were a bit tough they had a good flavor. Another member of our party did, however, highly recommend the Chicago dog, a hot dog topped with sliced tomato, a pickle spear, mustard, relish, and onion. Overall, I would say that while the appetizer’s sizzled, the meal fizzled. So-so on the food, great service, and so far no ambiance, but we will definitely give the place another try.

It was a little slower getting off the island today, and it’s beginning to feel like the summer season is upon us. The speed limits dropped yesterday to 35 slowing traffic down a bit through the villages. There was also quite a bit of work being done as crews are still cleaning up after last week’s storm. Just south of the Oregon Inlet bridge and just north of Rodanthe one lane of the highway was restricted as sand was being pushed off the road. There was also a small stretch of the Bonner Bridge where only one lane remains open as they continue work on the bridge. Most of the water has disappeared from the roads less a few puddles around the Pea Island area. Please drive slowly though these areas as this water is salt water and can potentially cause damage to your vehicle or to those vehicles passing beside you. Many don’t realize the detriment they may be causing, and it is a sure fire way to anger some locals and others who are “in the know”. (It’s also not a pleasant experience to be enjoying a drive with your windows down when someone flies past you through a puddle of water.) By the time I returned to the island, it seemed that most of the sand had been cleared from the roads so hopefully traffic will be alleviated for the weekend influx of visitors. There was long line of cars sporting surf racks dotting the road at the north end of Rodanthe, and I noticed tripods set up on the dunes. I imagine the swell must have been really good to see so much traffic on a Thursday morning. Despite the work being done and the speed limits dropping, it seems that traffic is becoming more dense in general easing us us into the full swing of summer!