Morehead City

A Taste of Italy offers a real treat — authentic Italian food and continental cuisine right here on the Crystal Coast. Dinner is served with homemade pasta and breads. While there's a variety of options on the menu, folks come back time and time again for the veal you can cut with a fork. On- and off-premise catering is offered. The restaurant is open for dinner Monday through Saturday in season, with winter times varying.
 

Bistro By The Sea, or as locals call it, The Bistro, is a favorite for both food and hospitality. Regulars love the friendly service, excellent cuisine and distinctive presentations at The Bistro. Enjoy wonderful dinner entrees prepared using fresh vegetables, seafood and tasty cuts of beef. Seafood entrees vary nightly according to freshness and availability. In addition to seafood specialties, locals recommend the char-grilled filet mignon or prime rib or the liver in orange liqueur. We also like the pasta creations, such as cappellini with pesto, vegetables and scallops. The Bistro offers the freshest of seafoods and is a Carteret Catch participant. They also offer sushi and Japanese bento boxes. A favorite dessert is the mocha ice cream pie. Bistro By The Sea is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday and takes the month of January off. Reservations may be made for parties of six or more.
 

Café Zito
$$$-$$$$
105 South 11th St., Morehead City
(252) 726-6676

CC Ralwiggies is the place to go for a feel-good, and good for you, lunch. Described as a Vegetarian Playground, this is the place to go for healthy foods. Guests can enjoy a 50-plus item salad bar filled with fresh veggies and more, plus wonderful homemade soups, which vary daily. Fresh breads, a potato bar and fresh fruit and soy milk smoothies are also offered. Chef Toni Oberci and her staff offer a full take-out service with salad platters, hot soups, salad by the pound and platters for events of all types, and they can cater any occasion. Everything prepared is MSG free because, as the menu states — "You are what you eat. Be great!"

Cold Stone Creamery
$
4820 Arendell St., Morehead City
(252) 808-COLD (2653)

For the "Ultimate Ice Cream Experience," it has to be Cold Stone Creamery. The first Cold Stone in the nation opened in 1988, and the Morehead City store is now satisfying the ice cream needs of the Crystal Coast. The store serves decadent ice cream, ice cream cakes, shakes and smoothies, and offers nuts, fruit and candies to individualize your "creation." Cold Stone's wonderful ice cream and your choice of blend-ins are mixed on its signature frozen granite stone. The store offers gift cards and new to-go containers that can handle up to six servings. There is also a Cold Stone Creamery in New Bern.
 

El Zarape offers tasty Mexican food at affordable prices. From enchiladas and tacos to shrimp burritos and an array of house specialties, El Zarape brings the taste of Mexico to the old South. A local favorite is a wonderful tuna dish. Just don't fill up on the freshly cooked tortilla chips and salsa that arrive first, and remember to save room for dessert. El Zarape restaurants are also located in Atlantic Beach, Beaufort and Emerald Isle.
 

Floyd's 1921 offers creative and tasteful lunch and dinner items. The lunch menu offers salads, sandwiches and old Southern fixins', as they say, such as High Cotton Crab Cakes, fried chicken, Low-Country Meatloaf, and shrimp and grits. An Insider favorite is the fried oysters and mango spinach salad. Dinner sandwiches and salads are offered, along with a wonderful entree selection ranging from fresh seafood, meats and poultry. Homemade salad dressings and desserts complete an unforgettable dining experience.

Hooters has opened a restaurant here on the coast. Like the others in this chain, the restaurant specializes in clams, wings, shrimp and oyster roasts and is staffed by the "nearly famous Hooters girls."
 

Kountry Kitchen offers full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus and is sure to please with new dishes as well as long-time favorites. Kick off the day with a breakfast of eggs, grits, waffles, hot cakes and meats. You can even get sausage gravy and fried bologna here. The lunch/dinner menu is available starting at 11 AM. Enjoy burgers, subs, steaks and seafood, or try one of the outstanding daily specials. The special might be baked ham, pork chops or a Friday favorite of a fish sandwich and chowder. Kountry Kitchen opens at 6 AM each morning and remains open until 8 PM Monday through Thursday, until 9 PM Friday through Saturday and until 3 PM on Sunday.
 

Mrs. Culpepper's Crab Cafe offers wonderful Thai cuisine and fresh seafood in a relaxed diner-type atmosphere. For lunch or dinner, enjoy crab cakes, oysters, shrimp, soft crabs or scallops. You'll also find such creations as pork with ginger, spicy beef with basil, Pad Thai, and oysters with bean sprouts. A favorite is the sampler where you select two or three items served with jasmine rice and a spring roll. Mrs. Culpepper's also offers retail sales of the uncooked crab cakes that made this place famous. You can also take home fresh shrimp, soft shell and hard crabs, and crab and pork spring rolls. The cafe is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday, and for dinner Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday.
 

Mrs. Willis' Restaurant has been serving home-cooked meals since 1949. The restaurant actually began in the home of "Ma" Willis as a barbecue and chicken take-out place specializing in mini lemon pies. Customers ate right in the kitchen. In 1956 the restaurant moved into the garage, which is the front of today's restaurant, and additions have been made through the years. We recommend the clam chowder for starters and then the prime rib — for the money, it's one of the best around. Other entrees include the seafood combination plate, chicken livers, pork chops, hamburger steak, stuffed flounder, rib eyes, frog legs, grilled fish, chicken and roast beef. You'll also find plenty of fresh vegetables. Mrs. Willis' offers specials every day and night and accommodates groups of any size. Lunch is served Sunday and Tuesday through Friday and dinner is served seven days a week. The restaurant is open year round.
 

New Dawn Family Restaurant
$$
3010 Arendell St., Morehead City
(252) 726-7472

On A Roll starts the day early — at 6 AM — serving breakfast and lunch every day. Breakfast is also served all day on Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast entrees include the favorites of eggs, ham, toast and grits. Enjoy hotcakes, corned beef hash and buttermilk pancakes. Lunches include sandwiches, wraps and more. Try an Italian hoagie with prosciutto, capicola and provolone cheese, or a Jewish hoagie with corned beef, salami, cole slaw and Russian dressing. Favorites include reubens, burgers, liverwurst and onions, and gyros. You'll also find Greek and Caesar salads, cold tuna and chicken salad plates, and corned beef specials. On A Roll also offers a full catering service. Closing hours vary each day so call ahead.
 

Sanitary is a landmark on the Morehead City waterfront. In 1938 Ted Garner and Tony Seamon, both now deceased, opened a waterfront seafood market in a building rented for $5.50 per week, The name Sanitary Fish Market was chosen by the partners to project their compliance. When 12 stools were set up at the counter, the first seafood restaurant on the city's waterfront was in business. Today's customers find old favorite menu items along with many new additions. Best known for fresh seafood served broiled, steamed, grilled or fried, the Sanitary also offers steaks, poultry, pork and pasta entrees. Lunch always includes a good selection of vegetables and attracts lots of locals. The Sanitary offers a good selection of beer and wine, and lunch and dinner are served every day of the week. The restaurant closes the Sunday after Thanksgiving and reopens the first Friday in February.
 

Shepard’s Point is an uptown steak and seafood house in the heart of downtown with a bar specializing in martini cocktails that are second to none. An exposed cellar offers a glimpse of extensive wine selections from around the world, and you can view the chefs in the open kitchen preparing your meal. All breads are baked from scratch daily. Fresh local seafood is the specialty of the house, plus there is a wide range of steaks and chops. Tuna steak is on the menu regularly, along with mahi mahi, oysters, cams, shrimp and scallops. Entrees include a small salad and any array of sides, such as a loaded baked potato, three-cheese macaroni or asparagus with hollandaise. Desserts at Shepard's Point are made in house: flaming baked Alaska, crème brûlée or a dense chocolate ciao cake with anise custard. Come check out the “Weekly Specials”: Monday, 2-4-1 entrée specials; Thursday, $14.99 Prime Rib or Filet Mignon with all red wine by the bottle 25% off; Friday, free sushi and peel and eat shrimp in the bar until 6:30 with whole Main lobster $24.99; and Saturday, all martinis on the list at half price. Private dining rooms are available for up to 90 people. Smoking is permitted in the bar only. On Sundays, a brunch buffet from 11 AM to 2 PM is the order of the day. Dinner starts at 5:30 PM. Shepard’s Point is an offshoot from Beaufort Grocery Co., and reservations are recommended. The restaurant is closed Tuesdays in season and on Wednesdays in winter.