North Banks Restaurant and Raw Bar, Corolla,NC

Crazy thing about that Tim Buck II shopping center, we never had a problem finding a parking space! We were in the Outer Banks the week before the season goes into full swing but it was pretty crazy. One point I had to make was if I wanted to sit in traffic, I could have stayed in Morgantown. My daughter and son-in-law were out celebrating their first anniversary so I took my foster daughter and her daughter (my 13 year old grand-daughter) out for dinner. The place was pretty jammed up, literally. I guess they need to accommodate a lot of people during tourist season and the tables are pretty close together. Keep your pocketbook close, your elbows in and walk carefully if you don’t want to knock anyone’s drink off their table or hit their kid in the head while making your way to your table. Since they were full, they offered us the three open seats at the bar and we accepted. This turned out to be a good choice although I was skeptical at first. The bartender is a very good looking and amiable guy. We had a good vantage point to watch food come out of the kitchen, the steamer was right in front of us so we got to watch the seafood chef prepare plates of steamed seafood. It was fun! I started with ½ dozen Blue Point Oysters on the half shell and I ordered the yellowfin tuna (rare, of course), my granddaughter chose baby back ribs after we refused to allow her to order off the children’s menu and her mother ordered Jambalaya. The oysters were served with lemon, cocktail sauce, a chipotle sauce, and some type of vinaigrette. The oysters were shucked before my very eyes. Who needs a chipotle sauce or a vinaigrette when you have beautiful fresh oysters! They tasted just like the sea, just as I like them. My tuna was succulent and delicious. They were serving all entrees with mashed, skin-on, redskin potatoes and succotash. Both had nice, homemade flavor and the potatoes were very creamy. I did not try the ribs. I had the leftover Jambalaya for breakfast the next day. She had eaten all the shrimp and chicken out of it and I was left with the Andouille sausage. I thought the flavors were a little muddy. It was not my favorite Jambalaya ever.