Dinner at The Cafe

Most people I know refer to most of the restaurants on Ocracoke by a two word name, the first word being "the". Howard's Pub becomes "the Pub", the Flying Melon is "the Melon", the Jolly Roger is known as "the Jolly", even the Gas Station (yes, you can get food there, too) is called "the Station".

"The Cafe" is Cafe Atlantic, which reopened last night. John and I chose to enjoy our first Cafe meal of the season tonight instead, mostly because I had Bible study last night, but also partially because we thought we might miss the initial huge rush of all the locals going to the Cafe for dinner on the first night they could do so in several months. Well, we certainly weren't the only locals with that idea, and we ended up waiting half an hour to get a table. Unlike the tourists who left in a huff, muttering under their breath that it wasn't worth a half an hour wait and that they would go to the Pub instead, we knew that it would be well worth the wait. Besides, since other locals were also waiting, and many others were coming out to head home, we got to spend the time chatting with friends, so it went by quite quickly.

And, of course, the meal did not disappoint. We started with our favorite Cafe appetizer, the herbed chevre (goat cheese) with fig preserves. It is always delicious but seemed doubly so as a result of being deprived of it all through the winter. John then had soup, we both had salads and entrees (my lemon pasta with scallops was fabulous), and we completed the feast with dessert (peanut butter ice cream with hot fudge). It was a marvelous meal, I am completely stuffed, and now I'm going to bed!