
DATE: Sunday, May 11, 1997                  TAG: 9705090277

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: EATING OUT 

TYPE: RESTAURANT REVIEW 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: OCRACOKE                          LENGTH:   78 lines

GREAT HUSHPUPPIES, FOLK CAN BE FOUND AT OCRACOKE'S ISLAND INN

I had to go all the way to the Island Inn dining room to find the ``the last straw.''

Bob Turner, official doer of anything that needs to be done at the restaurant, laid the last straw next to my 5-year-old son's plate.

``That's it. The last one,'' said Turner, dressed in his evening attire of jeans, T-shirt and a ball cap.

``I'd always wondered what it looked like,'' I said.

My son didn't quite see the humor behind getting ``the last straw.'' But he was duly impressed that he was the one that got it.

Turner was one of a half dozen people - I think they were all restaurant staff - who stopped by our table to either offer service or just chat when our family dined at the Island Inn earlier this month.

Somewhere in the middle of all the friendliness, somebody set a basket of hushpuppies on our table. Ohh, were they good.

In a few minutes, my older son and I were squaring off to see who got the last one. We were saved from family discord when our waitress brought another basket of hushpuppies. She happened to be Bob Turner's wife, Judith. She teaches school on the island.

While my cheeks bulged with the sweet bread, I realized how bright it was in the dining room. The walls, ceiling, tables and chairs all are painted white. Small lights on the ceiling accentuate the brightness. The interior room has the same appearance as the closed in front porch where the late afternoon sun bathed a large group of shell collectors.

Taking another bite of hushpuppy, I read the history of the Island Inn and its dining room on the back of my menu. The Island Inn was built in 1901 and is listed with the National Register of Historic Places. The dining room was added in 1950.

Just as I finished the history, Judith emerged from the kitchen with our appetizers. We had ordered the house salad ($2.50) of leaf lettuce, orange sections, celery, green onions and toasted walnuts. After finishing the salad we were ready for the main course.

The wait was not long.

I enjoyed a broiled sea trout with a double-baked potato and sauteed green beans ($9.95). My wife and older son raved about the grilled chicken parmesan ($10.95), a chicken breast covered in pasta and a thick parmesan cheese sauce. My younger son ordered what he always orders: a large cheeseburger with fries ($4.95).

There portions were ample. The food was tasty. And, by the time we'd finished, there was absolutely no room left for dessert. The hushpuppies may have had something to do with that. But the Island Inn does offer a small selection of homemade treats such as pound cake, gingerbread with lemon sauce, chocolate chess pie and biscuit pudding with caramel sauce.

After dinner, I entered the kitchen where chef Warren Wilkes III was busy making the beloved hushpuppies. He has been cooking for 13 years, he said, and has been the chef at the Island Inn Dining Room for four years.

``Is that your own recipe?'' I asked him.

``Actually, it's a secret recipe of the Island Inn,'' Wilkes said.

His specialty is sauteed shrimp or scallops ($12.95), he said.

If you take your children to this remote island getaway, and they like straws, don't worry. We didn't actually take the last one. Turner assured us he could find more. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JEFF HAMPTON

Warren Wiles III, has been cooking for 13 years, he said, and has

been the chef at the Island Inn Dining Room for four years.

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EATING THERE

What: Island Inn dining room

When: Breakfast 7 to 11 a.m.; dinner 5 to 9 p.m. daily

Where: Lighthouse Road, on Ocracoke Island

Handicapped accessible: Lower level no stairs, upper level

inaccessible

Credit Cards: VISA, MasterCard and Discover

Drinks: Beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, tea, lemonade

Phone: (919) 928-7821