Fleur de Lolly: Dining Out on the Outer Banks: The Flying Melon, Ocracoke Island, NC

We started our trip with an exceptional dining experience at Curate, and we enjoyed an excellent dining meal for our last night on the Outer Banks.

The Flying Melon Cafe offers Creole and Southern Cuisine prepared with fresh ingredients and local seafood.

We arrived just as they opened and, in fact, we were the first diners of the evening! Jennifer was our server and directed us through the menu along with the great specials of the night menu. While we perused the menus, we enjoyed a Long Island Iced Tea and a Cucumber Basil Martini. Both were perfection.

We chose fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade $12.00. The fried green tomatoes were expertly fried, extraordinarily crunchy and well seasoned. They would have been excellent on their own. But then The Flying Melon tops those delicious slices with perfectly cooked shrimp and a flavorful remoulade. The best appetizer of the trip!

Oh my. Now here's a salad that I wish I could eat every day! The rice wine vinaigrette was absolutely addictive on the fresh greens and vegetables of this salad.

Sweet Harold chose the Fried Seafood Platter $33.00. It included the fish of the day (bluefish), scallops (YUM!), shrimp, and a jumbo lump crab cake. I had never tried bluefish, so I was eager for my taste! Bluefish has a rich, full flavor and coarse, moist meat with edible skin. The crab cake had onions and bell peppers and a definite spicy flavor. I love food with some heat, but for those that don't, the crab cake does pack the flavor.

His side dishes were sauteed green beans and roasted red potatoes. Of all the green beans we enjoyed that week, these won the "best of" award. The potatoes were very flavorful as well.

I ordered from the Specials Menu. Seriously. Look at this menu. Is there anything on there that doesn't sound amazing?

Sheepshead is another fish I have never tried. I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to enjoy this fish. Sheepshead eats crab and shrimp. Therefore, they have the taste of shellfish. Pretty cool, huh?

The fish was grilled and topped with sauteed jumbo lump crabmeat and a tasty lemon beurre blanc sauce. $34.00 I chose the turnips and roasted potatoes.

I took a close up shot of the jumbo lump crab. This was an extremely generous portion. Everything on this plate was elegantly served, delicately seasoned, and a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy.

And if we weren't stuffed enough at this point, Sweet Harold decided we MUST try dessert. I told him to choose whatever he wanted, and I'd taste. lol

Kudos to the pastry chef for this delectable dessert. Lemon cheesecake with blackberry sauce. The cheesecake was creamy and the blackberry sauce complimented the lemon well. $6.00.