Just returned from a long weekend at
Wrightsville Beach near
Wilmington, NC - a long barrier island on the Carolina Coast w/ some excellent restaurants offering 'fresh' seafood - stay at the Holiday Inn (shown below) w/ an oceanfront room - not fancy but has all of the amenities, including 'wireless' in the room; unfortunately, my 'travelling' IBM laptop took a 'hard drive failure' a few weeks ago, so need a replacement!
Restaurants sampled (CLICK on the names w/ links):
Jerry's - little bistro w/ a great wine list - shared a wonderful
lumped crab starter - we both had the night specials,
salmon for me &
soft shell crabs for my wife - salmon came on a wonderful risotto w/ some fresh asparagus; couple of glasses on
Pinot Noir for me - yummy
Oceanic Restaurant (bottom) - popular place but not one of our favorites - gave it a try after 4 years or so; shared a cooked oyster starter which was excellent - I had the fresh
mahi-mahi just grilled w/ a lemon butter sauce - wonderful! Couple of glasses of an Oregon white wine called
Evolution - similar to
Conundrum by Caymus in concept.
Portland Grille - just stuck to the left side of the menu w/o a main course (we do this often);
oysters on half shell for a start; some wonderful breads - then shared a
steamed mussels bowl w/ a superb sauce (almost a soup & great w/ the bread);
tuna tartare & lumped crabmeat - check
HERE for a full description of these tasty dishes - couple of glasses of a
Sauvignon Blanc w/ a wonderful
Muscat dessert wine from Paso Robles in California.

BTW - believe this was our favorite meal!
The Holiday Inn has a wonderful excercise room w/ a big glass window overlooking the pool & ocean - did a couple of mornings followed by lunch - first day a wonderful salad w/ a fresh piece of tuna grilled rare; second day I just had the seared tuna w/ a nice seaweed salad - wish I had a pic of that tuna - delicious!


