Dining a la Carteret

Kountry Kitchen
by Sandy Craft

OK, people, here’s some good news for you loyal customers of the Broad Creek Family Restaurant.  Joann and J.R. Marion have opened the doors of their new place, Kountry Kitchen, in Brandywine Crossing Shopping Center on Highway 70 in Morehead City .  It would seem from the sizable crowd when my Companion-in-Eating (CiE) and I went, that the word is already out.  They had only been opened about a month, but the place was packed.

Joann explained that when they sold the Broad Creek eatery after 12 years, the thought was they would downsize, maybe just serve breakfast and lunch.

So they have this big, brand spanking new establishment and they are serving three meals a day, six days a week, and two on Sunday.  Yikes!  What is it they say about the best laid plans?

As we were talking to Joann, customers would come up and say how good the corned beef was today or how much they enjoyed the trout.  Obviously, these comments come from repeat customers who feel they would be remiss if they did not voice their appreciation for J.R.’s work in the kitchen.  Joann says sometimes they’ll even ask when they’re going to serve a favorite special again.

What could be better this time of year than a bowl of homemade soup or a bowl of chili?  J.R. makes the soups daily, and we were lucky enough to try the chicken noodle in addition to the chili. Joann brought us crackers, but why eat those when you can get some crisp, hot hush puppies?

In addition to soup specials, there are several daily sandwich and plate specials. Sometimes they have beef tips, or spaghetti, or lasagna, or corned beef and cabbage. You can usually get trout and mullet.  

For those who might be interested, and you know who you are, the specials also include dessert.  In other words, this is good, hearty home cooking with no cleanup!  I love that.

Some of the menu mainstays include the fried catfish, charbroiled ribeye steak, homemade meatloaf, country fried steak, and shrimp, scallops and oysters.  These are available at lunch as well as dinner, and come with a choice of two vegetables and bread.

Now if you want to go a little lighter, you could stick with their freshly prepared vegetables.  They have lots of options from fried okra to cabbage, rutabaga, fresh squash, turnip greens and real honest to goodness mashed potatoes.  The list goes on, and it varies somewhat from day to day.

Any of you breakfast fans will be delighted to know that not only can you get a great breakfast here, but you can get it for lunch or dinner, if you like.   You can enjoy those eggs with the usual accompaniments, or you can branch out a bit with some corned beef hash, or ribeye steak, or country fried steak.  Now that’s a big boy breakfast.  One that was new to me was the pork tenderloin, right off the griddle.  It looked great!

The sandwich lineup is good old familiar favorites, as well.   You won’t find bean sprouts, baby greens, or strange sounding breads. 

But, you can get a grilled cheese, a cheeseburger, or a tuna or chicken salad, just to name a few. 

Forget those New Year’s resolutions and get some fries or onion rings, too.  Sounds pretty tempting, don’t you think?

Now if all this isn’t enough, you could add a homemade dessert.  J.R.’s specialties are the banana pudding and rice pudding. 

But, you can also usually get chocolate pudding or if you’re being very, very good, a sugar free jello. 

Frankly, I don’t expect you to be that good.

This is not your fancy-smancy cuisine, but this is good home style cooking, at an incredibly reasonable price, prepared by good folks who want you as a regular customer. 

So join those who have already gotten the word, stop by Kountry Kitchen and let Joann and J.R. take good care of you for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

 


Quick Bites

Kountry Kitchen

  Address: Brandywine Crossing (west of Wal-Mart on Highway 70), Morehead City

  Phone: (252) 240-0046

Hours: 6 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday

6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday

6 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday

Price Range : Very Reasonable.

Payment: Cash, local checks, debit cards, no credit cards

Smoking:   There is smoking on one side of the restaurant. The menu and staff are very kid friendly. No ABC permits.

1/06/06



Sandy Craft owned and operated a catering company in Atlanta for 17 years. 
She is one of the few people who actually still cooks, but she finds following 
a recipe goes against her nature. When traveling she likes to visit local grocery 
stores and farm stands, and she thoroughly enjoys good food.



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