Mr. Hawthorne And Rosie Do Lunch At The Brine And Bottle.

Back in March, the Hawthornes attended the Outer Banks Taste of the Beach Grand Tasting.

This dish was in the top three for me.

I gave it a "Rosie Likie," which is high praise in my lexicon. Mr. Hawthorne and I have been meaning to try The Brine and Bottle ever since. I knew the vicinity it was in - the Nags Head causeway, but every time we zoomed through at 50 mph I could never find it.

Here's The Brine and Bottle, located on the Nags Head causeway in the colorful Caribbean Corners shops. Look for the apricot building.

Very nice inside. Clean. Comfortable. Neat.

Very friendly, attentive service. By the way, I want that bench.

Here's the lunch menu, which varies daily. And right away, I got a problem. I don't see anything that rings my bell. Plus I don't like the prices, for sandwiches, mind you.

Here's the dinner menu, which changes also.

Minimalist decor which I like.

Mr. Hawthorne got the pulled pork with pepper vinegar and cole slaw on a potato roll. He was happy with his meal. He would have preferred a different bread however. The bread for this type of sandwich needs to be substantial and structurally sound, not a soft potato roll. Just sayin'. $8.00

I ordered the grilled Tennessee ham and cheese with balsamic caramelized onion and spinach pecan pesto.

And I got this. It's grilled white bread. I don't think anyone seeing this come out of the kitchen would have a case of, what I refer to as, entree envy. I'm not happy. The saltiness of the ham was overwhelming. The blandness of the spinach pecan pesto underwhelmed me. Didn't like the caramelized onions - a bit heavy-handed with the balsamic vinegar. The cheese was in there, but virtually non-existent. All I could taste was salt. Since they seem to like pickles so much here - there's an assortment of pickled vegetables packaged on site available for sale - couldn't they put a pickle on the sandwich? Maybe a slice of tomato? Lettuce leaf? Some chips? Some color? Something? And was this Wonder bread? Couldn't you offer a grilled artisan bread? Mr. Hawthorne called our dishes "naked plates." Sorry, but I did not like mine. The price of this white bread was $9.00. Mr. Hawthorne called this my "lonely little sandwich." It was pitiful. I felt sorry for it. Hell, I felt sorry for me for having been served this. The menu is constantly changing with season and availability. I never stop at one visit to a restaurant. I'll go several times to get a feel for it. I do not go at dinner though. Cuts into my drinking time. We always go at lunch. If they can't do it right for lunch, why would you want to pay more to be disappointed by dinner? At least that's our philosophy. Although the duck on The Brine and Bottle's dinner menu piqued my interest. Still, the prices seem quite high to me.

Mr. Hawthorne wanted to try out the fried pickles with buttermilk chive dressing. The pickles were thinly sliced and lightly battered. Not bad. But they were $8.00. Bottom line: $31.00 with tip and we had water. I had no unsweetened ice tea with 5 pieces of lemon.

Nice view.

Dang it. Should have had a Subway. You know what you're getting and it looks like the picture.

$31 Ouch. Never let what I say keep you from trying a restaurant, since my opinion don't mean crap. I only had one meal here so that doesn't count. I will come back and try something different. I just don't recommend the ham and cheese for lunch. Pitiful. Pfft.