Quick bites

Harvey Hess Jr. and Harvey Hess III at Capt'n Franks. (Voice photo by Russ Lay)

Harvey Hess. Jr. opened this OBX icon in 1975, back when the bypass was still two lanes. During college when my friends and I came down here to fish or surf, it was one of the few restaurants open along the north beach. We always alternated between hot dogs at Capt’n Franks or a Dune Burger in Nags Head.

The restaurant is one of a disappearing breed that once populated Atlantic coast beaches from Rehoboth to Ft. Lauderdale. What the drive-in diner was to city kids, small hot stands, walk-up burger and ice cream joints are to the beach experience. You expect to find sand on the floor, bathing suits are proper attire and in the days before we had health departments, maybe the owner’s dog is napping under an empty table.

Capt’n Franks has had a few interior facelifts, but for the most part, it looks and feels exactly the same as it did in 1975. You might find a banker in a suit seated next to a surfer or construction worker at the counter.

It’s a good place to bring the family, and its very affordable. It’s a family-owned place.

While the menu may be inexpensive, Hess insists on quality. The Oscar Meyer hot dogs are all-beef and not the kind you can buy in a grocery store. His North Carolina pulled BBQ is pit cooked the traditional way over wood chips from the mainland. His Philly cheese steak is real, shredded rib eye from where else but Philadelphia. The spiced shrimp is spiced the way we like it in eastern North Carolina, not the bland stuff one finds in Richmond or even my hometown, Virginia Beach. The chili is all beef and like the new Snapdog, it’s a signature recipe.

If you really want to imagine what it was like to be in a beach town when The Embers or The Drifters held court and “the shag” was the official dance of the East Coast, you owe it to yourself to visit the Capt’n. And the family legend lives on as the next generation, Harvey Hess III is now vice president and general manager.