Going to the Outer Banks, N.C.? Then Savor the Food at the Black Pelican

Every year loyal vacationers pack up themselves and their families and head for OBX or the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Here on the sandy beaches, they relax as they soak up the sun-or enjoy being active as they do everything from ride the waves to fly kites in the strong winds.

And, since this is the year that the world celebrates the genius of the Orville and Wilbur Wright and the 100th anniversary of powered flight at Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, it's particularly important to visit the Outer Banks to honor the genius of these men who worked so closely together they you couldn't almost say that they were of one mind.

As Wilbur wrote, "From the time we were little children, my brother Orville and myself lived together, worked together and, in fact, thought together."

Their dedication to flight was amazing considering the difficult conditions they endured.

"I have just stopped a minute to eat a spoonful of condensed milk," Orville wrote to his sister Katherine on October 14, 1900. "No one down here has any regular milk. The poor cows have such a hard time scraping up a living that they don't have any time for making milk.....The only things that thrive and grow fat are the bedbugs, mosquitoes, and wood ticks."

Today, of course, the Outer Banks offers stylish accommodations and food that the Wright brothers couldn't have imagined. One of my favorite restaurants in the area is the Black Pelican Oceanfront Café. Built in 1876, The Black Pelican is the original Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station. Originally located beyond the barrier dune on the oceanfront, the building has been moved twice; once to the road front and then again to its present location. In 1903, it served as the western Union office from which the Wright Brothers sent their message of successful flight. The restaurant is called the Black Pelican from stories that are told of how a black pelican warned sailors of impending danger.

In addition to the history and historical displays at the Black Pelican, there's delicious food. As a pizza lover, I couldn't resist their White Seafood Pizza, a creamy béchamel sauce, shrimp, scallops, house cheeses, scallions, oregano and a pinch of Old Bay Seasoning-something I grew up with in Baltimore, Maryland.

While the Black Pelican offers a variety of foods, I zeroed in on the seafood. (This is the Outer Banks!) With selections such as Baked Shrimp and Crab, Blackened Tuna Nagano and Fried Fluke and Shrimp, you might want to do the same. For an appetizer, I was surprised to find a good Pad Thai here. And the foccacia bread was delicious. For wine, we had the Black Pelican Station Keeper's Stock, a very pleasant Chardonnay.

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