Oh, snap, Olde Salty!

The Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach has gotten its share of publicity of late because of a sign that says: "Screaming Children Will NOT Be Tolerated!"

As this article states, this has raised all sorts of legal questions. But take the legality of it for a second and think about whether it's "right" or not. My first thought -- as someone who enjoys a nice, quiet dinner -- is something along the lines of "bravo!"

My next  thought -- as a parent -- is that I'm shocked any establishment would put up something like this. My third thought is that I'm not sure I would go to the Olde Salty, knowing this is up there. (And it's not because I'm scared my kids may misbehave -- that's actually the least of my concerns. I'm not sure I would want to give them business.)

It apparently has not hurt business, however, according to the owner.

“It has been a good thing for us,” Armes told NBC affiliate WECT. “It has brought in more customers than it has ever kept away.”

Indeed, a first-time diner at the Olde Salty told WECT he embraced the signage. “It’s not very enjoyable when you hear a bunch of kids screaming,” Gary Gibson said. “It’s nice to see a sign like that up.”

Full disclosure: I have no idea what the Olde Salty is like, or its clientele. I will now put forth a sweeping generalization and say that a place with the name "Olde Salty" probably has loud enough adults that kids aren't that big of a distraction. But I could be painfully wrong on that.

But what are your thoughts? Are you more apt to eat at a place that tries to police childish (literally!) behavior? Or do you find it tacky and will stay away?

CB videos on the old* YouTube

*And isn't YouTube now considered a mainstay enough to describe it as "the old?" I think so.

Thanks to the beauty of the old Google Alerts (see what I did there?), you never know what sort of Carolina Beach-themed items will wind up in the (very) old inbox. A couple the past couple of days have been to CB-related YouTube videos.

The first one comes to us from siradamcotton. It's just :30 in length; I'm not sure at what point of the island it was filmed; but it very much reminds me of the view from Our Beach Place.




The second one is from nightsweeper08. I gotta tell ya: I'm not exactly sure what this just-over-a-minute video is all about, but I like it. I think it's promoting The Lazy Pirate. There's even a theme song!



Enjoy them, kids.

Some CB food thoughts

I don't know Don Lesser, who has a blog devoted to seemingly food and eating, but he recently visited Carolina Beach (and is still there?) and wrote about his experiences there. You can read the full post here.

[M]y brother offered us his condo in North Carolina and we both thought a change would be good. Not to mention water that is actually warm enough to get in. Anyway, the trip included a BBQ stop off 95 in North Carolina and then on to the home of sweet tea and fried food, Tiki bars and “Island” cuisine.

I’ll leave out the duds for the moment. We did find two places that I’d call worth visiting. Bowman’s at the Beach we found on our own. It looks old-school, a brick building nestled on the strip, and inside, it feels like it’s been there for a while. The staff is incredibly friendly and, yes, most of the food is fried, but unlike a lot of the places at the beach, the food feels like it was made in the back rather than defrosted. I had some fried oysters, with mac n cheese and fried okra. Sarah had the BBQ pork. The basket of hushpuppies accompanied the meal were the best I have had on this trip. The oysters were fried but greaseless and the BBQ pork tasted meaty. The sweet tea was also the best we’ve had this trip. Sarah, who normally eschews anything with sugar, has been scarfing down the sweet tea like a pilgrim at the holy waterfountain. Sarah pronounced the fried okra great, so I’ll go with her. She makes it rolled in cornmeal, which is the way I’ve gotten used to it. Around here, they cover the pieces in batter. Still, the frying was pretty greasefree–not much grease left on the plate when we were done and I never got the “whoa, too much grease” feeling hours later. ...

The other place we liked was Gulfstream Restaurant, another old-time place. We got that recommendation off of chowhound.com and it was good. I’m a little overloaded on fried food, so I opted for the broiled flounder covered with deviled crab stuffing. Not exactly diet food, but the broiled fish at the previous night’s Deck House had left me ready for something with a little flair. The fish was fresh and the crab stuffing had crisped up nicely without extending the cooking time into the overdone phase. Good cole slaw and the baked potato I opted for over the french fries was wrapped in foil but OK. Hushpuppies and sweet tea not as good as Bowmans, but there was a Shrimp Creole on the menu that I want to try. There is someone cooking out back, not just some college kid with a fryolator and a freezer. ...

Thursday nights there are fireworks on the boardwalk. The boardwalk is small and slightly seedy, like all boardwalks I’ve been to since I was a boy. But there is live music. A good Southern rock n roll band was playing before and during the fireworks which were going off behind their stage. The fireworks were low and some of the shells seemed packed with a little more explosives, leading to a big POW as it blew apart the chrysamthum shells. But listening to good rock n roll while they were going off was a real treat. Aside from some choreographed fireworks in New Orleans that were “big city” fireworks, this is the first time I’ve heard that at local fireworks. Highly recommended.

Michael's does it again!

Congratulations to Carolina Beach's Michael's Seafood and Catering for winning firstplace at the Great Chowder Cook-Off in Rhode Island for a third straight year.

Unfortunately, there can be no four-peat.

Now that his world-famous clam chowder is a three-time winner, Chef Michael McGowan from the Carolina Beach restaurant has to retire the champion chowder from the competition.

Paul Tarasco has worked at Michael's for six years. After the first win in 2009, Tarasco said that the three-peat was no surprise to anyone who has tasted the soup.

"We knew for a fact we were going to sweep it ," said Tarasco. "There's no way we weren't going to win the next two years."

Screaming kids? Take your business elsewhere

This article has sure gotten a lot of publicity (and so has the restaurant in question).

The owner of a coastal North Carolina restaurant is fed up with screaming children who bother other diners.

So Brenda Armes has posted signs at Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach that read “screaming children will not be tolerated.” She told WECT-TV in Wilmington that the signs have worked by attracting more customers than they turn away.

Customer Gary Gibson agrees, saying he likes the signs because a meal isn’t enjoyable when kids are screaming.

But a mother of two, Ashley Heflin, says parents can’t help it if their children scream.

If a child is screaming, Armes says a restaurant employee will ask the parent to take them outside. They won’t be asked to leave the restaurant for good.

I have two very small children, and you never know when they're going to "go off." Having said that, Armes has every right to put up those signs and enforce it. Heck, I actually see her logic in it.

I think the key is understanding what kind of establishment you are running. (I can say that I've never been to Olde Salty.) If it's a loud, kinda run-down beach place, then maybe telling families not to bring their screaming kids isn't such a good idea. If it's a white tablecloth kinda place, then you probably shouldn't bring the "young'uns" there in the first place.

CB restaurant news

The Dish has some updated news about CB restaurants, including a new joint.

At Carolina Beach, Rachanee Wechamongkolgorn and husband “Jackie” Bongkotmanee on April 1 transport their native Thai cuisine to Ida, at the previous Beach Dogs (304 N. Lake Park Blvd.).

Around the same time, Chef Danielle Cousler, formerly of Michael’s Seafood Restaurant, and husband, Jeff, reintroduce Black Horn (15 Carolina Beach Ave. North) with a cozy bistro feel, wine bar and “Southwestern Latin fusion” menu. The couple also owns Wilmington’s Thyme Savor Personal Chef and Catering.

Courtyard by Marriott (100 Charlotte Ave.) is shaping Courtyard Bistro. Starbucks coffee and more sandwiches, soups and salads will be served in a redecorated lobby dining area.

And despite the “for lease” sign out front, Tuscan Grill (720 North Lake Park Blvd.) is open. The banner refers to other units on the property.