Stopping at the Purple Onion Cafe is a ritual for Megan Harrison’s family on their frequent trips to their beach house in Ocean Isle.
“Since we usually come through Shallotte in the afternoon, we make a stop at the cafe to pick up a few loaves of homemade bread for sandwiches and fresh-baked cookies for the kids,” she says. “The next morning, we head back into town to fill up on breakfast before hitting the beach.”
Harrison almost always orders the Purple Onion omelet. “I get a taste of all my favorite ingredients — ham, grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms, and, best of all, melted pepper jack cheese,” she says.
“My husband always splurges on the Big Onion Breakfast Special, which takes up half the table when it arrives.” It comes with two eggs, two pieces of sausage, two pieces of apple-wood-smoked bacon, grits, home fries, a pancake, and a choice of Purple Onion’s freshly baked bread — perfect for sharing.
Harrison says they always try to get to the restaurant by 8 a.m. for the daily debut of the blueberry biscuits: “You can catch them right after they’ve come out of the oven — warm, gooey, and covered with icing.”
Purple Onion Cafe
4647 Main Street, Shallotte
(910) 755-6071
Don’t miss:
The Purple Onion omelet.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
