he spot with some of the best cheese biscuits on the Outer Banks has an identity problem. Its official name is Stop Quik. Some call it Miss Helen’s. To most people, it’s Biscuits N’ Porn. “We just happen to have the largest selection of adult magazines in the county,” says Julia Scheer as she calls out biscuit orders and rings up customers on a busy morning in Nags Head. (Don’t worry, dear reader: The covers are not in easy view of diners.)
Miss Helen, the original biscuit maker, died three years ago, but the biscuits go on, plain buttermilk or topped with shredded Cheddar cheese. Bakers sell about 800 on an average morning, and up to 1,500 to the summer Saturday tourists.
The eastern part of the state is known for cheese biscuits for reasons lost to history. Abrams restaurants claim to be the “home of the original cheese biscuit” and place a large hunk of hoop cheese (milder than Cheddar) inside each biscuit while it’s still hot, which is the typical approach. Mom’s Grill in Washington, located inside a convenience store, uses sharp Cheddar. In Boone, Everybody’s Loaded Biscuits food truck offers coastal transplants a taste of home, stuffed with local Ashe County cheese.
Abrams BBQ & Seafood
609 West Wilson Street
Tarboro, NC 27886
(252) 823-4522
Find more locations at abramsweb.com
Biscuits N’ Porn (aka Stop Quik, Miss Helen’s)
2112 South Croatan Highway
Nags Head, NC 27959
(252) 441-6446
facebook.com/Biscuits-N-Porn
Mom’s Grill
1041 John Small Avenue
Washington, NC 27889
(252) 946-2260
facebook.com/pages/Moms-Grill
Everybody’s Loaded Biscuits
Food truck, based in Boone; see Facebook page for locations
Rise Biscuits and Donuts
For locations; risebiscuitsdonuts.com
To commemorate our 90th anniversary, we’ve compiled a time line that highlights the stories, contributors, and themes that have shaped this magazine — and your view of the Old North State — using nine decades of our own words.
From its northernmost point in Corolla to its southern terminus on Cedar Island, this scenic byway — bound between sound and sea — links the islands and communities of the Outer Banks.
Us? An icon? Well, after 90 years and more than 2,000 issues celebrating North Carolina from mountains to coast, we hope you’ll agree that we’ve earned the title.
After nearly a century — or just a couple of years — these seafood restaurants have become coastal icons, the places we know, love, and return to again and again.
