“The coconut pie is to die for,” a customer leans over to say, in that discreet way that lets you know you’ve just been told something special. It is another busy lunchtime at the Rosebriar restaurant in Albemarle — open for just three midday hours on weekdays. In the 1920s building that was once the mill grocery, waitresses shuttle back and forth to plate up slices of the day’s pie offerings from a case to the right of the cash register. Gail Burris, who owns the 25-year-old landmark lunch stop with her husband, Alan, arrives about 8 a.m. each day and bakes 15 to 20 pies, many of them topped with a tall layer of meringue, before the 11 a.m. opening. Pie flavors include orange cream, banana split, and candy bar take-offs of Almond Joy and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Her personal favorite is the strawberry coconut. “Now, don’t put me in front of a computer,” Burris says. “But I can make me some pie.”
Rosebriar
528 Wiscassett Street, Albemarle, N.C. 28001
(704) 983-1001
Visit the rest of the delectable independent, local bakeries in Our State‘s North Carolina dessert tour:
The Sisters McMullen
Mountain Pie Company
Jimmie’s Sweets
Hayes Barton Café & Dessertery
Bread of Heaven Bakery
Cheesecakes by Alex
Paul’s Pastry Shop
Seaside Cheesecake Dessert Shoppe
Savannah Red
Bailey Café
The Bakehouse
Sugar on Front Street
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.
