If Hatteras Island had a downtown, it would be in Avon. The village boasts the island’s only two stoplights and chain grocery store as well as plenty of shops and restaurants, so it’s no surprise that you’ll find meal options for everyone here.
Two of the local favorites, Muffins and Scones and The Froggy Dog Restaurant & Pub, will cover your dining needs from that first morning coffee to your final nightcap.
Muffins and Scones
In a big, purple building in the middle of Avon, Muffins and Scones opens bright and early at 6:30 a.m. and serves their sweet and savory menu until 3 p.m. With its cozy seating area, it’s also a wonderful hangout spot.
Handcrafted espresso and coffee drinks, both hot and iced, will power your get-up-and-go. You can find lattes, cappuccinos, cold brews and drip coffee, and they even have an espresso blend that’s been personally roasted just for them. Tea, honey-sweetened smoothies and fresh-squeezed orange juice round out the beverage menu.
With a name like Muffins and Scones, you’d expect fresh-baked, homemade goods, and the restaurant’s promise certainly delivers. You’ll of course find muffins and scones in a variety of flavors, but there are also cookies, pies, pastries, cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, macarons and their popular cakes.
Sweet customer favorites include their turnovers, cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins and brown sugar cinnamon scones, all baked fresh each morning.
Muffins and Scones also offers custom wedding cakes and celebratory treats with a quick turnaround time. Whole cakes and cake slices are always available in-house, including favorites like chocolate, lemon blueberry and carrot cake.
Autumn brings the pumpkin specialties, and the holidays are a baking fiesta. November is Pie Season at the bakery, with 15 different varieties of pies available for purchase, including their perfect apple pie that’s bursting with fresh Granny Smith apples and their own secret blend of seasonings. Muffins and Scones’ annual Thanksgiving week pie baking extravaganza typically involves more than 1,000 pies baked to perfection!
On the savory side for breakfast or lunch, Muffins and Scones boasts 17 flavors of fresh-baked
New York–style bagels and build-your-own sandwiches. Customer favorites are the Nessie, made with lox and cream cheese, the Atlantic with prosciutto and smoked Gouda, and the OBX Caprese. Quiches, paninis and to-go quarts of potato bacon soup are the perfect accompaniment to an autumn or winter afternoon.
Breakfast is served all day, and with their many sweet and savory options, there’s no better way to start your Hatteras Island dining day than stopping by Muffins and Scones.
The Froggy Dog Restaurant & Pub
Just a little north of Muffins and Scones, The Froggy Dog wins the award for most fun restaurant name. That vibe carries over to its family-friendly, relaxed atmosphere, though it’s also a great place for a date night. Originally a hot dog stand when it opened in the 1970s, The Froggy Dog is now one of the island’s largest restaurants, capable of quickly seating large parties. Owners Blake and Julia Taft have recently updated and elevated the food and wine list too.
Open daily from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., The Froggy Dog’s menu serves up something for everyone, but you’ll definitely want to check out the cold-weather comfort food like soups, meatloaf and their popular Southern fried chicken, served on Fridays. Their chef prepares this fresh with mashed potatoes, gravy and collard greens.
Most everything is made from scratch at The Froggy Dog. Seafood is a staple, and Chef Brandyn Powers locally sources as much of it as possible. He also incorporates locally harvested Hatteras
Saltworks salts into the dishes.
The Froggy Dog’s lunch menu offers classic selections like burgers, salads, sandwiches, hot dogs, appetizers and plenty of seafood. Dinner favorites include the seafood extravaganza known as The Mutiny, Surf & Turf, Filet Oscar, pastas, huge salads and other specialty entrees like marinated, miso-glazed Atlantic salmon and Mediterranean beef kabobs.
Sunday brunch at The Froggy Dog, is a Hatteras Island tradition, especially for locals in the off-season. Along with seasonal specialties and signature sips, the brunch menu is filled with favorites like breakfast burritos, Benedicts, omelets, buttermilk pancakes, shrimp and grits, seafood enchiladas and old-fashioned biscuits and gravy.
As your day turns to evening, it’s worth noting that The Froggy Dog has a phenomenal wine selection. Owner Blake Taft is a certified sommelier, and he has developed The Froggy Dog’s wine list into one of the largest and most impressive on the Outer Banks. The Froggy Dog also hosts monthly wine dinners, wine-tastings and wine education events and has an in-house wine cellar, The Cellar at The Froggy Dog, stocked with wines from around the world. Blake hosts events in The Cellar, so be sure to check the website for the schedule.
The Froggy Dog is still casual and easy-going, though, with their approach to wine being unpretentious and fun, and their pub area being a favorite hangout space all year round.
A part of the Hatteras Island restaurant scene for more than 50 years, The Froggy Dog is ingrained in the local community and a favorite with visitors. Over the past six years, Julia and Blake have transformed it into something much more than a simple seafood restaurant. The building may look the same as it has for decades, but inside this renovated interior it is a multi-faceted restaurant and pub dedicated to food, wine and fun.
(252) 986-5109 | muffinsandscones.com
40126 North Carolina Highway 12, Avon
(252) 995-5550 | FroggyDog.com
40050 NC Hwy 12, Avon
About the Author Heather Frese
Heather Frese fell in love with the Outer Banks when she was three years old. She grew up camping every summer on Hatteras Island, and her writing is deeply influenced by the history and wild beauty of the area. Her debut novel, The Baddest Girl on the Planet, won the Lee Smith Novel Prize and is set on Hatteras Island. 
