Long before the Outer Banks grew into the year-round coastal community it is today, JK’s Restaurant opened quietly in 1984 and rocked the seasonal dining available from the spring to late fall by offering a fine raw product, introducing live wood-fired grills and laying claim to its local audience by staying open year-round. Time has made such excellence and year-round availability more of the norm along the Banks, but anyone with long-time roots along these shores will testify to the fact that when JK’s opened 34 years ago, the dining and food culture along these treasured waters was transformed and there was no turning back.
