What to See and Where to Dine and Stay in Wilmington, North Carolina
Things to See and Do in the City
There are plenty of indoor and outdoor activities to choose from in Wilmington: between visiting the three nearby beaches; adventure activities like boating, fishing, and kayaking; touring the local Antebellum homes and museums; taking a riverboat cruise along the Cape Fear River; riding in a horse-drawn trolley or carriage to see the riverfront and historic area, and visiting the USS North Carolina Battleship.
Kenan Fountain
USS North Carolina
Travelers to Wilmington interested in having a culinary adventure will want to learn about the local craft beer scene and brewery tours and the local food tour company, Taste Carolina. Our morning’s tour with Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours included a trip to the Eagle Island Fruit Stand & Seafood Market where we wandered the isles filled with local produce and regional products (like jams and jellies) and before heading out, picked up a fresh catch of local Carolina flounder. We then followed our guide to Aubriana’s in downtown Wilmington where we met Chef Tyson Amick who conducted our cooking class.
Eagle Island Fruit Stand & Seafood
Double yolk eggs
Carolina shrimp
Selecting our fish with Courtney of Taste Carolina
Aubriana’s is consistently voted as one of the town’s best fine dining restaurants. Their food is described as “Southern Cuisine with a World View,” which seems appropriate with Tyson’s background as a classically trained chef who learned French and European methods and techniques. During our cooking class, he demonstrated how to filet a flounder and then prepared it with our surprise ingredients that we brought back from the market, Jolly Ranchers and cheese curds, just to make things a little more interesting. It was like an episode of Chopped (on a very small scale) and to our amazement, the final dish was beautifully presented, the fish perfectly prepared, and the combination of flavors quite tasty, thanks to Tyson’s fast thinking and creativity in the kitchen.
Aubriana’s
Dining room at Aubriana’s
Chef Tyson prepping the vegetables
Making a sauce with the cheese curds
Voila! We have a beautiful flounder dish
We also made one quick stop after lunch at nearby The Peppered Cupcake where we couldn’t choose just one from their selection of creatively flavored gourmet cupcakes, so we boxed up a few. Many of their varieties are even served warm.
The Peppered Cupcake – Just a few of their many flavors
Click on “Continue Reading” to find out Where to Stay in Wilmington. There’s also a very special recipe.
