$5 OFF PACKAGE #1
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High Cotton BBQ is now open for the 2025 season!

Open Tuesday – Saturday 11am–8pm

Dine-in, Take-Out, Catering!

Any trip to North Carolina isn’t complete without North Carolina barbecue. The unique flavor of eastern Carolina style barbecue can be experienced at its very best at High Cotton. 

Once you walk in High Cotton BBQ, you’ll work up an appetite. The restaurant is filled with the aroma of slow cooked barbecue. High Cotton BBQ uses Hickory coals to slowly smoke the barbecue, producing a sweet, tender meat that’s pink on the inside and brown on the outside. 

The enormous dining room is filled with photographs depicting the heritage of barbecue in North Carolina. High Cotton BBQ offers a very laid back and casual atmosphere, perfect for the entire family. The wood floors and skylight offer an upscale feel to what is truly a southern country dining room with gingham table cloths.

The barbecue is available for dine-in or carry-out. So consider picking up lunch or dinner on the go, and don't forget our down-home seasonal sides!

Nobody Does North Carolina BBQ Like This NC Native

No stranger to the Outer Banks restaurant business, Will Thorp moved to the Outer Banks in 1984. After years spent learning the ropes in culinary school, he began his restaurant career working at Kelly’s and other famous restaurants up and down the beach. In 1989 he opened Tortuga’s Lie and in 1993 he started the Rundown Cafe.

A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Thorp has always had a love and appreciation of real southern food. So in 2002, he found his calling, and decided it was time to open an authentic, Eastern North Carolina Barbeque restaurant right here on the Outer Banks. Nearly 20 years later and the rest is history. High Cotton Barbeque is loved by locals and has become one of the “must visit” establishments for any Outer Banks vacation.

Orders can be placed in person, by phone at 252-255-2275, or at highcottonbbq.com.


THANK YOU for Voting Us a Winner in the 2025 BEST OF OBX Contest!
GOLD – Best BBQ
SILVER – Best Fried Chicken

 

TAKEOUT FAMILY PACKAGES

Package #1 • $84.99 (feeds 6-8) 1 Pint Hand-Chopped Pork, 1 Whole Fried Chicken, 1 Full Rack St. Louis Cut Ribs, 1 Pint Chopped Slaw, 1 Pint Baked Beans, 1 Pint Green Beans, 8 Hushpuppies, Sandwich Rolls

Package #2 • $124.99 (feeds 10-12) 1 Quart Hand-Chopped Pork, 1 Whole Fried Chicken, 1 Full Rack St. Louis Cut Ribs, 1 Pound Sliced Beef Brisket, 1 Quart Chopped Slaw, 1 Quart Baked Beans, 1 Quart Green Beans, 12 Hushpuppies, Sandwich Rolls

Package #3 • $184.99 (feeds 14-16) 1 Quart + 1 Pint Hand-Chopped Pork, 2 Whole Fried Chickens, 2 Full Racks St. Louis Cut Ribs, 1 Pound Sliced Beef Brisket, 1 Quart + 1 Pint Chopped Slaw, 1 Quart + 1 Pint Baked Beans, 1 Quart Green Beans, 16 Hushpuppies, Sandwich Rolls

Consider High Cotton for catering as well.

The menu offers a great selection for events and holidays.

FULL SERVICE CATERING
Parties of 25 or more.
Full Service Outer Banks catering includes servers who handle the details before, during, and after the meal. We provide cloth-draped tables for buffet-style service, and black iron chafing dishes and baskets to capture that Southern charm. All basic caterings include chopped slaw, baked beans, cornbread, sandwich rolls, and beverage service (tea, sodas, bottled water) as well as paper products. The prices depend on the meats you select.

DELIVERY & SET-UP
Parties of 20 to 50.
Delivery and Set-up for our Outer Banks Catering is exactly as it sounds. We deliver the food, set it up in disposable dishes and the rest is up to you! (Aluminum pans and disposable chafers included for parties of 25+)
Standard side dishes included in price are baked beans, chopped slaw, cornbread and sandwich rolls. We provide paper products. Beverages are NOT included.

WHOLE HOG CATERING
Parties of 50 or more.
We will bring a fully cooked whole hog on a portable smoker to your Outer Banks Catering location for a true Pig Pickin’ experience!

Please call 252-256-2377 with any catering questions OR fill out this form to initiate your catering request.

Restaurant: 252.255.2275

Catering: 252.256.2377

Email: info@highcottonbbq.com

 

Kitty Hawk
252-255-2275
Hours
*Off-season hours may vary*
Call 252-255-2275 for current hours.
  • MondayCLOSED-
  • Tuesday11:00am-8:00pm
  • Wednesday11:00am-8:00pm
  • Thursday11:00am-8:00pm
  • Friday11:00am-8:00pm
  • Saturday11:00am-8:00pm
  • SundayCLOSED-
Categories
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Brew Thru

Brew Thru

No trip to the Outer Banks is complete without cruising through Brew Thru, the Outer Banks’ original drive thru convenience store. Whether you’re looking for a refreshing cold beverage of Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks on the go, stocking up your cooler with refreshments to enjoy at the beach or piling up on beer and wine for a party, Brew Thru is a fun and unique experience all vacationers need to see for themselves.

Drive-Through Beer & Gear

Brew Thru is Your One-Stop Shop at the Beach

The year was 1977, and Dana and Becky Lawrentz were chatting with friends over brews in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. They got to talking about a gas station convenience store in the area that had built a makeshift drive-through. Everyone agreed it would be pretty great if you could actually drive through a convenience store and pick up everything you needed without getting out of the car. But what would you call a place like that?

Well, you’d call it a Brew Thru.

It was an idea they couldn’t shake, so the Lawrentzes moved to the Outer Banks and built the first Brew Thru with the help of a partner. The idea was that people could come buy everything they would need for their trip to the beach—beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks, ice—without getting out of the car. That same year, a t-shirt salesman visiting the store and talked them into adding t-shirts to their product line—and 44 years later there are now more than five million Brew Thru t-shirts out in the wild.

The Lawrentzes’ daughter Brandy and her husband Philip Foreman purchased the business from them in 2002, and they now operate five locations across the Outer Banks.“We love being the one-stop shop for folks on the way to their beach house,” Foreman says. “Our car tenders are the friendliest people at the beach. We’re here to greet you, get you everything you need for your trip, load it up in the trunk for you, and have you leaving with a smile on your face.”

The store is quite expansive, featuring more than 100 brands of beer, dozens of wines and even a vast selection of cigars—not to mention all the snacks, t-shirts and other gear. To make ordering a little easier, customers in line get a menu—fondly known as the Summer-y—that outlines everything available at the store. These Summer-ies are also available in many of the beach rentals, which allows vacationers to decide what they want before driving through.

For customers who would like to get out and stretch their legs, there’s the Brew Thru Shop in Kill Devil Hills, where you can find their world famous t-shirts and other gifts. New t-shirt designs are created each year, making a yearly Brew Thru t-shirt a favorite of locals and annual visitors to the Outer Banks.

The Foremans both grew up in the Outer Banks, and they love that Brandy’s parents’ vision for a friendly and convenient place for people to grab their brews and other beach stay essentials is continuing to flourish.

“Our family has been welcoming people to the Outer Banks since 1977,” Foreman says. “We love this beautiful place, and we want everybody to get to enjoy it.”

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