An original acrylic painting of John’s Drive-In, courtesy of artist Dawn Gray Moraga/Red Dawn Designs.
F I V E FACT S
John’s Drive-In
B Y HA N N A H LE E LE I D Y
– has maintained a following of locals and seasonal visitors for nearly a half-century now. Families, children and even puppies return every summer to the old-school, window service drive-in for specialties such as dolphin boats, where hot, battered fish turns hands sticky from the grease, and milkshakes thick enough for a straw to stand up on its own. But above all, they mostly come for the ritual of John’s: driving down the beach road in Kitty Hawk, soaking up the sun as they wait in line, and ordering a meal that’s consistently delicious – whether they first tried it four days or 40 years ago.
JOHN’S DRIVE-IN – KNOWN BY MOST SIMPLY AS JOHN’S
1
The Original Work from Home
Before John Tice Sr. bought the building that would become John’s in 1977, the structure served Kitty Hawk as a Dairy Mart. No stranger to the industry, Tice had already spent 30-some years in the restaurant business up north, where he mostly managed drive-thrus. Seizing the opportunity to relocate his growing family to the Outer Banks and strike out on his own, the location had the added appeal of including an onsite home – which was a big perk for a businessman who was also a consummate family man. The residence, which has since been removed, made it easy for the whole family to stay hands-on from the start.
2
A Family Affair
Every member of the Tice family played a part in the daily operations of John’s from day one. Originally open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Tice Sr. steered the ship with his decades of restaurant experience, while his wife, Pat, demonstrated her prowess in the kitchen by cooking and working on recipe development. Though still school-aged in the late ‘70s, the Tice children – John Jr., Mona and Tina – were also expected to lend a hand in the afternoons – which often meant manning the counter, prepping food and taking turns doing their homework on top of the freezer. John’s remained in the Tice family for 43 years before it sold to Outer Banks residents Chelsea and Jason Jordan in 2020. 50 | SU M M ER 2021
3
Desperately Seeking Southern
Although the dolphin boats, crab cakes and Cajun sauce have long been mainstays on John’s menu, that Southern flair wasn’t something that the Tice family knew much about when they first relocated to the Outer Banks. Hailing from Pittsburgh, the Tices were newcomers to Southern food, but they knew they needed to learn – and fast – in order to appeal to the local clientele. In order to expand their repertoire, Pat started visiting some of the small eateries on Hatteras Island, where old-timers taught her how to fry and smoke fish and make proper North Carolina barbecue. Mrs. Ellis at Frisco Pier even taught Pat her secret tartar sauce recipe – which had been around for generations, and is still on John’s menu today!
4
Must Love Dogs
As hardworking as they were, when the Tices did take vacations, a meal out always meant buying a hotdog for their four-legged family member, too – which spurred Tice Sr. to make sure that at John’s all dogs ate for free. An instant hit, John’s famous Pup Cups – which consist of a chopped-up burger or hotdog, free of charge – became a staple for families eating out with their canine companions. And while the Pup Cups have largely been served to dogs since they first graced the menu, they’ve also attracted many other visiting animals over the years, including horses, weasels, monkeys and once – perhaps most famously – a penguin.
5
Picture This
While “family first” was a big motto for the Tices, how they defined family wound up extending well beyond their immediate unit of five to all the people (and animals) who came to visit the drive-in over the decades. To commemorate that bond, Pat started a tradition of snapping pics of their customers with her Polaroid camera during the ‘80s. These pictures eventually came to be displayed collage-like on boards that earned a permanent space in John’s windows – sometimes capturing several generations of a family over a number of years – in a sort of communal scrapbook that continues to tell the story of this much-loved Outer Banks eatery.
