Memorial Day weekend is here, and at Cotton Patch Landing that means one thing in particular: the Creekside Grill food bus is back. The serving window reopened Friday, May 22, 2026, kicking off a Friday-through-Sunday season that runs through Labor Day weekend.
A few things changed this year, including the hours and the menu, so here’s the updated rundown plus what’s happening on Blount’s Creek and the Pamlico right now.
What Creekside Grill Actually Is
Marina, campstore, and Creekside Grill all sit within a short walk of each other.
The short version: Creekside Grill is a converted food bus parked alongside our marina, serving made-to-order food out a window. The 2026 menu is bigger and more local than last year. A few highlights:
- The Patch Burger, a third-pound burger built on two smash patties with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. Add bacon, an extra patty, or chili and slaw.
- Shrimp Po-Boy, with seasoned grilled shrimp, cabbage, tomato, onion, pickle, and chipotle sauce on a 6-inch hoagie or as a tortilla wrap, served with fresh lemon wedges.
- Bright Leaf Carolina Red Dog, North Carolina’s classic red hot dog, alongside the Nathan’s beef dog.
- Breakfast: breakfast sandwich, breakfast burrito, Patch Platter, and a hashbrown bowl with eggs, veggies, and cheese.
- Sides: corn fritters dusted with powdered sugar, fries, hashbrowns, mozzarella sticks, cup of chili, coleslaw.
- For the kids: chicken tenders with fries (3 or 5 tenders) and corn dogs with fries (1 or 2 dogs).
The full current menu, plus weather-related changes and any rotating specials, lives on the Creekside Grill Facebook page and the Google Business listing. Check there before you walk over.
2026 Hours: New This Year
The schedule shifted later for 2026:
- Friday: 12pm to 6pm
- Saturday: 10am to 6pm
- Sunday: 10am to 3pm
- Monday through Thursday: Closed
One important note for this weekend: Creekside Grill is closed on Memorial Day Monday, and it’ll be closed on Labor Day Monday too. If you’re staying through the holiday, plan your Sunday accordingly. The Cotton Patch campstore is still open Monday with prepackaged sandwiches, snacks, beer, ice, and the rest of the essentials.
Why These Hours
The Grill is built around the rhythm of the marina and the campground. Three things shaped the new schedule:
- Friday afternoon is when the weekend arrives. Most of our weekend guests check in between 3pm and 6pm. Opening at noon Friday means the Grill is ready when people pull up and want a meal before they unload the boat.
- Saturday covers brunch through dinner. The 10am to 6pm window catches late breakfast, post-fishing lunch, and an early dinner before the campfires get going.
- Sunday is a shorter window because guests are checking out. 10am to 3pm covers brunch and a final meal before the drive home.
The food bus model itself matters too. A permanent restaurant kitchen would have meant either higher prices or shorter hours. The bus keeps the menu tight enough to execute well, the prices reasonable, and the operation small enough that it doesn’t pull staff away from the marina, the bait shop, or the campground itself.
How to Stack a Memorial Day Weekend Day Around the Grill
Here’s a realistic Saturday at Cotton Patch this weekend:
- Sunrise to 10am. Coffee at your RV or cottage. If you’re an early angler, this is your window: load the boat, grab live shrimp or mud minnows from the bait shop, which carries Big Rock Sports gear plus live and frozen bait from Perry Minnow Farm and Cape Point Baits.
- 10am. Creekside Grill opens. Breakfast burrito, hashbrown bowl, or Patch Platter on the way out, or stop back in if you’re already on the water.
- 11am to 1pm. Peak fishing or paddling. Launch out of our deepwater ramp into Blount’s Creek, or paddle a rental kayak up the creek if you’d rather stay quiet.
- 1pm. Back at the dock. Patch Burger and fries, or a Shrimp Po-Boy, while the kids work through chicken tenders.
- Afternoon. Swim, nap, walk the dog, or drive 15 minutes into downtown Washington and the NC Estuarium if you want a break from the property.
- 5pm to 6pm. Last call at the Grill. Pick up a Bright Leaf red dog or a quesadilla, then head back to your site for the fire.
What’s Biting on Blount’s Creek Right Now
Late May puts puppy drum and speckled trout within easy reach of the Cotton Patch ramp.
A quick note for the anglers. Late May on the upper Pamlico is in a specific window: striped bass harvest season closed April 30 in the Tar-Pamlico, so stripers are catch and release only right now per the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. What’s open and active:
- Speckled trout along the grassy shorelines and oyster bars at first light and last light. Live shrimp under a popping cork, or soft plastics on a quarter-ounce jig head.
- Puppy drum on the shallow flats and around marsh edges, especially in the late afternoon as the water warms.
- Flounder showing up around docks, points, and the mouth of the creek as water temperatures climb.
If you want to track water conditions before you launch, the USGS gauge at Pamlico River at Washington publishes real-time temperature and gauge height data a few miles upstream from us.
One housekeeping reminder: Blounts Creek is inland freshwater, so anyone 16 or older needs a valid North Carolina Inland Fishing License. You can buy one online through the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. The campstore can answer questions, but we don’t sell licenses on-site.
If birds are more your thing than fish, we covered the spring scene a few weeks back in our Inner Banks birding guide, and most of those species are still around.
Planning Your Visit
Cotton Patch Landing is at 2018 Cotton Patch Rd., Chocowinity, NC 27817. The main office number is (252) 946-8226. Memorial Day weekend tends to fill up early, but we still have RV and cottage availability for the rest of the summer. Book a site or cottage here, or call us if you’d rather talk it through.
If you’re already on property this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, come say hi at the Grill. We’ll have the window open.
