Restaurant Vujas Dé on Oleander

The PubScout discovers that The Sounder is no rerun — just seriously good seafood and beer and one of the best burgers in the Port City in building that offers old bones and fresh energy.

Whether one has experienced it or not, the term déjas vu is well known. That’s the sense that somewhere, somehow we’ve done all this before in our life or in another.

And I did get a sense of that as I walked into Grant Steadman’s newest venture into the fine-dining world called The Sounder. So did my dining partners, Lisa, Ray and the missus.

We discussed the feeling as we sat down and waited for delightful Alicia to come take our order. There was definitely something very familiar about this place.

And it wasn’t the bright, whitewashed-bricked, airy glass-paneled dining area that made one feel as though they were actually dining outside. It definitely had to do with the layout and the huge bar area.

Then Lisa pointed out that, “I think we sat in that booth over there! Back when it was Hop Something.”

And then it dawned on me. “Hops Supply Company! I did a story on this place a few years back.”

That was in 2022, and unfortunately, HOPSCO, as it used to be called, was no longer in business. But fortunately, The Sounder, at 5400 Oleander, certainly is.

In fact, I had recently covered another place in the Steadman stable a few weeks earlier called the Flying Machine Brewing Company Oyster Bar. My discussions with staff there tipped me to the relatively new presence of The Sounder.

I had seen posts about it on IG, but it never dawned on me that it was linked to the very successful companies of the Flying Machine Brewing Company (FMBC). When I researched it further, I learned it was Steadman’s and that the place was named in honor of his mother-in-law, who was, in fact, a “sounder.”

As the website suggests:

Our name Sounder comes from a coined family nickname and a nod to local history.
Decades ago, Caroline’s mother was dubbed a sounder by friends since she frequently flocked from her home in the rural part of the state to the coast. Early Cape Fear residents of the sounds of North Carolina were the working class, mostly fishermen, farmers and laborers, whose daily lives revolved around the water. It’s to these original residents we pay homage for shaping what our community and culture is today.

Caroline’s mother would have undoubtedly been proud of the place named for her, as it’s a most comfortable place to dine and with many areas in which to do it.

The bar area is massive with cozy booths along the side. We sat on the upper level which, as aforementioned, was glassed in to give an outdoorsy vibe. There are other separate rooms to accommodate special events, and there’s an outdoor pergola patio that’s absolutely inviting and gorgeous.

Of course, ambience alone does not guarantee return visits. Excellent, consistent food of high quality and friendly attentive service do that.

Having sampled the fabulous oysters at FMBC Oyster Bar, I was primed for a few as an appetizer. Alicia brought me some of those delicious Green Gills and some knockout Topsail Island Points, along with all the fixins, including horseradish, lemon, cocktail sauce and mignonette.

My usual approach is to photograph every dish that comes to the table, but these babies looked and tasted so good, I had finished them before I could get my phone out. And they matched up perfectly with that incredible FMBC Pilsner.

On a side note, the FMBC carries all of its exceptional beers at the Randall Parkway site, and many of those beers are also at the FMCB Oyster Bar in Wrightsville Beach. But The Sounder is the only one that also carries “outside” beers for guests who prefer them.

Moving on to Executive Chef Jason Burrows’ menu, the Missus and her sister each ordered a large Pear Salad topped with sauteéd shrimp. The size of the portions looked as though they might require accompanying take-home boxes, but the ladies managed to finish them in house, with smiles on their faces.

Ray and I faced the question of what to order when you come to a place famous for its seafood.

Why smashburgers, of course. Alicia had shared that she had many guests who declared the Sounder’s smashburgers to be the best in the Port City.

And I’ll be dunked in sauce if they weren’t. So big, we had to ask for ours to be cut in half so we could bite into them without spraying sauce and juices over our table mates.

And Ray, who has earned the title of The Burger King of Carolina Beach, issued an edict on the spot and declared them to actually be the best he’d ever had. That’s no small honor.

And the fries that accompanied the burgers, dusted with grana Padano, never had a chance to see a take-home box, what with the French Fry Queen sitting at my right hand.

We were just recovering from the dinner when Alicia brought out the desserts — bowls of house-made ice cream and a Maple Crème Brûlée that about had me asking for assistance to my car.
That’s when it hit me.

Vujas Dé.

Which is the feeling that NONE of this has ever happened before.

But I can guaran-damn-tee you it will happen again.

Want to go?
The Sounder
5400 Oleander Drive, Wilmington
(910) 200-2204
the-sounder.com
Monday: closed
Tuesday to Thursday: 11 am to 2 pm (lunch); 4 to 10 pm (dinner)
Friday: 11 am to 2 pm (lunch); 4 to 11 pm (dinner)
Saturday: 10 am to 2 pm (brunch); 4 to 11 pm (dinner)
Sunday: 10 am to 2 pm (brunch); 4-10 pm (dinner)
*A limited menu is offered daily between 2 and 4 pm