On our second and third stops to Cosmo’s Pizzeria in the Corolla Light Shops and Bambino’s Little Italy, we were greeted by Matt who is the fortunate and talented owner of BOTH! In Cosmo’s we were treated to and learned the local lore behind their ‘Corolla Classic’ pizza generously piled high with mounds of sausage, pepperoni, meatball, mushrooms, onions and seasonings! This paired very well with a Natty Greene’s, a local Greensboro NC Brewery and Pub, Buckshot Amber Ale that held strong notes of caramel and mellow notes of toasted almond a little sweet and a little bitter just enough to cut some of the delicious grease I had just consumed! And, who could leave without trying their fried pickle basket??? They brought us TWO! They were the crispiest I had ever eaten and they were served with what looked and tasted like an avocado ranch. I’ll be back! On to Bambino’s Little Italy where Chef Randolph treated us to a milder take on a New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp dish with hints of lemon, butter and cracked pepper where’s the bread so I can sop up this sauce? Finger-licking good I’d say! Round two a house smoked, 3-day cured and peppered duck breast over a tangy sheep’s cheese polenta with house pickled asparagus and tomato accented with a balsamic reduction. Notice, I said ‘house’ twice they create many things ‘in-house!’ I like it like that how utterly thoughtful! To top this off, as if they could do any better they did a nibbling portion (the real portion is about 4 times this size!) of tiramisu! And, we had one young man at our tasting table who had never had duck OR tiramisu! What???