Morty's Joint

Morty's Joint is Sawtell's fried chicken and craft beer hangout on First Avenue, a Nashville-leaning, music-driven room that has picked up a Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide listing and a devoted village following. The Sydney Morning Herald's listing notes the outdoor tables lining the main street are dog-friendly, which makes it the easy evening stop when the dog has come along on the after-beach walk through the village.

The dog setup

Dogs sit with you at the outdoor, street-facing tables rather than inside the bar. The footpath strip runs close to passing foot traffic, so keep your dog leashed and settled beside the chair rather than spilling into the walkway. Nothing about water bowls is advertised, so bring your own, and pick a table with a bit of shelter if the evening breeze is coming up the avenue.

The menu

Free-range crispy fried chicken is the engine: sticky wings tossed in aromatic soy, herbs and sesame, fried chicken burgers stacked with house sauces and slaw, corn ribs on the side and the house duck fat chilli oil for anyone who underestimates it. The bar pours tap beer and frozen margaritas, there is free pool out back, and trivia and social nights fill the weekend calendar. Kitchen closes earlier than the bar, so order food by around 8:30pm on Friday and Saturday.

Getting there and parking

Morty's sits on First Avenue in the middle of the Sawtell village strip, with on-street parking along the avenue that fills during peak dinner service, so allow a lap of the side streets. The venue trades Wednesday to Saturday, from 5pm midweek and 3pm on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday to Tuesday closed. Weekday early evenings are the calm window with a dog; once the music crowd arrives on weekends the footpath gets loud and busy.

While you're out there

The Boambee dog lead creek walk is the pre-dinner leg-stretch, and the Boambee off-leash beach is a short drive south for a proper run before dark. Further along the same strip, Bar Que Sera runs its own dog-friendly street tables if the night is going long.

Max: free-range chicken, free pool, and I only need the first one.

More North Coast tables are on the NSW restaurants list, or browse Sawtell.