We have visited Asheville several times before. We have come up during the chaos and craziness of the Bele Chere Festival three times, and we’ve come to town when the city wasn’t being turned upside down by it. So we were a little surprised to see the downtown area almost as packed with people in November as it is during the last weekend of July. It turned out that we were in town at the same time that Widespread Panic was playing a two-night stand at the civic center downtown. There are street musicians all over the place in Asheville all the time anyway, but this time the whole city was singing with guitars and saxophones and dulcimers and washtub basses. Continue reading “Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part one”
Category: north carolina
Ammons Drive-In and Dairy Bar, Waynesville NC
We agreed that it had been a disagreeably long time since we visited Asheville, and so began scheduling a trip. Earlier this month, we drove back to western North Carolina to spend a day in this beautiful country and the city that we really, really love. This time, we took a much different path getting there. Continue reading “Ammons Drive-In and Dairy Bar, Waynesville NC”
Shrimp Boats: The Story of a Shipwreck and its Survivors
(Second edition, Sept, 2015)
One of the most fun elements of our hobby has been researching long-lost southeastern restaurant chains. It’s comparatively easy to get a little backstory about a single business, but the story can become much more convoluted and fascinating when we’re digging into the past for little traces of what’s left when something distinctive and fun is trying to vanish. We’ve enjoyed learning about the story of Zesto in Atlanta and Columbia, and really loved tracking down what we found about Kay’s, Kay’s Kastles, and Ice Castle. Continue reading “Shrimp Boats: The Story of a Shipwreck and its Survivors”
Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC
Understanding the difference between a geographic divide and a cultural one might be the key to understanding North Carolina barbecue a little better. We’ll be coming up soon on our fourth anniversary of blogging and we have barely given the surface of barbecue in the Tarheel State a gentle rub, much less scratched it. I understand, for example, that the traditions of eastern North Carolina are not followed in the Lexington region, which, on the map, sure does look like the middle of the state to me, and not “western” North Carolina. I’m perhaps doing it wrong, dividing states into three geographic models, when the Tarheel traditionalists seem to split things half-and-half. Earlier this year, The Arrogant Swine penned a quite harsh criticism (12/15: link dead) of the western NC tradition of sliced pork. Since the Swine is a very open-minded blog, I’m not certain what surprised me more: the deep dislike espoused in the article, or the label. I’d have figured western NC as only the area on the left side of I-77, and not what looks to be the geographic center of the state. Continue reading “Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC”
Highland Brewing Company, Asheville NC
For the next brewery in my small and slow “learning a little about beer” project, I wanted to try something from Asheville, a place sometimes called “Beer City” and home to something like a dozen brewpubs and breweries, and a place we are long overdue to return. I went with Highland Brewing because I remembered really enjoying their Oatmeal Porter. I first had that when I paid my first of a couple of visits to Decatur’s Brick Store Pub and I’ve had it a couple of times at other places. If I had a top five beer list, Highland Oatmeal Porter would be on it. Continue reading “Highland Brewing Company, Asheville NC”
Nello’s Pasta Sauce
A couple of months ago, we got an email from a small pasta sauce company based in Raleigh. They suggested that we think about giving their sauce a try sometime, and I said that I’d keep an eye out for it. It took a few weeks before the road took me by a Whole Foods that carried it, but I am glad that it did. I really liked this a lot, and think that we will pick up some more sometime. Continue reading “Nello’s Pasta Sauce”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three
So, I’d enjoyed some pretty good barbecue at the last two places, and made my way north for my next stop. My friends at Roadfood.com had suggested that the next place that I needed to visit as I made my way east across the state was 521 BBQ & Grill, just south of the state line in the suburbs of Charlotte, and the best way to get there from Clover was to actually drive across Lake Wylie and get on Charlotte’s perimeter highway, I-485. After I made my way north across the lake, I spotted a strip mall with a Best Buy and gave myself a half-hour break to walk around, get at least a little bit of exercise, and shake my head at the quite ridiculous prices they charge for a USB cord to replace the one that I left at home. I figured it could wait until I got back to Atlanta. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three”
Marie, Let's Eat! 