I was last in the Piedmont Triad two years ago, and could not find a hotel room for love nor money. I eventually settled on an awful, awful place in Winston-Salem that was so grim that I couldn’t wait to review it at Expedia and warn whomever would listen that it was, literally, the Bates Motel. Of course, had I checked those reviews before I left, then I would have seen that four of ten previous reviewers had already called it that. Continue reading “Stamey’s Barbecue, Greensboro NC”
Fuzzy’s Bar-B-Q, Madison NC
Just as I will never get used to how wide Tennessee and North Carolina are, I will also never get used to how quickly you can get from the south part of each state to its northern border. We left Lexington and it seemed like we were in Madison, twenty miles from the Virginia line, in the time it took for the awesome flavor of Smiley’s to pass on. Was it worth traveling so far north? Absolutely. As much as I enjoyed Smiley’s, I liked Fuzzy’s even better. Continue reading “Fuzzy’s Bar-B-Q, Madison NC”
Smiley’s Lexington BBQ, Lexington NC
So my daughter and I were visiting North Carolina together, and the third stop on our barbecue tour was at one of the ninety-something places in the city of Lexington that specialize in smoked pork. That is only a mild exaggeration. The city of 20,000 people is the home of about twenty different barbecue joints – about one for every thousand residents. This was only my second stop in the city, and I’m aware of a simple walking tour that takes in five of them. Just have cash handy if you try it; many of these places do not take plastic. Smiley’s also stands apart from most in town because it’s open on Sunday; very few of the others are. Continue reading “Smiley’s Lexington BBQ, Lexington NC”
M & K Bar-B-Q, Granite Quarry NC
People frequently ask us where we hear about the restaurants that we visit, and the honest answer is “lots of places,” but we have a great resource when it comes to this state. The North Carolina Barbecue Society features a famous Trail Map with, at present, 23 restaurants on it. At the conclusion of this trip, we’ve now visited 20 of them. I scheduled six new-to-us stops on this drive from their trail, but, and this is no exaggeration, my daughter and I also drove past at least nine other barbecue joints that we could easily have tried. Plus, Our State magazine has a BBQ NC app that will help anybody in the Old North State find something good to eat. Continue reading “M & K Bar-B-Q, Granite Quarry NC”
Bill Spoon’s Barbecue, Charlotte NC (take two)
In February, I took another two-day barbecue tour, and on this one, I spent a little more money than I sometimes do, because I brought my daughter along with me. She’s seventeen, a high school sophomore thinking about her college options. Or, more specifically, her old man’s thinking about her college options while she’s complaining about boys on Snapchat. Anyway, I dragged her along to North Carolina and visited seven new-to-me places and revisited a couple that I wanted to try again. First up was Bill Spoon’s, which Marie and I visited on our honeymoon road trip seven years previously. Continue reading “Bill Spoon’s Barbecue, Charlotte NC (take two)”
If I Only Had a TARDIS
So here’s a silly April Fool’s Day look at what I’d do if I could traverse time and space for a few meals. Here are some real places, sadly lost to time, that I either genuinely miss or never got the opportunity to try, and I could perhaps revisit with the assistance of a good time machine. I’ll take a stolen Type 40 that answers to the name “Sexy,” please. Continue reading “If I Only Had a TARDIS”
S & S Cafeterias, Tucker GA (CLOSED)
Because I’m something of a dimwit at the best of times, it never actually registered and sank in that Atlanta is home to two locations of the old S & S Cafeterias chain. In my meager defense, I’m rarely on Chamblee-Tucker Road and never on Campbellton, where the second Atlanta store is located, but that’s no excuse. S & S is an old Georgia chain and deserves a little notice. Unfortunately, the notice that finally got me to register that there’s an S & S on Chamblee-Tucker was the notice that it won’t be with us for much longer. Continue reading “S & S Cafeterias, Tucker GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 