Lawrenceville, like Lilburn and Grayson and Snellville and all those other Gwinnett County municipalities, is in a black hole for our blog. Halfway from our house to Athens, I can’t quite get past the mental block that commands me to just drive on to Athens if I want to get some lunch, so the stars really need to line up right for me to visit a restaurant in these neighborhoods. Fortunately, I actually had lunchtime business – real live honest expense report for the mileage business – about six miles further up GA-316 one day a few weeks back, and so I could stop by Goad, a Texas-themed barbecue joint owned by a native of Abilene who’s brought his family’s style of cooking to this small suburban strip mall. His wife, Lisa Nutter Goad, had dropped me a line earlier in the year suggesting that I stop by. I love it when business owners reach out to us, even if the reality of our schedules means we don’t often get to visit. Continue reading “Goad Barbecue Company, Lawrenceville GA (CLOSED)”
Island Pho, Saint Simons Island GA
This is Marie, contributing an article about Island Pho, a Vietnamese place on St. Simons. The last time we visited the island, before Christmas, I recall seeing the store front, but it was either closed that day or not open yet. However, it was worth the wait to go this time. My mother and I took the toddler to have some lunch together and we had a very good meal. Continue reading “Island Pho, Saint Simons Island GA”
Tony’s Ice Cream, Gastonia NC
Is this the oldest business that we’ve visited for our blog? Tony’s Ice Cream in Gastonia has had a line out the door for ninety-nine years. They’re planning to celebrate the big centennial next year. How awesome is that? Congratulations to this old place for such a long time open to the public. They’ve even been in their current home longer than most restaurants have been around. They moved to this ugly yellow brick building in 1947. I’m not taken with its outside, and you’ll have to take my word that the inside is a lot better looking, because when I was there in the early evening, it was completely packed, and every lovely inch of old, formica table was taken, so I couldn’t photograph anything well. Continue reading “Tony’s Ice Cream, Gastonia NC”
Shrimp Boat, Gastonia NC
There are seven surviving Shrimp Boat / Boats restaurants from that chain that have continued since it folded into the present day. Previously, this blog has focused pretty exclusively on the two remaining from the 1969 period, as those are in the buildings that appealed to my sense of old restaurant architecture. But the other five shouldn’t be dismissed. They’re all part of one large and fascinating story. Continue reading “Shrimp Boat, Gastonia NC”
R.O.’s Bar-B-Q, Gastonia NC
The whole reason behind our sharing our love of food with you good readers is to celebrate differences and highlight places that just refuse to follow the directives of some corporation five states away from where you’re eating. We love to talk about regional specialties, and things that are important precisely because you can’t get them anywhere else. Continue reading “R.O.’s Bar-B-Q, Gastonia NC”
Sauceman’s BBQ, Charlotte NC
Most of the restaurants that I visited on this trip were older joints. The youngest of them, by many years, was Sauceman’s, which opened in early 2010. This is a restaurant formed by a competition team that surprised me with their tactic. They smoke shoulders, Lexington-style, and serve in the tray option like most of the restaurants in the area do, but they don’t actually offer a Lexington-style sauce to go along with it. They have three: an Eastern NC vinegar-based sauce, a sweet tomato-based sauce like we see a lot of in Georgia, and an Upstate/Piedmont South Carolina mustard-based sauce. Continue reading “Sauceman’s BBQ, Charlotte NC”
Photo Post 17: Vintage Walk-Up Dairy Queen in Charlotte
Let’s say that you’re in Charlotte and are making your way from the Rock Hill area to the celebrated Bar-B-Q King. That’s precisely what we did three years ago, and we drove right past this fun old vintage Dairy Queen and didn’t notice it. Quite some time later, I saw it featured along with several other old Dairy Queens at one of my favorite sites, Chopped Onion. I was amazed and aggravated that something so neat is located within sight of a restaurant that we visited and we missed it. Continue reading “Photo Post 17: Vintage Walk-Up Dairy Queen in Charlotte”
Marie, Let's Eat! 