Category Archives: North America

Posts about countries in North America

Well That Took a Turn…

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When I got up this morning I had no intention of doing a blog entry this weekend. Things changed.

I’d made up my mind I was going to go someplace new for breakfast this morning instead of one of my 4.5 regular weekly haunts. The half is someplace that makes every other rotation. Anyway, I settled on Sully’s Steamers (normally I’d link that reference but for reasons you’ll understand in a minute I’m not going to). I made a quick stop at the dump (ok it’s called the recycling center but anyplace I take my trash will always be “the dump” to me) and headed out.

On the way there I had to pass the lakeside park and the sunrise was looking pretty cool. I turn a quick right turn to see what it looked like over the lake.

The sun was pointing right at the picnic table. I thought about just grabbing a biscuit from the nearest open place and coming back but no, I decided to stick fast to my plan. To downtown Clemson I continued. I got to Sully’s Steamers (again no link) and they had just this week changed the hours and now didn’t open until 8:00am. That’s brunch time people. I didn’t see that coming and now had to pivot.

Delish Sisters (see the link) is located inside a boutique hotel just half a block down the road. Seemed a little fancy but hey it was open so I turned right and then left into the place. There was one couple having breakfast and a couple of folks seated more or less in the hotel zone having hotel coffee and me. The menu isn’t huge but it had some interesting looking choices. I opted for the Breakfast ‘Sarmie’.

I don’t know what a ‘Sarmie’ is but what I got was a fancy bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with a breakfast salad. Now I will say the eggs were nicely cooked, the bacon portion was generous and thick cut plus the cheese was aged white cheddar. Oh and there was garlic aioli and onion marmalade all on a lightly toasted ciabatta roll. I did give the mixed greens salad some side eye as salad isn’t a breakfast food for me. It turned out to be tasty with the garlicy, olive oily, savory dressing. On the whole it was delicious and the atmosphere was boutique hotel casual. I fired up my Kindle app and prepared to read and eat.

I am pulled away after half my sandwich by a voice obviously directed at me, “Looks like you and I are the only ones in the place.” I look up to find this gentleman smiling at me and taking the table next to mine. I smiled and confirmed he did have the head count correct and went back to my book and breakfast. “My group didn’t get in until 3am last night. I was in bed by 10:00” Since we had established it was only the two of us I knew he had to be talking to me. Oh man he’s one of those. I looked up, smiled, made eye contact and nodded willing him to silence. His will was apparently greater because he ignored my silent wishes and asked if I was from here or in town for graduation like he was. Seems his grandson had just graduated from Clemson.

As much as I started out as a reluctant participant in the conversation I spent the next hour chatting with Bryce. Turns out he’s a multimillionaire from just south of Dallas with global business concerns that started with a parking lot painting business. He’s kind of passionate about biomedical research and technology as a result of his granddaughter’s childhood cancer (she’s doing well now 15 years on). We talked about the value of travel, staying engaged and purposeful as you age, a whole of lot of medical technology, his company in Panama and the research they are doing with stem cell infusions. His son came down, assumed his dad had cornered another victim and apologized. He needn’t have as I told them both it was a real treat chatting with his dad.

So while it wasn’t the start to the day I had planned when I got up it was a really good start to the day. Hope yours is surprisingly delightful as well.

Sampler Combo

Brasstown BBQ Bounty

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I decided after some busy weeks I needed to shake things up and see if I could find someplace worth a write up.  I knew about Brasstown from a colleague’s recommendation.   It’s out in the country about 30 minutes from me and I do mean country.  You can see the foothills rising up as you’re getting near it and woods all around.

It’s built in a log cabin style, a large log cabin with a big open dining area. They have rustic farm decor and a corner paying homage to a service member who I assume is related to the business. There is a back porch area with seating and a stream running out back for a really nice atmosphere.

BCGP, as the merch has it, is open 2 days a week, Friday & Saturday. Summer hours are 4-9 and winter hours are 4-8. I’d been told they will run out of items so best to get there early. I made a plan. I ate a late (for me 7:30 is late) breakfast and skipped lunch. I did have some garlic parmesan jerky a couple of times to quiet the stomach’s whining. Anyway I arrived at 4:02 and the parking lot already had twenty or so cars sitting there. I entered and was met with a line of people stretching into the dining area on my left and a counter and kitchen area to my right. I walked to the back of the line and just to make sure I understood checked with the gentleman in front of me about the process. It seems you order at the counter (menus are available to peruse while you stand in line), pay with cash or personal check (none of that electronic nonsense) and they fill your order right then. They keep the meats in a warmer with a rotating rack so the meat dude can get whatever he needs to slice, chop, or score. The sides are prepped in little containers ready for the packer to grab and plate. Everything goes into a Styrofoam clamshell so whether you are dining in or taking out you are ready to go in short order.

I had every intention of dining in when I left home but as I was in line I heard people ordering the sampler and thought that was the ticket for me. I got to the menus and discovered the sampler was $35. Well that seemed a bit steep but it did come with 4 meats so I decided I’d still do it. Then I saw it came in two clamshells and that changed my plan to sampler and takeout. Here’s what I got.

I weighed this when I got home, including the piece of Texas toast, it was right at 5 lbs. As you can see there is a huge chicken breast, a half rack of ribs, pulled pork and sliced beef brisket plus 2 sides and some BBQ sauces. I took a sample from each protein plus the sides as dinner and separated the rest into a start for 6 more meals and I probably could have stretched it to 8 or 9 without being stingy.

How did it taste you might wonder. Well all of it was good, not great, but quite good. The chicken had the best seasoning. The other meats did benefit from a sauce. The sauces I got were the hot and what was supposed to be Carolina mustard, it even had CM on the lid, but it was in no way mustard based. I think it was maybe what they call St Louis style instead. It was sweet, which is not what I wanted. Whatever it was turned out to be ok. The sides you see are potato salad and Brunswick stew. These were actually very pleasant. The potato salad was relatively plain, which works for me, although they could have used a tad more mustard. The Brunswick stew was flavorful and loaded with meat. That piece of Texas toast was just dry white bread and I didn’t even bother with it. Oh and that hot sauce of theirs honestly tasted like a doctored up Tabasco or Texas Pete sauce. Again not bad but not outstanding either.

At the end of the day would I recommend Brasstown Creek Gathering Place? Yes I would. It is a different experience than most of the BBQ places around. There is a good value for your money. The food is cooked well, even if I think they could work on the seasoning and sauces. The atmosphere in the restaurant was one of community and there were some long rows of community tables as well as smaller 2-6 place tables. When I go again I think I’ll try to make in during the fall or early winter and go for the outdoor dining to enjoy the scenery and listen to the creek.

Beach Week International Goodness

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I just spent a week in Surf City, NC for the annual family beach week and it was great, as usual.

I wasn’t sure there would be much to blog about as the restaurants stay pretty much the same or the variants aren’t that noteworthy or I just have some favorites. There were a few surprises this year; an overlooked (by me) staple my nieces and nephews quite like, a couple of new places, and a surprise homecooked meal. Strap in, this is a longer entry.

My brother-in-law suggested those of us that arrive early meet at this place called JM’s On the Water and have some lunch and hang out until check in. He wasn’t able to make the trip but my sister and 2 of her kids and their significant others did plus my baby grand-niece. JM’s is a nice spot with a water view as you might expect from the name. We saw a couple of folks tie up at the attached dock and come in for some grub. The staff was friendly and plentiful out front so they kept our drinks filled and checked on us regularly but they food service was kind of slow.

I got their 1/2 lb cheeseburger, fried green beans and a flight of craft beer, mostly local.

The burger was huge as you might expect from an 8 oz slab of meat. The vegetable toppings were fresh but there was almost no seasoning on the burger which was a disappointment. The fried green beans on the other hand were quite well seasoned and cooked. I just kept eating them even after I should have stopped. The flight was interesting too because I picked a diverse selection. When I was choosing the beers and chatting with the waitress she was going on and on about the Honey Drip. That was her favorite and a really popular one then proceeded to tell me they were out of it. I considered giving her some grief for being Lucy with the football to my Charlie Brown (if you don’t get the reference you’re probably way younger than I am). At that point she yells to the bartender, “when are we getting more of the Honey Drip?” To which the bartender yells back, “we’ve got plenty right now.” Communication is key. It was a nice brown ale from a Wilmington brewery. The Murk Master is a hazy pale ale that is brewed with some flaked oatmeal. It was interesting, kind of light and hoppy. Mango Cart is a wheat beer brewed with real mango out on the west coast. It did have a mild mango taste and it was also light and refreshing. Lastly the Pacifico is a Mexican pilsner from Mazatlán. Once I got the fruit out of it I have to say it might have been my favorite paired with the meal although I enjoyed them all. See how I snuck that Mexican beer in to make this meal international?

A day or so later my nephew Alex and I decided to go to lunch and when we got in the car we were planning on one spot but on the drive we pivoted to try a new pizza place on the island that wasn’t there last year. BTW I’m counting this as Italian food. The place was Wildfire Pizza. When we got there we were the only ones there aside from Peter the guy running the joint all by his lonesome. Peter is a friendly dude and willing to discuss the pizza, answer questions and generally chat about how he’s hoping to make this 4 week old business take off. He also actively solicited feedback and told us how he’d made some menu adjustments already. I was happy to see actual flames in the oven and the dough and sauces are made in house. The items that can be sourced locally are and taste fresh. There is only a 12″ option and both being boys of stout stature we decided we could each put a hurting on our own but decided to get two separate ones and swap half. I got the Surf City Pizza and he got the Snead’s Ferry.

Both of these have seafood which is honestly something I’d not normally even consider but we were at the beach and living on the edge. Alex’s Snead’s Ferry had chunky spiced red sauce, ricotta cheese, shrimp, jalapenos, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Let me promise you Peter was generous with all the toppings including the jalapenos. My Surf City started with an error as Peter got ricotta happy after making the Snead’s Ferry and loaded that on there instead of the mozzarella. He apologized and was going to remake it but I put the kibosh on that. I told him to throw the mozzarella on there too and keep moving. Here’s a little secret, it was better with the accidental ricotta that it would have been with just the mozzarella and I told him to consider making that the norm. In addition there was the chunky spicy red sauce, a boatload of flaked salmon, Kalamata olives and fresh basil. Holy cow these were good pizzas! And filling like you wouldn’t believe. Instead of swapping halves we had one piece of the other and took half of each back to the house where they got hoovered up by other members of the family. That was a really good experience and I very much hope they last and prosper.

The next stop on our International tour is Fancy Sushi. Most all of the nieces and nephews hit this place every year and they let the old guy tag along this year. It’s a mixed menu, Chinese and Japanese. Most of us got at least one sushi roll from their extensive list. I ordered us a couple of appetizers. The dumplings arrived before the main courses and one showed up at the end. Those tardy tempura vegetables got waved off and with apologies removed from the bill.

I think they do a good job with presentation and they were decent on the whole. I have to say though the one with the yellow sauce I don’t even remember what it was. The one on the left was the Beach Bum Roll and was quite tasty. It had spicy tuna and mango topped with tuna, salmon, yellow tail and eel drizzled with eel sauce and red tobiko. I heard good things about the Super Duper Roll, the Pink Lady and the Sexy Girl. Overall I’d give the place 3.5 stars. Solid enough to eat at but I’ve definitely had better.

I’ve mentioned in previous beach week blog entries that the evening meal is a family one and we take turns being responsible for the meals. When the “kids” got their own night a couple of years ago it was fun to watch them all try to work at it. The results that first year was some pretty rough spaghetti that we ate because we loved them. Anyway, this year one of my nephews brought his girlfriend who is Filipino. Unbeknownst to her he had volunteered them for a Filipino night. She learned of this sitting around the table the first night of the trip. She thought she was being punked and we’d have let her off the hook but once she got over the panic and dealing with the fact that she doesn’t really cook she gamely stepped up to the challenge. There are not a plethora of Asian markets in or around Surf City so they did what they could with the international aisle at a couple of grocery stores. After four hours of prep and cooking we had our Filipino night meal courtesy of Danielle & Jesse with a little help from my sister Dee.

We had adobo chicken wings and rice plus a big old pan of Filipino spaghetti. Unlike the first “kids” spaghetti this was easy to get down. What, you may ask, made this different from regular baked spaghetti? Well, it was made with hand crafted banana ketchup and had cut up bits of hot dog in it (Sheldon Cooper would have been proud). Both were tasty and I think the chefs were proud of their accomplishments as we were of them for taking on the challenge.

Overall a really good trip with family and in spite of my initial thoughts that I’d just be eating the same old, same old there was plenty of new to be had.

Breakfast Flounder? It’s Not Bad But It’s No Bacon

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My third fish of February was flounder for breakfast. There are places in the world where seafood for breakfast is just breakfast and even in parts of the southern US fish and grits are thing. It was not a something I grew up eating and never developed a taste for it. Having chicken was straying pretty far from the pork parade for me so trying fish for breakfast was a must do this month. I mentioned fish and grits are fairly well known in certain parts of the US but this is not a spot you find it on all the menus. I was confident I’d seen on the menu at Dimas Brothers Cafe here in Seneca so off I went.

They did indeed have a fried flounder breakfast plate that came with 2 eggs, grits or home fries, biscuit or toast. I selected scrambled, grits and sourdough to go with my 2 filets.

Let me address the obviously weird scrambled eggs. They really just chopped up an omelet, it didn’t affect the taste and the yolks and whites were scrambled together but I mean come on, either leave it as an omelet or scramble them while you cook them. Another non-standard but good deviation were the grits. They make them with milk or cream which does make them smoother and creamier than those made with water but also thicken faster. The flounder filets have a light batter and are fried to a crispy golden brown. The fish was light and very mild. There wasn’t much seasoning on the fish so the house made tartar sauce was a welcome addition. The combo turned out better than I thought it was going to. Truthfully the eggs were the weakest link on the plate. The portions were such that I wound up only finishing all of the fish and leaving a bit of the rest and walked out feeling satisfied.

I’m still a bacon or sausage first kind of guy but I’m not going to dismiss the fish out of hand anymore.

Starting Fishy February at Goodine’s

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I like themes for a number of reasons one of which is they can help narrow focus when you’re decision making. The lack of diversity with regard to restaurants offering international dishes makes adhering to the blog’s tagline tough sometimes. This affects motivation and ultimately produces gaps in entries. All that to say I decided I’d pick a theme and work with it this month. My affinity for alliteration aided in theme topic selection. Fish for February. My plan is to have a fish dish each weekend and not just fried fish but probably some Asian and European representative choices as well.

For the first entry I decided to go to the closest restaurant to me that sells fish, Goodine Seafood . They are a tad over 4 miles away. I know they make their food to order and the fried chicken is good so the fish is likely to be as well.

Goodines occupies a cinderblock building in the fork of a road across the street from a Dollar General. It’s that place in the middle of nowhere that you know has to have good food just to survive being in the boondocks. The couple that runs / owns the place are pleasant but businesslike in getting the orders done. The set up is odd in that the fryer is in a section of the building that requires the guy to go outside and then in to the area where it is. There’s a window pass through so the food can be passed through. Odd but they make it work.

The main menu offers a choice of 4 different fishes and off to the side flounder was added after the fact for a fifth fish. The 4 are swai, tilapia, whiting and catfish. I got swai because it’s not one you see on every menu. The Fish Combo was my choice. That’s 2 pieces of fish, 2 sides and a drink. If you want just 1 piece that’s Fish. Fish Dinner nets you 3 pieces of fish. You can also get a fish sammy with fries if that’s more your thing.

For my swai side selections slaw seemed simple (I might have a alliteration problem). Since they didn’t have mac & cheese as an option any more I kept it seafood and got crab salad for the second side. OK, I have to say I’m still not over the mac & cheese thing. She said they stopped carrying it a while back. So take it off the board or tape over it don’t be a mac & cheese tease. Now that I got that off my chest I do feel a little better. Anyhow, they have hush puppies, which I was brought up to expect with fried fish, but they are a side and instead you get a roll. The other disappointment, although a minor one, was the slaw. It was straight out of a supermarket tub. Their crab salad on the other hand was something entirely new for me. It was made with imitation crab but it was made to order. I heard her back there chopping it up and mixing it up. There was a little celery and cilantro added and a dressing I’m not quite sure of. There was a little mayonnaise but the redness came from some kind of chili pepper sauce. It might have been siracha but it had more of a chipotle taste and there was almost no heat. It tasted good. The fish was the absolute best part of the lunch, as is right. Light cornmeal coating seasoned just right. Fried to the golden brown you see. The fish itself was mild and flaky almost silky. Very nice and considering it is deep fried not greasy at all. They really do a good job. I grabbed this to go though because the Senior Bowl was coming on shortly.

So week 1 of Fishy February was a success.

DC23: The Covidy One

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I was going to title this TTWIHGFWPUC part 2 but that seemed awkward so an alternate had to be workshopped. I didn’t workshop it too hard as you can see. This is about food nominally anyway so let’s move on.

Most of my meals were from the usual suspects but I did manage to squeeze in a new place. First up was Amalfi Cucina & Mercato a nice little Neapolitan Pizzeria on the second floor of a downtown building. I’ve been there before so I knew they had great pizza. What I forgot was how big the pizza is and that I don’t eat quite as much as I used to.

As you can see they were not at all stingy with the pepperoni and the little char on the crust just made this such a nice slice. Or series of slices if I’m being honest. I didn’t eat it all but I did put a hurting on it. The sauce and cheese tasted fresh and the crust was reasonably thin. Adding to all this the Creature Comforts IPA that magically appeared (after I ordered it) and if I hadn’t been doing so much walking I’d have gone into a happy little food coma after this meal.

The next place I got something new was one of the usual spots, Pacific Rim Bistro. They are so convenient to the convention hotels and have great Asian food. I got a Dragon Roll, because DragonCon, and I’m at times a creature of habit. The new thing though was the soup of the day, a coconut chicken soup.

Wow was this good. It had some scallions and mushrooms as well but the coconut flavor bathing the little bites of chicken that was somehow both bold and yet subtle relegated them to a filler role . I would absolutely have this again. Fun fact, I have this same spoon at home. No, not because I stole the one in the photo but because I bought some years ago. I like the design.

The last place is the one new establishment within the con footprint I visited. I’ve walked by Cuts Steakhouse for I don’t know how many years without giving it a lot of consideration. Mostly because I figured a downtown steakhouse had to be a $$$ place. This time I figured I’d find out for sure and it wasn’t busy so I’d get away from the crowd. I was seated quickly in the bar area at a high top with a nice view out the window so I could see my fellow confolk but also enjoy quiet. I got the Manhattan steak sandwich and a cider to wash it down.

Holy Cow! Reference intended. That might not have been the best steak sandwich I’ve ever had but I don’t remember a better one. The steak was so tender I felt decadent eating it. There were just enough mushrooms and onions on the sandwich to enhance it without taking anything away from the flavor of the beef. The smoked gouda and warm semi-crusty roll just wrapped up the whole thing like a nice tie and matching pocket square set off a well fitting suit. I liked it is what I’m trying to get at. The cilantro garlic fries were ok but they were just an afterthought compared to the sandwich. Oh and that cider was crisp, mildly sweet and a little tart. Another fine accessory for that sandwich. It was the most expensive lunch of the weekend but dang it was worth doing the one time for sure. Maybe next year too. The menu had some other good looking options though so who knows.

From a culinary standpoint it was a good weekend at DragonCon and downtown Atlanta. On the positive front I did get my smell and taste back after just a couple of days so life is good.

Wicked Sausage Lunch

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Well it was more like impish than truly wicked which is ok. That’s what lunch was too, OK. Not great, but good enough.

This Saturday would have been my Dad’s 83rd birthday and the last trip we took together was to Cherokee, NC and the casino there. I figured I’d celebrate his birthday by donating some dollars to the Cherokee tribe and grab some lunch from one of the several restaurants available on site. After an up and down morning at the slots & video poker machines and some mixed luck at the craps and roulette tables it was time for lunch.

I thought about the Gordon Ramsay Food Market but decided I’d go looking for Guy Fieri’s Kitchen & Bar instead. Turns out it’s in the Hotel section not the Casino section so I didn’t find it. However, I did find the Wicked Week Brewpub. I like pub food and beer and they weren’t that busy so I opted to give them a try.

Seating was done quickly and the lady who would be my server was Jenny on the spot. They had flights of beer and I’m not one to pass those up since I love variety. I asked her to give me a minute to pick them out and I’d probably be ready with the food order too.

They have 3 flight options, a set 4 mostly IPAs, a fancy flight from the Funkatorium options and a flight from their Special and Seasonal selections. I wasn’t feeling all that funky so decided to save the extra $ (I was down $50 for the day at that point too) and get some of the seasonal / regular options. This is where disappointment started.

There were 7 options to choose from and the flight was made of up of 4. The Strawberry Kiwi Burst Session Sour, check. Watermelon Burst Session Sour, oops they were out. Lunatic Blonde Belgian, sorry out of that too. Fresh Pressed Wheat Ale, maybe out of that too. At this point she goes away to see what they do have. I ended up with the Fresh Pressed Wheat Ale, Player’s Club Pale Ale, Strawberry Kiwi Burst, and the Hefeweizen Weissbier.

They were all ok. The Fresh Pressed was brewed with pineapple, mango and guava. It tasted tropical but not especially of any of the included fruits. The Player’s club was a very hoppy ale. The strawberry kiwi was mostly strawberry and not much of a sour. The Hefeweizen was actually a nice palette cleanser between the others. All of them went ok with my lunch which was a brat and sweet potato fries.

Again, OK was the theme of the day. The brat is supposed to be chargrilled with caramelized onions and Lusty Monk whole grain mustard. Honestly Johnsonville has a more flavorful brat and if you’re going to name your mustard it should be better than my Food Lion brand mustard, this was not. The caramelized onions though they nailed. The sweet potato fries looked like they were the bottom of the bag where all the little pieces gather. They did taste good but it was kind of sad picking through the little bits and bobs to get a decent sized fry. It was (wait for it), OK. A filling lunch and for being in a Hotel / Casino the price wasn’t bad. Next time GR’s food market will be where I go or maybe a trip to the hotel side for Guy’s joint.

I did manage to have a bit of luck at the roulette table on the way out and not only recouped my losses but paid for lunch and gas. So pretty good day.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

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This entry is as much about lessons as food. Saturday is my eat breakfast out day and today I wanted to try someplace different and since I had two errands that would take me towards Anderson I opted to see what options I had. I decided to try Mr River’s Breakfast Joint downtown even though I had a quibble with them calling themselves a breakfast joint and not opening until 8:00 am. Off I went checking off one errand to kill time until 8:00 and going down a cool little stretch of road that at certain times of the day feels like you’re going through a green tunnel.

I was almost there when I saw a road closed sign barring my path. Pivot and discover downtown Anderson likes their one way streets almost as much as downtown Atlanta. Make the next turn and another block. Apparently they have something going on and Main St is blocked off and the place I want is in the middle of the blocked off area. I could have found someplace to park and walk but I was mad at being inconvenienced and having to drive around looking for a solution so I said “shucks”, or something to that effect and decided to go home mad.

The route home was different and out of the corner of my eye I saw Grace’s Restaurant sign. They were actually the runner up in my search this morning and had the good grace (see what I did there) to open at 6:30 for breakfast. I did a u turn and pulled in to a pretty full parking lot.

I wouldn’t say Grace’s is off the beaten path but it’s not on the main drag either. It’s one of those places that if you know you know. Rather than take up one of the precious open tables I hopped a stool at the counter. It took a minute for someone to get me a menu and some coffee but not much more than that. The menu is fairly standard diner fair and I kept my selections from their Build Your Breakfast section standard too. 2 eggs – over medium please. Pick your meat – sample 2 bacon & 1 sausage patty. Pick your side – buttered grits. Bread – biscuit, thank you.

That out of the way I got to look around a bit. The tag line for Grace’s is Faith – Food – Family and they have a family atmosphere and a reminder to check out John 3:16 in chalk under one of the specials. All they needed was decent food to live up to the billing. One other thing I noticed. The staff weren’t a bunch a chatters. They were pleasant, attentive and purposeful. It was busy and they were efficient which I very much appreciated. My food was delivered.

I was pleasantly surprised at the split grilled biscuit. I hadn’t seen one of those since my list visit to Red’s in Rock Hill a few years ago. As simple as this was it was a very good breakfast. Every element was just about perfect. The grits, ideal consistency. The eggs, just runny enough. Bacon, crispy without being overcooked. Sausage, could have been hotter but otherwise very good. Grilled biscuit, butter or jam would have been extraneous.

To paraphrase the Stones, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. I’m glad I made that u turn literally and attitudinally.

Kind of Wrong But Also Good

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This feels a little contrary to the blog premise but I kept it very local this morning for breakfast. The closest to international I got was considering the huevos rancheros and pimento cheese and bacon quesadilla on the menu. What menu? Where? Don’t worry I’m getting there.

I wanted someplace new and maybe different for breakfast today so I drove into Clemson to try the Sunnyside Café. It’s in a place new enough my car’s GPS didn’t have a clue, however Google maps got me there just a few minutes after they opened. I was impressed there were already 4 cars parked when I got there. When I first walked in there was only one person greeting and seating so it took like 3 minutes before I was led to a table. Since both the young woman that seated me and the one that waited on me both apologized for the wait I figured I could overlook the horrific wait time.

Sunnyside can handle a fair number of folks with about 30 or so tables in the main area and a side room with a few more. By the time I got my coffee and made my choice from the menu there were 3 more people working the floor and 3 or 4 more tables occupied. The menu had some standard breakfast fare in addition to the above mentioned hispanic inspired dishes. There is a Cuban inspired breakfast sub and shrimp and grits plus a vegetarian benedict dish right next to one with 2 meats, 2 fried carbs and eggs. Good variety.

There was a dish that intrigued me because it skated on the edge of blasphemy but sounded delicious too. The Sweet Fried Grit Patties were something I just had to try.

Now being a good southerner means putting sweet stuff in my grits is taboo. If others do it I chalk it up to poor upbringing or ignorance of how grits should be treated. These however were grit patties so I could rationalize the choice by the fundamental change in grit structure. The meal comes with 2 eggs and either home fries or cheese grits. I doubled down on the grits. Cheese being savory is acceptable in regular grits in case you were wondering. I did get a side of sausage since it doesn’t come with a meat option standard.

The titular sweet comes in the form of a sorghum peach compote that I was kind of scared was going to be cloyingly sweet but it was a very pleasant surprise. It was sweet but lightly so which allowed the peach flavor to be prominent and go nicely with the grits. I have to say the grit patties were also cooked perfectly. Lightly fried so the outside was crisp and the inside was firm and warm. Great texture and taste combination. The cheese grits had a bit of cream or something in them to make them a bit more, well, creamy. The sausage was good and the eggs were scrambled just right. There was actually so much I had to walk away and leave a bit on the plate.

Doing a call back to the first paragraph I have to talk about the localness of my meal. It’s something they tout and I’m glad to support. The eggs are from one of 3 nearby farms, the sausage is from McCall’s in Honea Path, the grits from Hurricane Creek Farms in Pelzer, and the sorghum was from furthest away, Monterey, TN. Even the coffee was from a nearby roaster.

As a parting thought I have to say the employees were all very friendly and the fact there were at least 15-20 tables occupied when I left testified to that being the normal state of affairs. Along with some good food of course. I will definitely be going back to try a few more items on the menu.

Knocking the Dust Off

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As the young folk say, it’s been a minute since I added new content. The domain and hosting just renewed and college football isn’t taking up my Saturday’s so I figured it was time to do a little something with the Culinary-Passport.

I decided to just pull up Google Maps and scroll around until I saw something that intrigued me. I found Pat’s Cash & Carry in Salem, SC.

Pat’s is in an area I haven’t been through before and the route would take me by Lake Keowee on a mostly sunny winter day so I might see if I could get a good picture of it in addition to lunch. It was a nice drive through the country with the lake on one side and at a certain point the Oconee Nuclear Power Station on the other. The first photo below is the view from my parking place. Restroom outside and around the building, Oh Yeah! This was going to be good.

This was very obviously a converted old country store and if the outside didn’t give it away the interior did even though it is a restaurant you can feel the old store vibe. There was one lady working the place and I got there just behind 2 other parties. A trio of gents was seated and a young lady and her daughter were getting some dog’s to go. I placed my order for two Hot Dogs – Works. The lady’s name working the counter I learned was Karen. She asked me if I wanted “Mustard, ketchup, mayo…” and in my enthusiasm I cut her off and said “all of it, all the works”. Karen told me to have a seat and she’d get them to me. The drinks and chips are in coolers and racks, you grab what you want and pay at the register when you’re done.

I was eyeballing the place while waiting and I liked the atmosphere. The tables have cloth covers but then they are covered by thick clear plastic sheeting. Clean up’s a breeze. Some of the signs look original and some might be newly aged but the big photo of the place from a few decades back is real enough.

I grabbed my soda and a bag of Zapps Cajun dill chips to go with my dogs and settled in to absorb the ambiance and listen to the 3 old guys at the next table gabbing about stuff. I say old, 2 of them were right in my age bracket but that other guy, he was old. Anyway it didn’t take long before Karen showed up as promised.

For those playing at home the Works consists of mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, onion, chili, cheese, slaw, and relish on a tasty hot dog and lightly steamed bun. I don’t think there were any fancy made on premises toppings here but it was all fresh and good quality. In hindsight I should have gotten one hot dog and chips or two hot dog and no chips or any of several other options that meant shoving less food in my mouth but sadly I did none of those things. Consequently I paid cash and carried out a very overfed belly.

I did get a good dose of history when one of the trio asked how long the place had been around. Original building was erected in 1910. The add on where the bathrooms are is actually the side where the original front door was. Also when the county was paving the main roads where this intersection is they brought in equipment to lift and rotate the building. Another add on and shop completed work. After the history class I headed home. I did manage to pull off the side of the road and get some shots of Lake Keowee (created by the damming of the Keowee river for the power plant).

Overall it was a pretty good first outing of 2023.