This is a blog of my five-week exploration of culinary experiences in North Carolina. Baaswell Sheep is accompanying me and offering his own commentary on the trip, although he refuses to go into any place that serves lamb chops.
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Please note that all restaurant names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
After so many years, we made it to Chef and the Farmer, or more precisely, "The Counter at Chef and the Farmer". Not so sure about Chef Howard: she was eyeing me with that "mmm ... new lamb entree" look in her eye … okay, okay, I kid you like a goat. I'd imagine that Vivian Howard probably wasn't even in the building today, but my companion got to try her pork samosas and I nibbled on her watermelon salad, which to my surprise was pretty good (a combination of watermelon and avocado with a hint of jalapeno). From what we came to understand, the space being used for "The Counter" was previously the Chef and the Farmer gift shop. Which, basically makes the place rather unpretentious, as there's no gift shop at all now, no mention of her cookbooks anywhere, and no mention of her PBS shows. If you didn't know about those things, you'd have no idea that this place was special in any way. Still, the food was great, even if we didn't get to see the actual restaurant space that was featured on "A Chef's Life" for so many years. We'll be back tomorrow and again on Saturday early afternoon before heading out to our next destination. My companion already has his menu planned, but you'll just have to wait and see what he's going to order next.
Downtown Kinston, NC
It was hot as could be today, but we took a brief walk along Queen Street (more or less Kinston's main street) to see what the town is like. 'Dead' about sums it up in a single word. There's a few businesses left, but not many, and a lot of storefronts that have been empty for quite a long time. In one sense, that makes it interesting seeing all the remnants of the past, but in another way it makes it really eerie, especially with the distinct lack of people on the streets. Also strange was looking in the old bookstore and seeing that the back half had collapsed completely. On the other hand, we looked through the doors of an old bank and saw the biggest vault we'd ever seen in our lives (and no, that's not me sitting on the table in front of the vault – even zooming in on the original size hi-res image, I can't figure out what that thing is, but it's not an animal, real or stuffed). There seemed to be more life on the neighboring parallel street, Heritage Street, but it was too hot to keep exploring. Instead, we sought refuge in the air conditioning of the Lenoir County Library, which was a decent place to rest while my companion got some of his IT work done.
After a hot day we stopped in another North Carolina chain fast-casual restaurant, Smithfield Chicken 'N' Bar-B-Q. As I was tired, I let my friend Savannah the Fox go in with my companion, and she was so taken by the barbecue chicken that she forgot to make sure my companion took a picture of the meal. Never send a fox in to do a sheep's work. Well, at least they told me that the food was pretty good.
Day Nine: Kinston
Slow day today – my companion took some time to just do some IT work today, so we didn't explore much, but it was also still hot, hot, hot followed by a pretty good thunderstorm.
My companion wanted a quick, small lunch so we went back to the Smithfield and tried their Carolina Bright Leaf Hot Dog and some slaw. The strange irony was that the hot dog, with chili, onions, and mustard, cost less than the side of cole slaw, go figure. It was all good, though.
We returned to Chef and the Farmer tonight to try one of their 'after 5 PM' dinner dishes: the shrimp and grits. My companion says he's never seen a shrimp and grits that looked quite like this one, but it was quite good. He meant to bring Vivian Howard's "Deep Run Root" cookbook with him on this trip, but forgot to pack it, so he can't look into it right now to compare the dishes in the restaurant to the ones in her cookbook. We were surprised that the restaurant only had three other parties while we were there – we'd figured the place would be super busy on a Friday night, but the server said it was probably the weather keeping people away. In any case, we'll be back again tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday before we head off to our next destination, wherever it might be.
More to come as we return to The Chef and the Farmer tomorrow. Check back Saturday late evening for the next update!
After so many years, we made it to Chef and the Farmer, or more precisely, "The Counter at Chef and the Farmer". Not so sure about Chef Howard: she was eyeing me with that "mmm ... new lamb entree" look in her eye … okay, okay, I kid you like a goat. I'd imagine that Vivian Howard probably wasn't even in the building today, but my companion got to try her pork samosas and I nibbled on her watermelon salad, which to my surprise was pretty good (a combination of watermelon and avocado with a hint of jalapeno). From what we came to understand, the space being used for "The Counter" was previously the Chef and the Farmer gift shop. Which, basically makes the place rather unpretentious, as there's no gift shop at all now, no mention of her cookbooks anywhere, and no mention of her PBS shows. If you didn't know about those things, you'd have no idea that this place was special in any way. Still, the food was great, even if we didn't get to see the actual restaurant space that was featured on "A Chef's Life" for so many years. We'll be back tomorrow and again on Saturday early afternoon before heading out to our next destination. My companion already has his menu planned, but you'll just have to wait and see what he's going to order next.
