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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Decided to try a local BBQ restaurant for lunch today. Can't complain about the portions – we should never have ordered two sides, especially when the side salad was enough for a whole meal (well, especially for a sheep). My companion couldn't find a sauce he really liked in spite of five options. He prefers a good Carolina vinegar sauce, but their's was made with apple cider vinegar, which is the one flavor vinegar he can't stand. Still, he enjoyed the 'cue and I enjoyed grazing on the salad.
Great museum with a cool dinosaur exhibit featuring realistic oversize models of some of the most notable dinosaurs and their Paleozoic relatives. I thought that would be the highlight, but the classic wildlife and wild habitat galleries were very well done with beautiful dioramas and exquisitely well preserved taxidermy animals. And, just to surprise you, in certain places they actually have some real animals, too (imagine my surprise when a small owl started moving its head and blinking its eyes at me, and then I looked down to see the food and water bowls.) Outside, they have a farm area with a handful of animals, but dagnabit my sheep relatives were all hiding inside their enclosure staying cool! Nice nature trail, too, which would be even nicer in cooler weather. (Sorry, but since my cousins refused to come out to see me, I declined to pose for a picture here.)
Hotel, Pineville, NC
No, duck is not on the menu – I'd have my companion's hide if he dared suggest such a thing. But, we had to marvel when we went out the side door of the hotel and discovered this mother duck going along with at least six little ducklings following her. We've no idea where they're living, as the only water around is the hotel pool.
Once upon a time, this Charlotte based chain opened a location in midtown Atlanta not far from where my companion worked, and he was was there every Friday at lunchtime for about five years. Then, in 2020, the pandemic shut them down and they never re-opened, and they never had any other locations outside greater Charlotte. So, he's been dying to get back to one and finally did so tonight. Their soups are amazing (if not a bit out-of-season when we're approaching a major heat wave) as are their sandwiches and iced tea (excuse me "thé glacé"). He had the chicken-pesto-goat-cheese sandwich (an old favorite) with a spinach-asparagus-leek soup. He's always raved about their caramel salted brownies and said nothing could top them – well, they managed to do that: introducing the caramel salted brownie torte, or as I like to call it, heaven on a plate! Even Mona gives her approval to this place!
Please note that all restaurant and product 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!
Decided to try a local BBQ restaurant for lunch today. Can't complain about the portions – we should never have ordered two sides, especially when the side salad was enough for a whole meal (well, especially for a sheep). My companion couldn't find a sauce he really liked in spite of five options. He prefers a good Carolina vinegar sauce, but their's was made with apple cider vinegar, which is the one flavor vinegar he can't stand. Still, he enjoyed the 'cue and I enjoyed grazing on the salad.
