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.
Select/click any image to see it at double (or more) the current size. Select/click on the large image or any part of the darkened area to return to the blog page. Note: Table of contents is now located at the bottom of the page.
Slow day today – my companion took some time to just do some IT work, 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 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 like this one, but it was quite good. He meant to bring Vivian Howard's "Deep Run Roots" 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.
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!
All original content ©2025 Kevin Pittman and may not be reused without permission