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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Wanting to get back into our North Carolina cuisine journey, and learning from past mistakes, we started the day at Biscuitville for a good brunch. This is a chain restaurant, only open for breakfasts and lunches, but it has its roots in Burlington, North Carolina and its headquarters are now in Greensboro. One of their store features is the "Biscuit Window" where you can watch as the biscuits are being made each day. My companion got a sausage and gravy biscuit and I nibbled on his hashbrown. I tried to convince him to get a nice, healthy orange juice, but he spotted Cheerwine on the fountain and this was the first opportunity he'd had to get fountain Cheerwine the whole trip (he is sensible enough not to drink that kind of caffeine in the evenings, yet the only time we seemed to find Cheerwine on a fountain was in the evenings until now). I at least made him stop at one 21 ounce cup. Overall, not a bad place, other than the TV set blaring the news at a level where you couldn't get away from the sound no matter what corner of the restaurant you retreated into.
Downtown Oxford, NC
Made a brief stop in Oxford, just west of Henderson, and walked around the downtown, which still has some life in it. I love the architecture you find in these old towns – there's a charm to seeing the rows of buildings that in their heyday had their business spaces at ground level and residences or offices on the upper levels, harkening back to a time when shopkeepers lived in town because it was simply too much to travel into town every day to run a business. And, of course, it's always nice to see a classic theater that's still being used as a theater.
Downton Roxboro, NC
We made it into Roxboro after a day of rain, and after resting up a little we ventured into the downtown area -er- excuse me, "Uptown Roxboro" as the locals call it. Honestly, it's a pretty nice looking town and does still seem to have some life in it like Oxford. Bear in mind we were there at six o'clock, so most of the businesses (other than a few of the restaurants) were closed for the day. Loved seeing that the town's classic theater is an actual performing and visual arts center – I'm always happy to see efforts to keep the arts alive in small towns.
The challenge of checking out the local food scene is that you never know what you're going to actually get until you're seated and the food arrives. We picked this place out via the maps and went over to it, and we really were not sure what to make of it as we went inside. Definitely a few steps up from a "hole-in-the-wall", but certainly not in the same ballpark as a chain seafood place. The menu was shrimp heavy, so my companion tried the shrimp alfredo while I grazed on the salad bar. It wasn't all that bad, though it remains to be seen how my companion will feel overnight, if you know what I mean.
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!
Wanting to get back into our North Carolina cuisine journey, and learning from past mistakes, we started the day at Biscuitville for a good brunch. This is a chain restaurant, only open for breakfasts and lunches, but it has its roots in Burlington, North Carolina and its headquarters are now in Greensboro. One of their store features is the "Biscuit Window" where you can watch as the biscuits are being made each day. My companion got a sausage and gravy biscuit and I nibbled on his hashbrown. I tried to convince him to get a nice, healthy orange juice, but he spotted Cheerwine on the fountain and this was the first opportunity he'd had to get fountain Cheerwine the whole trip (he is sensible enough not to drink that kind of caffeine in the evenings, yet the only time we seemed to find Cheerwine on a fountain was in the evenings until now). I at least made him stop at one 21 ounce cup. Overall, not a bad place, other than the TV set blaring the news at a level where you couldn't get away from the sound no matter what corner of the restaurant you retreated into.
