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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Yet another business basing itself on a Mayberry character, Barney's Cafe of course is full of memorabilia of the famous deputy of Mayberry. On the upside, the place has a real soda shop kind of feel – our first choice for lunch had been an actual classic soda shop, but it wasn't open today, so we ended up at Barney's. My companion got a Mayberry Gourmet Burger and I had a side of macaroni salad, but he got the better end of that deal; the macaroni salad had zero flavor to it whatsoever: I couldn't even taste the mayonnaise in it. Dictionary definition example of 'bland'. My companion said the burger was quite flavorful, and in the end we split an apple cobbler that was pretty good, albeit a bit on the large side (good thing we didn't order it with ice cream).
Downtown Mount Airy, NC
We wandered about and went in half a dozen shops, but nothing was terribly impressive. We wanted to tour the Historic Earle theater – the signs suggested it was open daily, but the door was locked both times we went by it. So, we ended up at the Regional History Museum, which was pretty cool (both figuratively and literally, the latter much appreciated on a 95 degree day), so we spent nearly ninety minutes in there. Exhibits range from early history to local music (Donna Fargo is a native of the area among other musicians), and a cool fire fighting exhibit in the basement with three classic fire engines. One of them had a slate of unlabeled buttons on the display board, so my companion pressed one of them and we were bombarded by the recorded sound of the engine starting up – I had to cover my ears with my hooves. I didn't think that recording would ever end, but it did and he tried some other buttons: one sounded the bell, one the siren, and one made the red light come on. Don't think we've ever come across a fire truck exhibit that was so interactive. Went back out into the heat and looked at a few more shops before deciding to return to our hotel.
Had another dinner at Bojangles. This location was not quite as nice as the other two we visited in past weeks, but the service was friendly and the food as you would expect. My companion just wasn't all that hungry and wanted something simple, so he got a two-piece dinner with green beans and mac-and-cheese. Nothing to write home about, but since we're doing a North Carolina culinary blog, I'll document it nonetheless. Interestingly, we noticed that they're now offering "Bird Dogs": imagine a hot dog bun with a large chicken finger in it with appropriate sauce on it and a couple of pickle slices. And here I thought I'd already seen everything imaginable …
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!
Yet another business basing itself on a Mayberry character, Barney's Cafe of course is full of memorabilia of the famous deputy of Mayberry. On the upside, the place has a real soda shop kind of feel – our first choice for lunch had been an actual classic soda shop, but it wasn't open today, so we ended up at Barney's. My companion got a Mayberry Gourmet Burger and I had a side of macaroni salad, but he got the better end of that deal; the macaroni salad had zero flavor to it whatsoever: I couldn't even taste the mayonnaise in it. Dictionary definition example of 'bland'. My companion said the burger was quite flavorful, and in the end we split an apple cobbler that was pretty good, albeit a bit on the large side (good thing we didn't order it with ice cream).
