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.
Hard to believe we are on the fourth week of our journey – time really does fly when you're having fun, and even when you're just trying to have fun. Well, we still have two weeks left, and we aim to make the most of them.
Okay, so Subway is not exactly the height of culinary excellence, but when we drove through downtown Blowing Rock, the town was jammed packed with people and we couldn't find a parking space anywhere. We exited the south side of town and came back up US 321 and spotted a nice looking Subway and decided that would work for lunch. Nothing fancy - just a BMT with cookies, but it hit the spot nicely.
We'd stopped here on a couple of other Blue Ridge Parkway trips, but never explored much if any of the grounds, always seeming to want to get on to other attractions on the parkway. With so much of the North Carolina part of the parkway closed this time, there was little else to hurry on to, so we just spent the whole afternoon at the manor and were greatly rewarded. After looking over the craft center in the old manor house, we walked down a carriage path a couple of miles to Bass Lake and enjoyed the wonderful views there for a couple of hours. A whole flock of Canada geese were gathered on one side, and they were the tamest ones we'd ever seen, letting us get the great close-up shot below. We finally walked the two miles back up to the parking lot, and just as we got to the carriage house, the heavens let out pouring down on us. We took shelter under the front porch of the carriage house, only we quickly discovered that the roof had leaks, but we found a dry spot to wait out the rain, and then we got to see a rainbow. Do note that in the picture of the manor house, there's a deer there in the front left corner that just adds a great rustic touch to the photo.
We spotted this place while going up US 321 and decided to go back to it. On the upside, it is a local restaurant with two Boone locations, plus two in South Carolina. On the downside, it's more or less one of these modern no-contact restaurants: you order on your phone, on a tablet they'll provide, or on one of their two kiosks. They then text you when the food is ready and you pick it up off a set of shelves. You still have an indoor and outdoor dining area, nicely themed, and there are people wandering around if you need to ask a question, but to me it's a bit too impersonal for my tastes. As far as the food goes, my companion got an Ahi Tuna sandwich for himself and a coleslaw for me, and again he got the better end of the bargain: he said the sandwich was wonderful, but the slaw had very little flavor to it.
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