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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Remember a few days ago when I said that long trips have up days and down days? Well, this was another of the down days, unfortunately.
Another Wild Goose Chase
So, our plan was to go the twenty miles north to Sylva and Dillsboro, getting lunch in Dillsboro then visiting Sylva and spending any remaining time back in Dillsboro (the two are only a few miles apart). We even had a restaurant for lunch picked out in Dillsboro so we thought it was going to be a great day. Well, we got up there and discovered that Dillsboro was having a street festival, so it was impossible to find anyplace to park. So, we went on into Sylva, but it was jam packed crowded, too. We tried turning around and got lost attempting to get over to US 74, but finally got up there and started heading east. My companion was thinking he'd head on to Maggie Valley, but I got him to pull over and look at the maps, which made him realize that Maggie Valley was up on US 19, not off US 74. As it was getting late, the only thing that made sense was to go back into Sylva, but now we were close to the east side. He found a seafood place out that way that looked good according to what he found on his phone, so we went there, but it was completely devoid of people and just didn't feel like a good idea. Out in the parking lot was a Zaxby's, and desperate for some food, we gave in and went in there, though the experience was lackluster. We ended up at a cat museum until they closed at five and then went back to Franklin.
My companion is a fan of Zaxby's in general, but it is a franchised brand, so not all locations are equal. This one he realized was the very same one he'd gone in last year and wished he hadn't: it took them nearly ten minutes to find someone who could unlock the register and take an order. Still, we were here and hungry, so he decided to just give it another try. The food was perfectly fine, but the service was a little slow and the building is rather ancient, appearing to be a former Hardee's location from the 1980s (unusual, as most Zaxby's are built new to franchise specs.) We did get a little amusement in looking out and seeing a dog sitting in the driver's seat of an SUV looking like he was ready to drive the car somewhere! (Unfortunately, none of our pictures came out, as the dog moved too quickly every time my companion hit the shutter button.)
After lunch, we drove back through downtown Sylva, but even on the backside of Main Street we couldn't find a single parking space, so we went on back to US 441 and headed back to Franklin, but decided to stop along the way at the American Museum of the House Cat. My companion had stopped there last year on the end of his multi-week Virginia vacation, but given that he had no other ideas for the afternoon, he figured another visit wouldn't hurt. They now have three resident cats, so he spent plenty of time trying to absorb some good cat-karma from them, though none of them would come over and get in his lap. He figures they deal with so many people visiting the museum that they've likely become adverse to being overly friendly with anyone, even those who try to respect them properly. Still, it was an enjoyable visit, as he took his time wandering slowly through museum, which is packed with probably more than 10,000 individual cat items, including little pieces of cat jewelry, thousands of figurines and plushes, hundreds of framed pictures, prints, paintings, drawings, etc., a cat themed pinball game, and multiple cat-shaped carousel figures. All that seemed to be missing was one of those Japanese cats that wave at you, but as he was leaving he discovered there was one across from the admissions register!
After a day of ups and downs, we went over to the Haywood Smokehouse, having seen a sign for it on the way back to Franklin this afternoon. That was the name of the restaurant we'd been planning to go to in Sylva – turns out they have a second location in Franklin. Oh how my companion wishes he'd known about that before we set out this morning. Well, as they say, better late than never. He got a pork BBQ sandwich and got me some collard greens, and it was all quite good. We also enjoyed the classic 90's country music, which lifted his sprits a little.
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!
My companion is a fan of Zaxby's in general, but it is a franchised brand, so not all locations are equal. This one he realized was the very same one he'd gone in last year and wished he hadn't: it took them nearly ten minutes to find someone who could unlock the register and take an order. Still, we were here and hungry, so he decided to just give it another try. The food was perfectly fine, but the service was a little slow and the building is rather ancient, appearing to be a former Hardee's location from the 1980s (unusual, as most Zaxby's are built new to franchise specs.) We did get a little amusement in looking out and seeing a dog sitting in the driver's seat of an SUV looking like he was ready to drive the car somewhere! (Unfortunately, none of our pictures came out, as the dog moved too quickly every time my companion hit the shutter button.)
