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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My companion had to return to his remote work today, so no more big adventures for a while. But, I'll cover the food scene in Blue Ridge for our last few days before I sign off completely.
The upside to bed and breakfast inns is that your room comes with a fresh cooked breakfast in the morning. The downside is that breakfast is usually at nine in the morning, if not earlier – not fun for self-avowed night owls like my companion. But, he's willing to make do with the inconvenience for a place as nice as this one. The inn is an 1800's Victorian house set in the middle of downtown Blue Ridge, putting the downtown shops within easy walking distance. Views out the back include the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad, which does tours up to McCaysville on the Tennessee border. All that said, my companion's favorite feature of the inn is Blue the cat, who roams around the outside, going from the front porch to the back porch. On his first visits, my companion found Blue to be a bit aloof, like so many cats, but Blue has warmed up to him and will now come nap in his lap as he sits on a front porch rocker. That's fine and well, but I ask, what can a cat give you that a sheep can't? Anyhow, we were unfortunately so tired when we went down to breakfast that neither of us thought to take a picture of the food, but we'll do our best to remember tomorrow.
Right behind the Blue Ridge Inn is a nice southern restaurant with a slightly modern approach to its food. Whatever you want to call it, it's popular with the locals and the visitors, so expect to have to wait for a table. My companion decided to try the popcorn shrimp, along with cheese grits and broccoli. I found the grits and broccoli were good, but this time my companion got the bad end of the deal: the shrimp were perfectly fine, but he said the cocktail sauce tasted like they'd dumped half a bottle of horseradish into it. Cocktail sauce is supposed to have a little bit of that horseradish kick, but this was way over the top. He didn't feel like complaining, so we don't know if that's just the way they do it, or if this batch got mixed up incorrectly. In any case, he made do and got more than enough to eat (he could have done with about half the shrimp they served.) The ironic part of these oversized meals is that restaurants are costing themselves in the long run, because people then don't have room to buy dessert.
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!
The upside to bed and breakfast inns is that your room comes with a fresh cooked breakfast in the morning. The downside is that breakfast is usually at nine in the morning, if not earlier – not fun for self-avowed night owls like my companion. But, he's willing to make do with the inconvenience for a place as nice as this one. The inn is an 1800's Victorian house set in the middle of downtown Blue Ridge, putting the downtown shops within easy walking distance. Views out the back include the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad, which does tours up to McCaysville on the Tennessee border. All that said, my companion's favorite feature of the inn is Blue the cat, who roams around the outside, going from the front porch to the back porch. On his first visits, my companion found Blue to be a bit aloof, like so many cats, but Blue has warmed up to him and will now come nap in his lap as he sits on a front porch rocker. That's fine and well, but I ask, what can a cat give you that a sheep can't? Anyhow, we were unfortunately so tired when we went down to breakfast that neither of us thought to take a picture of the food, but we'll do our best to remember tomorrow.
