Landed in Chattanooga yesterday and made my way to Murphy, NC where I will be for the next couple of weeks.

Where I come from we don't have chicken and biscuit joints and I wanted to sample some southern style.....so Bojangles got my dime. Biscuits....really good, chicken.....well, it squeaked when I bit into it, so I think I missed it's prime.

Stopped by the store and picked up hard tack and sundries.....surprisingly few people in the store compared to the NW.

All night long my neighbors and their 12 kids, 2 dogs and what sounded like a pig were piss drunk trying to keep me awake with really good results. I asked the desk if there's some other room and they apologized for the neighbors....seems they've been trying to get rid of these folks for a while.

So here I sit, it's 1am where I come from and I am heading to work with nearly no sleep. Super fun.

What I've learned, chicken is chicken. Biscuits are good around here. Waffle joints are aplenty. Drunk arseholes exist everywhere.

So....I'm looking for some legitimate southern grub. Grits...etc. my cousin lives in Tennessee and suggested finding some place with momma or bubba in the name.

Any advice?

Crakka barrel

We have those in the nortland.

When you travel from the NW to the SE it's better if done slowly by car not plane.

The contrast can be slightly overwhelming when the transition occurs suddenly.

you ain't in the south , your in southern new york pm black head/heart for in side inf.

TONS of yanks from NY moving to FL, so there's that.

VA, NC, SC, just flyover country, thank God.

No offense intended, but you'll be back there in a couple weeks...Lord willin' and the creeks don't rise.

Do the best you can but leave the southern livin' to the southerners.

High Country. In Murphy try Waffle King. And Waffle House. And yes. Any mom and pop restaurant. It’s been a while since I’ve been there. On weekends go into north Georgia. Each town is unique. Look for the small gun shops. Enjoy your time here

yee yee muddafouka!!!

Try main street restaurant in town, if it is still run by the same folks they had good normal food. my son used to date the owner’s granddaughter years ago. They are good people. I live over the mountain from murphy so dont go there much except to fish or occasionally duck hunt. There is a gun shop in andrews wnc sports. I bought my suppressors from them. And there was an old time gun shop in topton cant remember the name right on the side of the road going through topton,it used to be the old timers hangout for locals if its still there. Topton is on other side of andrews going toward cherokee nc

The gunshop in topton was called masons I think.

Truth... Doing plant start ups in Kitchner, Ontario 15 years ago. Little league hockey tournament one weekend. A different team on each floor. The "keg room" for our floor was between me and my partner. Took about 30 seconds to realize this wasn't going to work for 3 days. Front desk relo'ed us to an upscale sister hotel down the street that was just opening / doing shake down. Had the entire hotel, including restaurant to our selves. When we returned to base Sunday P.M. it looked like an antifa riot. Only thing missing were the dumpster fires... <SMH>

I'm 90 miles east of your motel. I hope you have a good set of windshield wipers this morning.

Ask for sweet tea!!!!

Get ya some grits and gravy

If you are going to be back in Chattanooga, try Bea's Restaurant. Great old fashioned cooking. I'm betting you are submerged in our storm this morning. Looks like our drought may be over.

Shoebooties Cafe popped up on the map.
Worth checking out just for the name!

Avoid the banjo music.....

Get ya some grits an redeye gravy.......

NC, IMO is really 3 different states, mountains, central, and the east.

Drive from Murphy to somewhere like Elizabeth City stopping somewhere like Chapel Hill for a day. Its almost like 3 different countrys.

I'd live in the upper eastern portion of NC if I could.
Mom still has family in Edenton, Windsor and area.
That's where her ancestors settled on arrival to the 'new land'.

That’s part of what makes us such a great state. You can be in shorts and a T shirt down East, and at the same time, the mountains have snow. The barbecue changes with the climate as well, making things interesting.

Wrong choice on eating establishment

Fugk no

How was your trip up the Ocoee River gorge (64Hwy)?

If you have time or when you head back to Chattanooga eat at the Dam Deli which is about 3 miles on the right when you pass Parksville Lake and Ocoee Dam. The dam is the entrance and exit to the Cherokee National Forest on 64 hwy.

I live in the north end of Polk County which is where all this is located.

I wish I could find hard tack.

Boy....it's raining like god hates us. Real special when we're working on a damned dam.

Thanks for the responses.

Well....the creeks rose and the job looks to be much more than a couple weeks.

Chapel hill if one prefers communism

I have learned that Chapel Hill is not as bad as its reputation. There are still some good Americans/North Carolinians there. Unfortunately, the wack jobs and communist bastards get all the press. Pretty sad for what was once a great town here in N.C.

Bojangles must be owned by Morton Salt Company so they can dump extra salt into the market. Chick-fil-a is MUCH better for chicken biscuits and everything else.

Cracker Barrel is a woke (brain dead) facsimile of a southern food restaurant. You can find better local restaurants.

Yeah, gonna be damp for a day or two.

You're a bit far from me to make any recommendations but I can think of worse places you could be than where you are.

If you really want to sample the best Southern food you will have to make a friend of a southerner who is either a good cook or is married to one and eat at their house. Most eat joint food is a poor representation of what we actually eat on a daily basis. My wife hates to eat out with me because I seldom ever eat anyplace that I think has good food, says I'm too picky. I will say though, you are in an area I would gladly spend the rest of my life in. WNC is a great place to be if you hunt or fish.

Everyone SHOULD know when in doubt, ask the locals where to eat.

The Iron Skillet in Bryson City used to be good but I think Covid got it.

What the hell is hard tack? I don’t think we have that down here.

For good southern food, ask local. Real locals, not transplants. Look for police cars in the parking lot. It is getting hard to find now.

Unfortunately Murphy is kind of a schidt hole.

"With a crime rate of 75 per one thousand residents, Murphy has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 13."

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nc/murphy/crime#:~:text=With%20a%20crime%20rate%20of,here%20is%20one%20in%2013.

[quote=Raeford]Get ya some grits an redeye gravy.......[/quote
You guys could use some diversity.


Dang.

Avoid chains and fast food restaurants, they're carpetbaggers. Look for Mom&Pop restaurants. They will be a bit harder to find, off the beaten path, but well worth the effort.

Haint nothin more better!

It might could wake him up. Lol.

Make sure to get sweet tea with every meal…

#wooo-weeeee

Oh yeah…


If you see a colored dude selling bbq straight off the pit in the tobacco store / grocery store / laundry mat / etc.. parking lot…

Better git you some…

Do you have to ask for sweet tea in NC? Or does "tea" just come sweet?

Here in IN there's somewhat of a line of demarcation and that's I70. South of there and "tea" means it's gonna be sweet. Above that and you will likely have to ask for it that way. Having grown up south of that line, serving me unsweet tea and then handing me a couple of packets of sugar/sweetener is not the same!

Finally broke the wifes habit[sweet tea], she now orders 1/2-n-1/2

... Or, a church pot luck! If you leave a church potluck hungry, it ain't a problem with the food...

Truth, that.

Listen to this man! Some of the most legit BBQ you'll get anywhere.

The culinary equivalent to mash and parsley liquor.

From a man that savors 'hog brains'

I ask sir: have you ever had redeye gravy[actually made by a southern belle]?

Yeah, um, no........

He ain't got a damn clue what it is.....

Especially if they blend in a little raccoon in with it

Yeah um...piss off. Adults are talking.

I have not as yet eaten brains. I remove the brain for headcheese.

No southern belles up here. Have had gravy made with city ham and coffee. We don't have country ham.


In fact...I am offended, offended Sir!
Why no mention of country ham in your grits and gravy meal?

Exactly. Adults that know what they're talking about.

And that ain't you.....

Alright adult sockpuppet.

Had to Google it didn't you, and found out it ain't some British garbage.

A Montuckian lecturing Southerners on Southern Cuisine....that's rich.

Nobody's "sock puppet", dumbass....

I did the country ham spiel last month.....

9 Lbs of properly cooked and shaved country ham.



Shows how much I know about 'head cheese'
I figgered it was tha brains.....

Sure thing sockpuppet.


You guys are just lucky you learned some recipes from all the black folks.

Grits.......hahaha!

One can't make 'redeye' from City ham.
Do I need to ship you some center sliced?

......and 'real' grits?

Some kind folks sent me some a while ago.


It didn't stick around long enough to make gravy with.


Used it all up eating ham biscuits. I really like it.


The rest of em didn't care for it.

Got some of those too.


Stone ground. Come in a little cloth bag.


I liked them too.

Next year I'll V-pack a # or so and send it out.

I saved the bag. Linney's water mill.

White corn grits.

I have been going to order a whole ham from Rice's.


They ship now.

sad, that the OP will return to the NW and still not know much about Southern food or culture. None of the chains are worth eating at.

Check Clifty Farms......

And?

And, we don't have to give a single flying f uck what's on the menu in Montana.

I heard southern culture is on the skids.

Oh you poor little thing.


You are probably some beta living in your moms basement in Yonkers.

find a lunch place with a parking lot full of work trucks & new luxury cars/Suv's... that'll be yer place...

We ate lunch at a place called rib country. Good chow and beautiful ladies. Good first day.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Cool, chains don't count unless you're in a bad hurry. Ask locals about local down home cookin & where to get it.

The TVA crew hauled us out to lunch there. What blows me away is how cheap food is here. Lunch plus a tip for under 20bux is a stretch in my area.

Grin. Easy, or down right expensive here.

Bless your heart.......

I don't know anything about Murphy, but Bojangles is a fast food joint> if you want southern fried chicken go to a local joint.

I was born and raised there till I had to move for work. Try Julie’s place. And mountain side dinner. They’re both good.

there'tis

was waitin' on a yee yee

high country,

hope the job for the "other dam people" goes well.

and yeah, food's cheaper in lots of places than our States on the West Coast.

Enjoy your working "vacation"

5 pages to this thread and not once has the buffet at golden corral been offered up......

Get to the low country of S Carolina, find a mom and pop buffet, sample the collards, butter beans, ribs, chicken, Mac and cheese, biscuits, green beans. Pass on the strips of things that look like steak fries. Those are fried fatback strips and you’ll die an ugly death of clogged arteries if you eat a whole one.

Been four within reasonable driving distance here over the past 30 years. One is now a hamburger joint, one is now a Japanese place, one got turned into a Fazolis, and the 4th is sitting vacant. None of them had food I'd go out of my way for.

Fried chicken from a gas station deli….

Wooo weeee

Julia’s Tally House, in Troutman, N.C., has the best fried chicken in the state, IMHO. Our local Bojangles is actually really good. Love the pintos o and dirty rice!

Instead of soup...I am going to make perlow next time I cook a ham.

Thanks. I'd just as soon put my money in the cooks pocket before I give it to a big franchise.

I've been shadowing some of the fellas from Alabama at lunch. Shrimp and grits for lunch was interesting. We're going to hit Julies for dinner tonight.

An Appalachian Southerner criticizing a Montana boy for eating hog brains.

Might just be my twisted sense of humor,
darn near spit coffee.



Brains, eggs and potatoes ain't a bad breakfast.

Look for any place surrounded by contractors pickups at breakfast time or lunchtime if there's a couple of logtrucks parked in back that's usually good also.

Just like home.

Southerners out in the real world parts of the South ain't afraid to be American......

👍👍👍

Just took the TVA crew to chow at Julie's place....thank you. That was fantastic.

Speaking of the best fried chicken, watch out for those southern gals. They are not called "steel magnolias" as a joke, when they cut you throat you will not even feel it.