Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tuckasegee Tavern, November 8, 2012 


It took us several weeks to get here. Sorry to our fans for the long delay. The Tuckasgee Tavern is located next to the RR depot at the end of Bryson as you go to the high school. It is a newer place, but is located in one of the oldest buildings in Bryson. It is in a renovated Quonset hut that has been there since I was a small young'un.. and before that. I think we were all expecting a dive, since TT is really a bar that serves food. It does stay open late and is locally owned, so it was on our list. 

Greg and I got there before everyone else, and Lisa and Rosemary straggled in after a bit. Pam was quite a bit late and confessed she got lost. Got lost??? As many times as she has been in Bryson over the past year? It seems she took the Hyatt Creek exit and couldn't find her way in the dark. LOL. She is such a card. 

The waitress was very nice and kept checking with us on ordering. There were only a few other folks n the place, including a couple with a baby. It was very chilly in there with only one portable kerosene heater for heat. I did not wear a coat and was cold the entire meal. The place is very open with a bar on one side and a   few scattered tables. There was also a stage at one end, but no band that night. There was music playing, via  Sirius channel on the TV. Pam asked if it could be changed to the Lawrence Welk channel, but no success on that. Oh well.. no bubble music for us. 

The menu was a basic, bar food with sandwiches, appetizers, and a couple of dinners. 
While we waited for Pam we talked and ordered some chips and salsa. The salsa was from a jar and the chips from a bag. They were the round, corn ones. Lisa ordered the Onion Rings while we waited. The O-rings were fair. No Nabers, but OK. 
Lisa ordered the Grilled Cheese and Darrell's Tomato Soup, which was a special that night. She concluded the soup was pretty good and the sandwich was OK. It looked a little skimpy on the cheese to me. She also had a beer from the Nantahala Brewery next door. It was the Nantahala Blonde, which she deemed very good.  Rosemary had the Philly Cheese Steak with pasta salad. Pam had the Chicken Sandwich with fries. Greg had the hamburger with fries and I had the Philly Cheese with no side. You all should know by this time  how I am with fries, and I guess I just wasn't in the mood to pick through fries that night. So, I just ordered the sandwich only. Everyone deemed the food adequate. It was basic fare, with no frills, but no complaints. 

The waitress was very nice and kept regular check on us. Course we were the only table ordering food in there, so we got extra special treatment. 

We had loads of laughs that night. Especially over the story Pam was telling us about her uncle who when he would get gas, he would go walking around shaking his leg while saying "Gas Bubble!" We all looked at her in disbelief and then just busted out laughing. I wasn't clear what the leg shaking was supposed to do, and asked.. was he trying to prime the pump? 

We kept playing on that story and just could not quit laughing. That gas bubble thing has now become a regular part of our repartee. I guess you could say that just shows our maturity level, or you could say we must have been in some kinda mood, or you could just join us and add your own two cents. Either road you choose is probably not going to  change how we react to things. We certainly do get right goofy at times, but if we didn't we wouldn't like our selves very much nor have near as much fun as we do.

We ended up spending a great deal of time in there.. longer than the meal required. But we were having so much fun, no one made any moves to leave.

We did agree that that for our next stop, we really needed to hit the Fryemont Inn as we didn't know when it closed for the season. I agreed to call and make a reservation and  check on hours. So we reluctantly got up to head out into the cold.

 On a side note.. you may be wondering where are the pictures? Well.. I forgot the camera. So I promise to get back with a photo or two. No food pics,,.but I can get the building.
Fryemont Inn it is.... come join us.


















Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Iron Skillet, October 18, 2012
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The Iron Skillet is located in down town Bryson City, in what used to be Papa's Pizza. There is now a Bike shop next door and the Hallmark Shop on the other side. Greg and I have eaten at TIS a couple of times. We both thought it was just OK, and have never been back. We were all a bit apprehensive about going. I was late and the others were already there. I had eaten a late lunch, and was not hungry, so only ordered dessert. The restaurant was crowded and there were a lot of local folks, including some from Greg's drum group. The initial service to place our order was a bit slow, but the waitress was very friendly and explained they had a very large church party.



The menu was quite extensive, and there were also specials posted on the board in front. 


4


TIS closes for lunch and opens back up for supper. They close early for supper so we met early. The close at 7 pm. Kinda early even for around here.  That maybe accounted for the chill in there. We were sat in the back, which was a bit dark, but overall it is seemed clean, well organized, and with a large buffet section. Maybe the buffet was for lunch. There was a salad bar at supper. There seemed to be a fair amount of folks taking advantage of that. There is a large amount of seating with booths and a large area for parties with tables that will separate. 




Greg ordered the Chicken Fried Steak sandwich with fries. Lisa ordered the Philly Cheese Steak with fries and Pam ordered the Rib eye  Sandwich with fries. I ordered the Cheesecake  with chocolate. 



CHICKEN FRIED STEAK SANDWICH WITH FRIES


PHILLY CHEESE STEAK WITH FRIES


RIB EYE STEAK SANDWICH WITH FRIES



CHEESECAKE WITH CHOCOLATE


I don't remember anything significant about the meal. The food was  good, not great, not outstanding.. not memorable, but not horrible either. Just middle of the road. Plain, solid, good old American food. The Cheesecake came with lots of chocolate, and how can you go wrong with that?

Naturally we had good conversation with loads of laughs. The night seemed short, but it might have been due to the long wait we had for our food, refills, the check,etc. It was all due to the very large party
and probably wasn't typical.

Almost finished in Swain County. Next. Tuckasegee Tavern.