November 29, 2012 - El Pacifico, Jackson County, NC

EL PACIFICO OUT SIDE PARKING LOT

This is our first stop in Jackson County! Whew! I thought we would NEVER get out of Swain County and there isn't that many restaurants in Swain. Technically, we are not really finished with Swain as we still have to hit The Fryemont Inn in the spring when they open back up. Lisa has never been to The Fryemont Inn, which I can't believe. She is a native from WNC and TFI is such  a historic landmark. I thought everyone had been to the TFI at least once.

Anyway.. here we are at El Pacifico right outside of downtown Sylva. It's in the middle of fast food lane  on 107 going towards Cullowhee. Greg and I used to go to El Pacifico quite a lot but it got too noisy from all the Sorority girls screaming and talking we finally quit going. That was pre - Sazone. Now with Sazone, we never even think of going anywhere else for Mexican. Most, as I am sure you can attest, are all the same with the same menu, same presentations, same prices, and same taste.  Really nothing special or different. Sazone  is  cut above the rest and there is no comparison.
Anyway.. back to El Pacifico. The same folks that have this restaurant have the one in Cherokee next to Food Lion. It just opened a few months ago and I can't think of the name of it. We will have it on our Jackson County list though. The menu is quite extensive and the food here is fairly good. Lots of melted cheese as you can see from the plates photos. Same rice and beans as any other Mexican restaurant.


We were joined tonite by Robert and Beth. I really can't believe they came back with us after the roachfest at Anthony's. I thought that might have scared them off. But brave souls will persevere. Plus I think they were already in Sylva at Walmart.
We were lucky to have everyone present tonight.... even Pam and Rosemary

INSIDE DINING ROOM 

Luckily tonite, there were no sorority or fraternity gangs out at El Pacifico. Typically there are slews of screaming, laughing, flitting girls in EP, and its hard to eat a nice, quiet dinner. That is one reason Greg and I quit going.. that and the introduction of Sazone into the area. But while the food is OK.. once you have eaten fresh Mexican, you just can't go back to eating the same old, same old served in all the other Mexican restaurants. The food at EP is OK and you do have  a very extensive menu, with some items not found in other Mexican restaurants around the area. The Chili Colorado is one such dish, as is the Santa Rita, and El Diablo.

SUE ENCHILADAS 

POLLO FUNDIDO OR AS WE CALL IT... THE FUN CHICKEN

Like most Mexican restaurants in the area, this one is also run by a family and so you do have the same employees there as you did several years ago. Consistency is nice in a restaurant.. or at least I think do.

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

CHILI COLORADO....MAYBE IN HONOR OF THE LOCATION.. MAYBE THIS SHOULD BE RENAMED... CHILI CULLOWHEE

One of my big pet peeves in a restaurant is present here.. can anyone guess what it is? The first right answer will win a prize, chosen just for you. No just kidding..... anyway the answer is TV's!!! and not just one of them, but THREE.... yes, count them THREE. However, the strange part of this is.... they all are tuned to Spanish speaking channels.
I didn't realize that the majority of EP's clientele were Spanish speaking. OR... maybe they are for the staff to keep from getting bored during their shift. OR, maybe it is a subtle slap back around the "Speak English" issue. Regardless.. there they are... blaring away with a soap opera, sports and sports. We happened to be sitting near the soap opera channel and at some point we got sucked into the electronic void. Yes, we started watching. Or at least Beth and I did. We happened to be on that side of the table facing the TV and were closest to the radio waves....so there we were watching a bunch of unnaturally beautiful Latino women interact with some not so great looking Latino men.
That was the start of the downhill slide towards silliness. We started making up dialogue based on what we were watching. The others got sucked into our game and the dinner took a hard left into a reverse TV charades.

BEEF BURRITTO - BETH WAS EATING LIGHT TONITE

There was one man on there who bore an uncanny resemblance to the "Stay thirsty, my friend " man who stars in the Dos Equis beer commercial. We also noticed there was a great deal of hitting, slapping, punching,  and general violence among the women. Every scene one or more of them were in a fight with each other or one of the men. We also noticed that the men didn't typically hit the women..they just sort of shook them violently. I don't know if these women were typical of Latino women, but they were tough, beautiful and didn't take no crap from anyone - men or women.

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS... SANTA RITA

ROBERT WAS EATING FOR BETH..... THE EL DIABLO

We also all felt sorry for the grandpa Dos Equis man as he was crying for most of his scenes. But anyway... we could have kept this up for a long time as we were getting quite hysterical about our improvised lines. It would make a good party game.

Our food was pretty good. I have had the Chili Colorado several times in the past and it is always good. This time it didn't seem to have the quality as in the past.. lots of gristle and fat on my meat. But the taste was satisfactory. The Santa Rita was good and the fresh jalapenos topped off the dish nicely. The other dishes, with the exception of the El Diablo were standard fare on a Mexican menu.. .and those who ordered them stated they were tasty, and filling. Nothing spectacular, but acceptable. The El Diablo is a huge meal. It comes with many sides, such as lettuce, rice, beans, chili sauce and chipotle sauce. Robert didn't care for the chili sauce, but did like the main dish. It was a lot of food, but he was a trooper and plowed forward.

Our group was large tonite, and we had a lot of fun laughing, talking and getting to know Robert and Beth a bit more. We do hope they will come back. We were some of the last ones leaving of course....we didn't order any dessert. The selection was basic as in most Mexican restaurants and I think Pam secretly wanted Dairy Queen.
We called it a night and our next stop will be Lulu's. It is located on main street in Sylva and has a long history of really good organic food.

November 15, 2012 - Anthony's, Bryson City, NC


Well, as you have probably guessed, we are not at Fryemont Inn. When I called, Thursday was already filled and they closed the week of Thanksgiving. Also, Pam had a conflict and asked us to go to Anthony's instead of Fryemont Inn so she could go with us to Fryemont Inn. But since they close next week, we just reconciled   to ourselves that we would have to circle back around next spring and hit the Fryemont Inn when they reopened,. So.... in the spirit of camaraderie, we decided to hit Anthony's in Pam's absence. But although we would miss Pam, we had two new members. Beth and Robert agreed to join us on this night. We were glad to have them and thoroughly enjoyed their company. The laughs, conversation and good times were not in short supply this night,

OUTSIDE ANTHONY'S. TAKE OUT WINDOW AND TABLES OUTSIDE. 



Anthony's has been in Bryson for several years. As far as I know, it has been in the same place all that time. it is located near the train depot and gets a lot of traffic from the train riders. The parking is a bit tight as the parking lot is very small and is shared by other businesses. But there is parking on the street and in the Dollar General if they are closed. The only thing about parking in the parking lot ... well a couple of thing.... is that it's dirt with large mudholes if it rains. Also, since no space are designated sometimes folks park all crazy. Also,. there is at times, spill over from the bar next door and often things can get a bit exciting with fights, etc.

Anthony's is basic Italian with the standard fare such as Pizza, Pasta, Salads, and Sandwiches. As a note, their Pizza is consistently very good. Nice crust, wide variety of toppings. The only drawback is that they use canned mushrooms instead of fresh. I love mushrooms and this is a great disappointment.
They do offer a nice variety of subs/sandwiches, and pasta dishes. According to Anthony, he makes his own  pasta sauce.
You can choose to get a salad which is not bad. Typically fresh, but I have had one that was not once or twice. As  you can see from our salads this night, they were fresh. Anthony's does not make their dressings. 

SALAD WITH RANCH DRESSING

SALAD WITH THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

Greg and I have both had several of their past dishes, and my favorite is the Chicken Marsala. I have had this dish at several other Italian restaurants, and this one is my favorite. I especially like the tiny pasta. On another side note, Anthony's does make their tiny, buttery rolls and believe me when I tell you... you can't eat just one. 

CHICKEN MARSALA WITH ROLLS 

 Naturally, I ordered the Chicken Marsala. I hadn't had it in a very long time and was not in the mood for a pizza. Greg ordered Spaghetti and Meatballs. This is one dish  that Greg has not had and so he was venturing into unknown territory. He didn't finish the dish as he said it had no flavor. The sauce was apparently bland. So that was a disappointment to him. 

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Robert order the . He mentioned that it was good. Lots of flavor. 

SPINACH MANICOTTI

Beth ordered the Spinach Manicotti. She also said hers was good. Certainly filling as it was a big portion. 

PASTA ALFREDO ( WITH HAIR)

Now on to Rosemary. She ordered the Pasta Alfredo and apparently that night she  ordered an unadvertised special as she found a hair in her dish halfway through her meal. And apparently,she didn't want to share as she didn't tell us until the end of the meal. And her a pastor!!! I thought they taught stuff like being unselfish in the church. So I guess you could say she got a bonus with purchase. 

MANICOTTI

Lisa got the Manicotti. She said her was good too. So, I guess only Greg and Rosemary were the only ones disappointed that night. At least as far as the food goes.

Now... on to the real interesting part of the meal. While we were eating, we noticed Anthony's health rating  on the wall,which you can see in the photo below. It was an A, and we started discussing the different ratings and really what that means, Apparently the health inspector had not been to Anthony's in a while because while we were eating, Lisa and Greg noticed a baby roach climbing the wall. Greg discreetly got up and killed it. Then while we were pondering that unexpected sight, we noticed several others on other walls. They were all babies and all toward the top of the walls. Not being an expert on the habits and lifestyles of roaches, especially the babies, I was not sure what that meant, other than Anthony's had a roach problem.
 We discussed telling the waitress, and decided in the end to tell her so the issue could be addressed. She promptly told the owner,who chalked up the issue to the old building. Now.. the building is very old and is near the the river and several other very old buildings. I am sure that if Anthony's has roaches, the other buildings do too. Anyway, we finished our meal in some haste before we had parachutists drop in our food. 

MAIN DINING ROOM WHERE WE SAW LITTLE GUESTS SCURRYING UP THE WALLS

However, we didn't leave before we talked, laughed and told stories on ourselves. We missed Pam, but were glad to have Beth and Robert join us.  All in all, the food portions were very generous, the presentation was nice,

On a side note... I did see the Health Director about a week later and told her about the roaches. She stated she would pass that on to the inspector. She also stated those buildings in that area were very old. and if one had a problem they bugs just moved from one building to the next via the ceiling and walls.

Well.. that unofficially finished off Swain County for the Supper Club. We still have The Fryemont Inn but we will circle back around next Spring. Next on the agenda.... Jackson County. We have the list ready and the camera is ready. And more importantly......we are ready. Our first stop... El Pacifico.

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.

The Iron Skillet, October 18, 2012

Add caption

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. 

THE CHESTNUT TREE, CHEROKEE, NC

The Chestnut Tree is in the Holiday Inn, located on Hwy 19 just on the Bryson side of Cherokee. It has changed names a couple of times and menus, but the owners are the same. They have advertised specials for meals, that are open to the public, not just their guests. They now serve a Breakfast buffet, Friday night Seafood Buffet, and Prime Rib on Saturday. 

The dinning room is very nicely decorated in Native American decor, with many of the items being handmade by local artists. There are carvings, baskets, painting, prints, etc. There are also many, many pieces for sale in the display cases outside in the lobby and the small giftshop. 

Many of the waitresses have been working at the Holiday Inn for decades. Its comforting to see familiar faces when you go there. Especially when they know you and greet you like an old friend. 

Tonite we had the pleasure of John and Rosemary's company. Its is always good to have new blood around the table to keep us on our toes, and make sure Lisa doesn't get to far out of line. 

Instead of going to The Chestnut Tree on Thursday for our usual night, we decided to go on Friday for the Seafood buffet. Greg and I had been many times and found the food plentiful, fresh, and varied. I was especially fond of the crab legs. I will travel many a mile for good, fresh crab legs. 

PART OF DINING ROOM. GLASSED ON TWO SIDES.

This night I think we were all disappointed. John was the only one who didn't eat from the buffet. He ordered the Prime Rib, which came with choice of two sides. He chose Mac & Cheese and Mashed Potatoes. According to John, his meal was pretty good. His Prime Rib was moist, and tender. He was as satisfied customer.

PRIME RIB DINNER WITH MAC & CHEESE AND MASHED POTATOES

While the buffet initially looked appetizing, upon closer examination and tasting.. it left a lot to be desired. There was a wide variety of offerings, in both seafood, veggies and desserts. There was even a nice salad bar and soup. The soup that night, appropriately enough,  was Clam Chowder. Greg and I  were the only ones who ate the soup. It was just OK. Nothing special and certainly not homemade. Wasn't bad.. but nothing memorable either. The salad bar looked pretty fresh, with several options. Nothing fancy, just basic salad bar fare.

OYSTERS, BOILED SHRIMP 

There were cold appetizers on the bar such as Oysters on the half shell and Boiled Shrimp. I didn't eat either, but the others did. I am very wary of uncooked food that has been sitting out for long periods of time.
Also on the buffet were peas, mixed veggies, rice, broccoli, pasta with a Red sauce and Alfredo sauce,  green beans,  mashed potatoes. All looked very unappetizing as if they had been sitting out for a very long time. 

As far as seafood, there was fried shrimp, fried fish (cod I think), frog legs, shrimp scampi, fried oysters, fried trout and boiled fish ( cod, I think). No roast beef as before and no crab legs.

 For dessert, there was berry cobbler and cherry cobbler. It looked OK, but again, was just OK. It was dried and looked like it has been sitting in the pan for quite awhile.

The company was spectacular that evening, which made up for a dismal meal.  We were so glad to have Rosemary and hope we didn't make her lose a couple of stitches that night. She and John were both welcome company. We laughed and talked and didn't go back for seconds. The seafood buffet used to be pretty fabulous, and I am not sure what has changed, but  it is definitely not worth the price nor the trip. You can get a better meal at Long John Silvers or Red Lobster. This buffet has seen its' better days. So.. no recommendation for The Chestnut Tree.
We are a bit off track for one reason or another, but onward.. We only have Anthonys, The Fryemont Inn, The Iron Skillet, and Tuckasegee Tavern left. The light at the end of the Swain County tunnel.

The Hemlock Inn Bryson City.

    The Hemlock Inn is a secluded hotel in Ela. They serve their meals family style, by that I mean that the food was served on a very large lazy susan. As far as I can remember, we had fried chicken, meatloaf, gravy, two kinds of casserole, sweet tea, and a pie for dessert. There were about six other folks eating at the table with us. We had some very interesting conversations with our guests   
    After the meal we were able to sit on the deck and take in the scenery of the mountains at sunset. The deck overlooked an open field that gave way to a very beautiful view of the mountains. Our next visit is to the Chestnut Tree in Cherokee. Come in and join us for food fun and conversation.
   

August 30,2012 River's End Restaurant Nantahala Gorge, Bryson City, NC.

   Good evening everybody, sorry for the late entry to our dining out. We have been sort of busy during the week. This installment is for the River's End Restaurant, located in the Nantahala Gorge. This place has been a favorite place of mine because of the scenery. Just imagine eating next to a beautiful setting of people going down river in kayaks, inflated rafts, and sometimes canoes. We have made this trek ourselves in the past, it was quite enjoyable and relaxing.
  The atmosphere in the restaurant is kind of frenzied at times, there is a stopping point for those people who are ending their rafting trip. Most of the time people are hungry when they get off the river, and the restaurant serves some good food. On our stop this week it was just Susan and myself, can't remember the excuses this time for Lisa and Pam not being able to come with us. So, we just decided to go ahead and dine out by ourselves. When we arrived there weren't too many people in the place, since it was after 6:30. It took a while to decide what to get, so Susan suggested that we order salads and split a sandwich.
   I ordered the Greek salad, one of my favorite salads. Susan ordered the Raven's Fork salad. I guess that Greek salads are pretty much made the same way with the same ingredients.The Raven's Fork salad looked interesting, it had all sorts of different stuff in it. It had mixed greens, feta cheese, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, red onions and a honey citrus dressing. The thing about these salads was the size of them. When they were brought out to us they looked like they were on hubcaps! I mean the plates were huge!! And they were heaped up too.
   It took quite a while to put a dent in these things, but after some time we were able to finish the salads. We had ordered a Nantahala Gorge sandwich when we ordered the salads. When they brought the sandwich out, I knew that we were going to need a to go box. The Nantahala sandwich was piled with turkey, ham, bacon, cheddar, swiss cheeses,lettuce, tomato on a toasted wheat bread. It also came with some homemade potato chips, these are one of favorite vices. There is nothing like fresh made chips right out of the cooker. Be it potato or tortilla chips. If you fancy a delicious salad or a sandwich try out the River's End Restaurant. You won't be disappointed. Next week we travel to the Hemlock Inn. Hope that you can join us.