July 12, Yummy, Yummy

Well what can I say? This restaurant has been here for several years. During that time, it has had several names, owners and menus. The current name and I am assuming owners have been the same for quite some time.

Unfortunately, the food has always been pretty much the same quality. If you have eaten at any other Chinese restaurant in WNC or probably, anywhere, then you will be familiar with the menu and the standard buffet. The food quality is just OK. Not anything to write home about. Or sing praises about. Nor does it instill a desire to return any time soon.

It is located close the square in Bryson City. Certainly within walking distance to the town and after you  have eaten, you may want to take a little walk like we did.

We certainly had enough time to walk to one end of the town and back as we were finished eating that quickly. There is nothing to make you linger over your dinner, or go get dessert. 

The restaurant is decorated with your standard Buddha, oversized fish tank, hanging pagoda lights, and gold colored bric a brac on the walls. 

The restaurant is large, but is usually not full except sometimes around lunch when folks are in a hurry and on a time limit for lunch. They have the buffet at lunch too. 

The buffet is quite extensive  in terms of size. There are usually 3 soups: Wonton, Egg Drop, and Hot and Sour. Also pretty standard is fried rice, steamed rice, rice noodles and thick noodles. Then you have your unexciting Steamed Green Beans, General Tso's Chicken, Beef with Broccoli, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Hot and Spicy Chicken, etc. along with Fried Crabmeat Wontons, Chicken on a Stick, Spring rolls and Egg rolls. They also serve some pretty Un-Chinese items like Cheese Sticks, Mini Apple Fried Pies, Cookies. On the dessert line were items like Jello, some kind of pudding, Bread Pudding, Oranges. They used to offer sushi on their buffet, but it was not on it tonight. 

I don't really care for these kind of restaurants, as I never know how long the food has been sitting. Judging from the looks of some of the items, it had been a loooong time, even though it was early in the evening. I did not see anyone come out and refill or refreshen any items while we were there. Some of the items were dried up, had skim over them or just looked really old. 

I only ate a couple of items. The wonton soup was fairly OK, but how can you mess that up? The tea was on the McDonald's kind of sweet side. Way too sweet for southern tea. I always order half and half so I can drink it. Plus I get 3 lemons to cut it even more. 

Greg was missing tonite as he is gone to Ohio. Our dynamics always change when it's just us women. Pam had two questions for us tonite.

One was "If we could be a color, what would it be and why?" The second was "If we could be any kind of weather, what would it be and why?" 

The responses to the questions are as follows:

Lisa - She would be Sage Green. The reason being is that color for her is soothing, healing, easy on the eyes, the color of the Smoky Mountains (among other shades of green), it is natural. In regards to weather, she would be a hard rain. Not a torrential or tumultuous pounding, destructive rain, but a steady, hard, hear it beating on a tin roof kind. The kind  you can sleep to. Again, because it is healing, nourishing,  and to her, soothing. 

Susan - She would be either Red or Purple. A true red, not a pinky red, or brownish red, or burgundy red, or orangy red. But a true Red. The Purple would be a deep, thick, buttery Purple. Not Lilac, or anything pastel, or a pinky purple. But a true purple. The reason being because she wants to POP, be noticed, not be forgotten, let other colors know she has arrived and is making a statement. The weather she would be would  be (contrary to others thinking) a steady, slow early Spring rain. Just that kind of rain that lets you know Spring has arrived, makes everything pop with green, makes the flowers start to sprout and makes folks say "Oh Thank God! Spring is here! Winter is over. The kind of rain that you can hear and makes you want to sit  on the front porch and watch/listen to as it heralds the ending of winter. 

Pam - If she could be  color, she would be Blue. The true ocean blue when the sun shines on it and makes you think you can see into the depths. That deep gorgeous blue that just screams "BEACH", and makes you want to go jump in it. Her reason being is that she wants to be beautiful, looked at, desired, and be noticed. 

If she could be any kind of weather, it would be one of those fabulous Summer days around 75 degrees. Not to hot, not too cold. Definitely shorts weather. The kind of day that has a true blue sky ( not Duke blue, not Tarheel blue), huge, cotton candy clouds that seem to just float across the sky like balls of cotton rolling along as their being blown by the wind. The kind if summer day that makes you throw back your head and thank God you live in the South where days like that are to be absorbed like nourishment to the soul. 

After our short meal, we walked the length of town, looked in the store windows, and read the realty ads while lamenting the destruction of our beautiful mountains by outsiders who's goal is to make as much money as possible at the demise of our environment. Its really too bad stewardship is not part of their goal. We also got a kick out of one realty office who is attempting capitalize on the Cherokee culture by naming his business "My Home" in Cherokee. We did start laughing hysterically while mimicking the pronunciation of the business, which veered of into a short rendition of Nell speak linguistics.  We do amuse ourselves to no end. 

We made it back to our cars and called it a night. 

Next week we will be at Cork and Bean or Cork and Barrel or Crate and Bean or Crate and Barrel, whichever one you  call it and can remember. Myself.. I can never remember that name of that place so just call it some version of the above. It is located on the square and is one of our newest restaurants. Their specialty is crepes. Come join us there on July 19th at 6:30. See you there... 

on a side note.. I just reread what I wrote and noticed I spelled Yummy wrong. The restaurant is actually Yummi, which an I not a Y. Oh well. 

RABBIT TRAIL... (forgive the photos.. they were taken with phones. so the quality is not quite as good as our others). 
Pam, Lisa & I went  to Georgia for some errands. While there, we stopped in Hartwell beside Lake Hartwell to eat at the Swamp Guinea. This is a fish camp, much like the ones we grew up with around here. There aren't many of these left anymore unfortunately cause they sure were good eatin'. This place don't look like much from the outside, but the food portions are extremely generous, with many all you can eat selections, the sides are family style and the layout is like a big summer camp.. with long tables. Nothing fancy. And the food is served on Styrofoam plates. 

INSIDE THE SWAMP GUINEA

Their menu is very extensive. They have every kind of seafood you could want. Plus Fried Chicken, County Ham, Brunswick Stew (what is that ?). The BEST sweet tea in five counties.

We had a fabulous waitress who was just as friendly and down to earth as could be. Just good folks.. you could tell.She talked and joked with us and even let us take her picture. We told her we were going to put her on EHarmony.... 

JOYCE OUR FABULOUS WAITRESS


We each ordered something different. Pam ordered the Fried Chicken platter. It came with baked potato, salad, hushpuppies.The daggone platter was like half a chicken!! but their Fried Chicken is out of this world good. It is way too much for one person to eat though. You can get a doggie bag for anything you cannot eat. 

FRIED CHICKEN PLATTER

Lisa ordered the Fried Flounder Platter. Again.. tons of food. Salad, Baked potato, hushpuppies. Her fish looked yummy and she said it was too. She ate half of it before we could get the picture made!!

FRIED FLOUNDER PLATTER - AFTER LISA ATE HALF 

I made the mistake of ordering the All you Can Eat Shrimp. Little did I realize it came with slaw, hushpuppies- which is fine. BUT!! It also came with French Fries (the big meaty ones.. need I say more?), Country Ham, Brunswick Stew, Catfish, Perch, Boiled Shrimp, Fried Popcorn Shrimp, Fried chicken and I think that's all!! Can you believe it!!! They should have called it the All You can Try to Eat and forgot the Shrimp part. Well needless to say.. I could not eat it all nor even a good bit of it. I put the fries to the side.. gave Pam the boiled shrimp cause I don't like cold shrimp, ate some of the ham, which was really good. I also ate the piece of Fried Chicken.. YUMMY!!, a piece of the perch. ( OK, a bit dry), none of the catfish, most of the slaw ( great slaw!), only a couple of the hushpuppies ( they were really dry and bland this time - almost like they forgot to put something in them), tasted the Brunswick stew ( Yuck), ate most of the popcorn shrimp. 

With the AYCE plates, you cannot get a doggie bag. I asked Joyce what they would do with all that leftover food and she said they just toss it. Well, if that bothers you like it bothered us don't get the AYCE platters. You get just as much food on the regular platters and the cost is the same. 

If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell? We snuck out two pieces of the catfish in Pam's pocketbook. I fed it to my big dogs. They loved it. 

THE DISHES JUST GO ON AND ON....




On the way down, we stopped at a couple of thrift stores and flea markets. You KNOW I just can't pass those up. Here is one that Pam particularly liked.  She even found a treasure in there she couldn't pass up. 

THE DOGHOUSE AND THRIFT STORE IN MARTIN, GA

If you ever find yourself down in Hartwell, Ga. do stop in at the Swamp Guinea. It is worth the stop. Good basic seafood. And sweet tea that will make you think of wide, covered porches with trailing vines of honeysuckle climbing the porch posts up to the second story, cool summer breezes in the evening that carry the voices of the whippoorwills across the hills, and easy, carefree days when all you had to do was play in the  creek. 

BBQ Wagon (Bryson City) - June 28, 2012 - Pam's 2 Cents

Andy & Opie

7/3/2012. Just as I opened this page to write, the 6:30 news ran a story about Andy Griffith dying and I got distracted from writing about food. Strange how you can feel the loss of somebody you never knew personally. What is the power of that TV show? That simple whistling tune that is so evocative? Pride in a fellow North Carolinian who made good? Nostalgia for simpler times (or at least, simpler according to TV)? Thinking now of a former student who said he decided to become a lawyer because he wanted to be like Matlock. And Ava Barber, a Knoxville gal who sang on "The Lawrence Welk Show", who said in an interview that one of the biggest thrills of her life was meeting Andy Griffith, especially when he said he was a fan of hers and they exchanged phone numbers so they could keep in touch. And two years ago when my brother and I took Mama to Mount Airy/Mayberry for her birthday and even though the Snappy Lunch and Floyd's Barber Shop were closed and it poured the rain, we had a fine time seeing where Andy got his start. And how I once got into an argument with a coworker over who was the right woman for Andy - Helen Crump (the teacher), Peggy McMillan (the nurse), or Ellie Walker (the pharmacist). Well, this person said Andy's soul mate was Peggy, which is absolutely ridiculous because everybody knows it was Helen.

Andy & Helen

For the Merfoxes (my beach girls), all conversational roads lead eventually to "The Andy Griffith Show", which always makes Honey roll her eyes, maybe because Andy once taught music in her hometown of Goldsboro, NC and had a reputation for being difficult. Even so, we're planning a Mayberry marathon next time we're together. Rest in peace, Andy. And Goober. And Barney. And Aunt Bee.

Sylva DQ now open

Okay, back to the food. It was hotter than the hubs of hell the day we went to the BBQ Wagon, but once we got inside we forgot all about the heat. Very relaxed atmosphere - wouldn't be hard to imagine you were in Mayberry - and tasty barbeque. And even though Susan didn't like the looks of those big home fries, they were delicious - not mealy at all, just the right crispness. Everybody else's food must've been good, too, because those plates were clean at the end. Leaf offered me a taste of her fruit salad but I couldn't bear to taint the perfectly balanced blend of pork and tater taste in my mouth. We talked about going for ice cream after supper but were all full as ticks, so we just went home to digest. Which reminds me, I cannot believe I still haven't been to the new Dairy Queen in Sylva yet. I was counting the days until it opened so I wouldn't have to go to Canton or Cherokee for my dip cone fix anymore. Maybe I've gotten too addicted to Pet Turtle Tracks ice cream. Why oh why can't ice cream be diet food and lettuce be fattening?

Earl Hamner

One thing we talked about that Susan forgot to mention was the famous people we had rubbed elbows with in our lives. My top two are Eva Marie Saint and Earl Hamner (I am always horrified how many people don't recognize his name. Earl Hamner created the TV show "The Waltons", and it's his voice doing the narration at the beginning and end of each show). Greg's was Russell Means. Susan's was Rosalind and Amy Carter. I think Lisa was the big winner, though. She's dined with Henry Kissinger, at the same time sitting close enough to touch Gwyneth Paltrow. I learned something new about Susan from that conversation: she's a movie star! She was an extra in several movies that were filmed in NC, and also a Kinks video. So we can all add her to the list of famous elbows we've rubbed.

Okay kids, that's all until next time. See you July 12 at Yummi Yummi in Bryson City!

BBQ Wagon, Bryson City, NC
We were all in attendance tonight. It was a very hot, very humid day. We are in the middle of a heat wave apparently. We were anticipating sitting inside the cool, air conditioned restaurant.

It was also hot in the BBQ Wagon in the front. But once you got to the back where the tables were, it was nice and cool.

BBQ WAGON SIGN AND YARD DECOR

The BBQ Wagon is locally owned and operated. Monty Monteith owns it and the old A&P, which is now the IGA. Monty used to own and operate the sawmill at Hyatt Creek and Ela. The sawmill is no longer in operation. The BBQ Wagon has been open for several years and I have always heard good reviews about the restaurant. The decor is kitschy with movie and music posters and autographed photos of mostly country singers. Wood abounds in the Wagon. The place is clean, homey and the staff very friendly and accommodating.  They have seating inside and out if you want to sit and watch the river below. The place is usually packed on the weekends, but crowded on the weeknights and during lunch. They certainly do a brisk business.

The BBQ Wagon  offers a large selection including platters, sandwiches, and non BBQ fare like corndogs, fry bread. They also have several sided to chose from including french fries, onion rings (which are quite tasty), baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad (also quite tasty), slaw among others. It will take you awhile to decide what to order as there is a wide selection of pulled pork, ribs, sliced beef, chicken, beef, brisket, and more.

FRONT COUNTER

You place your order at the front counter and then go have a seat. Your number will be called when your order is ready. You get your own drink.
You know.. BBQ is probably the only food that possesses the ability to divide a  country, states, and even families. It creates disagreements, divides regions...  there are entire TV programs devoted to it. /There are  fairs, festivals and competitions solely to praise it, offer it to the public for judging, and prizes (mostly bragging rights) for the winners. Secret recipes are guarded with sealed lip and locked boxes with family recipes are passed down in wills.  There are chefs that not only specialize in cooking it, but will cook only it. Entire reputations are built around offering the best. It comes in countless varieties - chicken, beef, pork and fights have broken out over the best way to cook it - slow roasted, sealed up and grilled for days, smoked, braised, injected, not injected, tinfoil, uncovered, skin on, skinned. Then you can pull it, cut it, slice it, ribs or in slabs. That doesn't even cover the endless number of sauces- spicy, sweet, hot, vinegary, blazing hot, honey based, pepper (and that is another discussion) based, three mile island hot, and just plain Chernobyl hot.
And yet..it doesn't require any special, exotic, rare ingredients to produce. It is really just meat and sauce. But there are still bona fide, devote followers who will not hesitate to set you straight on what is the best way to prepare, cook and eat BBQ. Maybe it is just as simple as the statement that Sippsy said "Secrets in the sauce."

While we were waiting on our meal, we examined the decor. Therein started the conversation about Elvis. I have not met anyone yet who does not like Elvis. I am sure there are some out there.. but I guess its like BBQ. Its just plain UnAmerican to admit you don't like it.

THE REAL ELVIS.... 

CHRIS MONTEITH = OWNERS SON... 

As you can see from above, there is Elvis memorabilia on the walls. In addition, there is a photo of Chris Monteith, who is an Elvis impersonator. He has been doing this for many years and is quite good. Based on the reactions I've seen him elicit at shows.... the ladies sure seem to like him.
We talked alot about Elvis. His choice in spouses, Graceland, which one we like better. Lisa liked the black leather jumpsuit Elvis. I like the Movie, late 50's Elvis. I have not been to Graceland, but would like to go. I offered up the suggestion that we make a pilgrimage to Graceland for the annual convention. All the Designing Women girls and Anthony too made this pilgrimage, with the original idea being Charlene's. She was naturally in seventh heaven. As you can tell, I am a big fan of Designing Women. It is much funnier now than when I used to watch it in the 80's. It did not dawn on me back then how controversial this show could have been. Topics were current, and often stimulated lively dialogues. Those women covered topics such as AIDS, Breast Cancer, Affairs, Divorce, Premarital Sex, Racial Equality, Women's Rights such as equal pay, career vs. homemaker, Mental Incompetency, Spousal Death, Pornography, Women as Sex Symbols and the list goes on. If  you have not watched this show, it still airs. Susan Sugarbaker is the funniest damn woman I have ever seen on TV... next to Bernice.

There was also one advertisement that Pam couldn't quite understand. It was for vegetables. Ill let you decide.

WHAT DOES THAT WOMAN'S LEG IN THE AIR HAVE TO DO WITH VEGETABLES? 

We got our meal in a short time and we each ordered something different. I ordered the BBQ sliced beef plate. I ordered it with Okra, and slaw. It came with hushpuppies. Not being a BBQ connoisseur, I wanted to try the BBQ, but didn't really know the difference between all the selections. I ordered something I had not tried before. (Don't tell anyone..but I really don't like BBQ). I KNOW!!!!! That statement always elicits gasps when I say it.

BBQ SLICED BEEF PLATE


Greg ordered the BBQ Combo plate, which was beef and pork He also chose Okra and slaw.  He also ordered Onion Rings. 

BBQ COMBO PLATE - BEEF AND PORK


Lisa ordered the Beef Brisket Hoagie with Fried, Slaw and Fruit Salad.  I have had the Fruit Salad before, and it is quite  yummy. I don't care for Fries that are that big.. but having the declared food issues that I have.. I only eat one kind of fries. Eating Fries that big is like eating a baked potato to me. 

BBQ BEEF BRISKET SANDWICH PLATE

Pam ordered the pulled pork sandwich plate with fries and slaw. She also ordered onion rings.

The BBQ Wagon's claim to fame is their Onion Rings. So we had to try them. Actually, I 've had them before. They are good. The are large, not greasy, lightly breaded. Not frozen tasting at all. Unlike the little uniformly round flat tasting rings at other places.

DID HE KNOW HE WOULD BE FAMOUS?? 

While we were talking and laughing, one of the patrons was leaving after his meal. He was so caught up in our conversation, that he wanted to be part of it. We didn't get his name;  probably a tourist, but he was very  sweet and joked along with us. He must have enjoyed his meal too! He looks happy, huh? 


After we received our meal, we had to decide which house sauce to load on. There is quite a selection to chose from. I liked them all, but chose to put gold on my beef. They all had good flavor and the hot/spicy is not TOO our the top. Greg likes hot stuff to the point you can't taste your meal. I like hot flavor..not just heat. 

HONEY, SWEET, GOLD, MILD, HOT & SPICY, TEXAS PETE, VINEGAR

 Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal as evidenced by the empty plates. The O rings were a bit greasy. More so than previous times I had eaten there. Not bad.. just a little. The hushpuppies were also dry with no flavor. This was also different than previous meals. My sliced beef was very tasty. Everyone's plate was served very generous portions. All in all, we had a satisfying meal and would return. 
After the meal, I took a coupe of photos in the room where we sat. As you can see... lots of country decor. BUT!! no blue or pink ducks. Remember those? They were everywhere for awhile. Now and again, you will still see one of those ugly critters somewhere. 

Whenever I see this much stuff collected in a restaurant.. I always wonder if they dust it? I  know in some they don't as you can see the cobwebs, dust bunnies and layers of dust. I always think about dust falling in my food off the decor. Maybe that's just me.

Pam's question of the week was prompted by the Colorado wildfires, where so many folks lost everything they had. She asked if our house was getting ready to be burnt to the ground and we could only take one thing out of our house, what would it be? The pets apparently have already been saved, so we dont' have to pick one of those.
Lisa chose her moma's medicine book, which is very old and kept under lock and key. It has old timey herbal remedies for ailments. Pam selected a tape which has her grandma's voice on it. I could not choose as I have several family heirlooms and if I picked one, then I would lose the others. I finally chose the quilt my grandma made me. Its the Little Dutch Girl pattern. It is kept in a cedar trunk, wrapped up. Greg chose the Pendleton blanket his grandma gave us for our wedding.

I also had a question for the group. This question was prompted by some of the TV show ads I had seen recently. Why is it that men are obsessed with finding how many different ways they can utilize to hit each other in the nether regions? I have never seen anything like it. Is it just in America or does this strange phenomena occur in other countries? There are just hundreds of home videos on TV lately that show men/boys, being as creative as possible with only one goal in mind... to hit each other in the privates. What is that about? Are they hoping if they hit each other hard enough little candies will fall out like a pinata? Or do they hate children so much they are subconsciously trying to eliminate their ability to reproduce? What is the big deal about? I mean.. you NEVER see women vidoetaping themselves hitting each other with homemade bombs, projectiles, or explosive devices in their hooha's or the boobs for that matter. I have never in all my years felt the desire to hit another woman in her crotch or grab it.
Maybe that explains why men think everyone else is obsessed with their junk. And can't figure it out when they realize we are not focused on them. If anyone has an explanation, let me know.

Anyway... we also talked about books we had or were reading. I have one recommendation. Jim Harrison's "The Road Home." Excellent. Also anything by Willa Cather. "Antonia, Antonia is fantastic. Pam likes Willa too. I just finished reading "The Invisible Wall" by Harry Bernstein. This is a true story and the author was 96 when he wrote it. Great book about a small English village during WWI, that struggles with Jewish families on one side of the street and Christian families on the other separated by the invisible wall  of racial prejudice. Fabulous book. I also just finished "Camp", by Michael D. Eisner. Michael has worked in the entertainment industry for over 40 yrs, the last 21 as chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company. As a child growing up in Vermont, he attended camp at Keewaydin, a summer camp that was a family tradition. This is a recount of his experience at Keewaydin, from his first nights as a boy to his time spent as a counselor and his return as a father of the next generation of Keewaydin campers. His family also started a scholarship program to provide this summer camp experience to selected young boys and girls from the Los Angeles area. It is a very sweet memoir that brings back memories of my own time spent in summer camp. A great experience that every child should have the chance to participate in.

Well, we just about closed down the joint. Next week was Yummy Yummy, the Chinese restaurant in Bryson. BUT! since this is one of Lisa's favorite restaurants and she has a work commitment, we decided to wait until the following week. So... instead, we will meet this Thursday, July 5th at Sazone at 6:30. Come join us! On July 12th, we will reconvene at Yummy Yummy! Same time- 6:30. Come on and eat with us.. you never know what turns the conversation will take.