North Carolina

A paper plate bending under one slab of butter pound cake taught me more about North Carolina than…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 23

A red wax rind, a long knife, and a wedge of cheese wrapped in white paper turned a…

By David Reed · Oct 22

Grid lines on a pizza sound like a small thing until the first tray lands on your table…

By David Reed · Oct 22

Grape jelly on a slab of fried pork and cornmeal sounded like a dare the first time a…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 22

One roast beef sandwich here gets BBQ sauce, white American cheese, and horsey mayo on a toasted onion…

By Daniel Mercer · Oct 21

Bowls kept landing on our table before I had even unfolded my napkin, and I started to wonder…

By David Reed · Oct 21

Ketchup in coleslaw sounded like a mistake until the first forkful of tangy red slaw hit a hot,…

By David Reed · Oct 21

Bottles of vinegar sauce riding home in the back seat are usually the first clue that a lunch…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 21

At 5:45 in the morning, the only lit window on the block was a little donut counter, and…

By David Reed · Oct 20

A metal mixing cup set down beside my glass, still frosty and half full, was the moment I…

By David Reed · Oct 20

A pile of hickory coals has been doing the same patient job here for generations, and you can…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 20

Shovels full of glowing oak coals get carried, one scoop at a time, into a brick smokehouse that…

By David Reed · Oct 19

Coffee poured into a hot skillet sounds like a kitchen accident, yet in North Carolina it turns into…

By David Reed · Oct 19

Sausage was the only thing on my list, yet I walked out of a plain cinder-block shop with…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 19

Steam fogged up my glasses the second the server lifted a fresh pan of fried chicken onto the…

By David Reed · Oct 18

Chili stains on a paper wrapper told me more about North Carolina than any guidebook ever did. The…

By David Reed · Oct 18

Paper boats sagging under a mound of golden oysters can make a plain picnic table feel like the…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 18

Flies buzzing at a box fan by the door, a line spilling out onto the gravel, and a…

By David Reed · Oct 17

A strip-mall storefront with a hand-lettered sign should not be able to stop a road trip cold, but…

By David Reed · Oct 17

A gravel lot, a screen door, and a paper napkin already going see-through from the first bite: that…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 17

Smoke drifting from a cinderblock pit house was the only sign that the plain building off a North…

By David Reed · Oct 16

Cornmeal sizzling in a fryer can stop a hungry driver faster than any road sign in North Carolina.…

By David Reed · Oct 16

Shrimp still smelling like salt air, piled on ice an hour after the boat tied up, taste nothing…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 16

Cinnamon sugar on your fingertips and a paper bag going see-through with warm grease is a fine way…

By David Reed · Oct 15

Six in the morning is when the griddle wakes up at a tiny stand that most drivers in…

By David Reed · Oct 15

Grandmothers once marched their grandkids down a long steam-table line here, trays in hand, pointing at collards and…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 15

A flounder fillet so big it hangs off both ends of the plate is not something you forget…

By David Reed · Oct 14

Grape jelly on a slice of fried pork and cornmeal sounds like a dare, but one friendly server…

By David Reed · Oct 14

Sugar-dusted waffle fries were not what I expected to remember most from a quick barbecue stop off a…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 14

A paper napkin, a dripping vanilla cone, and a parking lot view should not add up to one…

By David Reed · Oct 13

Hear that? That is probably your cue to keep walking. In North Carolina, some waterfalls make you work…

By Lenora Winslow · Oct 13

Golden shrimp so light they almost float off the fork were not what I expected from a plain…

By David Reed · Oct 13

Orange custard, brown crust, and a plain brick front you could easily drive past without a second look.…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 13

Cookies thinner than a playing card were not on my list of things to chase across North Carolina,…

By David Reed · Oct 12

Sweet potato pancakes that smell like a slice of pie were not on my North Carolina bingo card…

By David Reed · Oct 12

Oak smoke drifting over a quiet two-lane road is a strange thing to chase in North Carolina, a…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 12

A paper napkin went translucent before the first bite even landed, and that was the moment I knew…

By David Reed · Oct 11

Grandmothers across North Carolina once named their biscuits after a cat’s head, and the joke stuck because the…

By David Reed · Oct 11

A warm slice of tomato pie can make a long drive feel short, especially when it comes from…

By Emily Brooks · Oct 11