Northwestern North Carolina

Hi Everyone!

My wife and I will be staying in the vicinity of Boone, NC in a couple of weeks and we want to experience the best food the region has to offer. We're willing to drive about an hour out of Boone. So far, our research has yielded the following possibilities (all reviewed here on Roadfood):

Daniel Boone Inn - Boone
Hannah's BBQ - Boone
Mast Farm Inn - Valle Crucis
Ridgewood BBQ- Bluff City (TN)

Any places I should add to this list? Any opinions on the places I've listed? Thanks, in advance, for your good advice!

Shatley Springs which is above West Jefferson and not too far from Boone is better than The Daniel Boone Inn- I think. You should drive over to Glendale Springs and West Jefferson and see the Frescos and there is a little sandwich shop on the grounds at Glendale Springs that has good sandwiches and homemade breads. You also need to go to the Ashe County Cheese Company in West Jefferson. They have all kinds of cheese for sale and you can even watch them making certain cheeses. We always have to get a fresh bag of the curds.

I know very little about that area other than what I read.

That said, the review on this site of Ridgewood is quite promising
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=446&RefID=446

quote:

Originally posted by emsmom

Shatley Springs which is above West Jefferson and not too far from Boone is better than The Daniel Boone Inn- I think. You should drive over to Glendale Springs and West Jefferson and see the Frescos and there is a little sandwich shop on the grounds at Glendale Springs that has good sandwiches and homemade breads. You also need to go to the Ashe County Cheese Company in West Jefferson. They have all kinds of cheese for sale and you can even watch them making certain cheeses. We always have to get a fresh bag of the curds.

emsmom,

What restaurant in Shatley Springs were you recommending? I Googled a place called the Shatley Springs Inn -- is that the one?

Be sure you go over to Blowing Rock. There are many great places to eat there. The Speckled Trout, Dockside Ira's, Best Celler (pricy but good), Sonny Cafe (one of the top ten for breakfast in the US. Even Tijuana Fats is pretty good for Mexican in NC. Also be sure to drive to Valle Crucis and eat at the Mast Farm House and then go to the Mast General Store. It's a step back into another time. The only problem you might have is that Ivan did do some damage to many of the local roads. Wish I was back there.

Yes, the Shatley Springs Inn is the one I was talking about. You haved a choice of family style or meat and three. We always choose the family style dining

quote:

Originally posted by Chumley

quote:

Originally posted by emsmom

Shatley Springs which is above West Jefferson and not too far from Boone is better than The Daniel Boone Inn- I think. You should drive over to Glendale Springs and West Jefferson and see the Frescos and there is a little sandwich shop on the grounds at Glendale Springs that has good sandwiches and homemade breads. You also need to go to the Ashe County Cheese Company in West Jefferson. They have all kinds of cheese for sale and you can even watch them making certain cheeses. We always have to get a fresh bag of the curds.

emsmom,

What restaurant in Shatley Springs were you recommending? I Googled a place called the Shatley Springs Inn -- is that the one?

quote:

Originally posted by Chumley


What restaurant in Shatley Springs were you recommending? I Googled a place called the Shatley Springs Inn -- is that the one?[/font=Tahoma]

There is nothing at Shatley Springs except the Shatley Springs Inn. All their meals are outstanding, but I like breakfast there best. There will be a long wait on week-end mornings this time of year because the NC mountains are filled with "leaf peepers". "Greenfields" is another restaurant in the Jefferson area where they serve the same type of food (mainly based on country ham, fried chicken and other mountain specialties), and it is nearly as good as Shatley Springs. "Peppers" in Boone (highway 221) has very good food, also, but not mountain food.
I agree with emsmom that no trip to this area is complete without a visit to the little Episcopal churches in Glendale Springs and the Beaver Creek section of West Jefferson to see absolutely world class frescoes. They are worth the trip themselves if you do nothing else in the area. And you can enjoy unbelievable colors anywhere in this section of North Carolina this time of year. The top on "Mount Jefferson" was always my favorite spot for this, but anywhere within 100 miles of Grandfather Mountain and Linville gorge is beautiful. Views around the Grandfather Mountain viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway will leave you awestruck (or anywhere along the parkway, for that matter.) We went up through the Green Mountains in Vermont last Saturday and Sunday, and their colors don't come close to what we enjoyed for years in the North Carolina mountains.

Other recommendations - go see the Elk River Falls in Elk Park. Truly remarkable.

Other good restaurants in the Boone/Blowing Rock area:

Canyon's on Hwy 321 in Blowing Rock
Makoto's (Japanese restaurant) in Boone - great carrots
Mountain House - great for breakfast

I just back from there and it is truly a wonderful area.

I highly recommend stopping at Green's Trading Post on Hwy 321 South going to Lenoir and getting apples, free apple cider, peanut brittle and homemade zagnut bars (peanut butter and coconut). The Zagnut bars were awesome.

Look around the campus of my old alma mata, Appalachian State University, while you are in Boone. Pack a picnic and go to "Price Lake" on the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Blowing Rock. And visit the "Cone Estate" near Price Lake.

BE AWARE that remnants from the recent hurricanes came through this area and caused significant flooding. You might want to check on washed out roads or bridges before you venture out.

These are all wonderful suggestions. Thank you all so much!

Yeah, thanks so much. I don't live that far away and visit the area quite often but I learned a lot of new things and can't wait to check these things out. Anymore suggestions would still be greatly appreciated.

carl reitz

Shatley Springs closes for the winter after Thanksgiving and re-opens in early April. This place is very isolated and this section of the North Carolina mountains has a lot of snow in the winter.

Yes, I remember going one year in April. There was snow still on the sides of the road all up to Shatley Springs, but down on the river, people were riding the rapids in the chilly water.

We will be heading down that way on Saturday. I will try to report back on as many of these places as I can, hopefully with pictures!

Hey Hillbilly, my nephew went to ASU also. About 25 years ago, I worked on a project in Asheville that lasted for a couple of months . I lived out of a motel and ate at a neat little diner downtown whose name escapes me. It was autumn and my rental was a convertible so in the evenings I would drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway with the top down enjoying the weather.

quote:

Originally posted by Chumley

We will be heading down that way on Saturday. I will try to report back on as many of these places as I can, hopefully with pictures!

Chumley:
Looking forward to your report as Linda and I are planning a roadtrip down that way soon.
Thanks to the other contributors to this thread as well..
Any additional info is welcome!

Frank

I've spent more time down around the Linville/Grandfather Mountain area. Haven't been there in several years, though.

A good place to eat is the Rock House Inn down around Linville Falls. An interesting tidbit is that three counties intersect right in the middle of the dining room.